Gorka Izagirre Blanc

Just outside Bilbão, high above the main road and conveniently 15 minutes from the airport, is Bodega Gorka Izagirre , a fairly new and enthusiastically patriotic Biscayan wine producer, named after its owner and financed by a logistics company that is undoubtedly more profitable than the wine business. the latter has written 'massive investments' everywhere - in the vineyards, the modern winery and the associated three-star restaurant Azurmendi. The Izagirre ideology is based on the desire to preserve and promote Txakoli, an integral part of the local culture and tradition, not just the name of a wine (The Castilian spelling Chacoli gives a better idea of how to pronounce the name; Txakoli is the Basque spelling.)

Gorka_Izagirre You can learn more about this operation and the varieties they planted in Recuperating Txacoli. In the meantime, I would like to recommend this particular wine as an excellent introduction to the best wines of Biscay: cool, refined and persistent, characterized by a restraint and freshness that comes from a region strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and refreshed by as much rain as falls in the British city of Manchester. If you've ever been to a bar or restaurant in Bilbão, San Sebastian or anywhere along the Bay of Biscay, you've probably poured yourself a tumble of the local white wine, Txakoli, but Gorka Izagirre is vastly superior to what is often a watery and quite neutral drink.

It is a blend of equal parts of two local varieties, Hondarribi * Zuri (Courbu Blanc) and Hondarribi Zerratia (Petit Courbu), aged on the lees but with no oak influence.