Txakolina, Spain

750ml

91 RP

Petit Courbu | Gros Courbu | Gros Manseng

Oxer Bastegieta is a Basque producer who divides his time between the family winery in Bizkaiko Txakolina and his highly personal wines in Rioja Alavesa. The vineyards in Bizkaiko Txakolina are located in the village of Kortezubi, a little old town in Bizkaia, famous for its prehistoric caves which form a Unesco World Heritage Site. The permaculture vineyards have soil composed of calcareous clay and are worked organically with regenerative agriculture and biodynamic treatments. This wine is a blend of 60% Hondarribi Zuri Zerratia (Petit Courbu), 40% Hondarribi Zuri (Gros Courbu). Fermentation in stainless steel tanks, using autochthonous yeasts. The wine spends three months in contact with the lees using bâtonnage which gives it extra character.

“Bastegieta talks about 2019 as a textbook vintage with perfect weather conditions to produce wines with more structure but more vertical than in 2018, as showcased by the 2019 Marko, from grapes picked later than they are picked for traditional Txakoli. It's a complex blend of 55% Hondarribi Zuri Zerratia (Petit Courbu), 40% Hondarribi Zuri (Gros Courbu) and 5% Izkiriota Handia (Gros Manseng) from the village of Kortezubi close to the coast where the soils are rich in limestone with perhaps a little slate/schist. This comes from four hectares of vines, and it fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and then matured with the lees for four to five months. I cannot say this is fruit-driven, which makes sense with his approach to show the soils in the wines. It has a balsamic and leesy touch and stony minerality that is better perceived in the austere texture”