Bengoetxe "Txakolina" Basque Country, Spain 2022

FROM JOSÉ PASTOR:

THE WINE: 95% Hondarribi Zuri and 5% Gros Manseng, from a single certified organic 3.5 ha vineyard planted on a moderately steep slope of mostly clay, located in the highlands of the province of Gipuzkoa, this is fermented with wild yeasts in small 3,000 liter steel vats, and raised on the lees for up to one year. It is bottled unfiltered and unfined. All CO2 is natural.

THE PRODUCER: Distinctive wines, wines that speak of their terruño, come from lovingly tended and organically farmed grapes. It is this nurturing philosophy, rare in the Basque Country, a region dominated by industrial farming and winemaking, which drives Iñaki and Rosa Maria Etxeberria to produce Bengoetxe. It turns out that the Etxeberria’s baserria has a long history and unique terruño to go along with the single wine they produce. Perched high up on a clay slope, their ancient farmhouse has been handed down to the family for generations. The locals have long affectionately nicknamed it, Bengoetxe, which means ‘come home’ in Basque. After both phylloxera and civil war hit their area, the vineyards were ripped out. It was only in 2001 when the Etxeberria’s replanted their land with the native Hondarribi Zuri and Gros Manseng, called Iskirita Zuri Handia (say that 5 times!) in Basque. Organic from the beginning, certification came in 2007, the first producer in the Basque Country to do so.