Bodegas Itsasmendi

A group of growers founded Itsasmendi in 1994 to make Txakoli from the vineyards of coastal Bizkaia. Starting with three hectares and a small winery in Muskiz, they moved to Gernika in 2003; the winery now lies within the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve.

Its 35 hectares are divided among fifteen parcels, where different soils and microclimates can spread ripening over at least three weeks. The local grapes Hondarrabi Zuri and Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratie are central to the wines, and small trial batches and tanks of different sizes allow the team to work with individual sites separately.