A steadily growing wine
15% more than in 2008 have been elaborated. Although it has not been an easy year, the quality of the vintage can be classified as very good.
The total reported production for the 2009 vintage is 1,240,118 litres, which has meant a 15% growth as compared to that elaborated in the previous campaign. In other words, the barrier of one million litres which was exceeded for the first time in 2008, has now been thoroughly surpassed.
The determining factor of this important growth in the elaboration volume has been the entry into production of new vineyards, as those yields per hectares have been similar to those of the previous year. In particular, 62 new hectares have been registered with the Regulatory Council, which means that, at present, the total vineyard area under the auspices of the D.O. (Apellation d'Origine Contrôlée) Bizkaiko Txakolina is 338 hectares. Nevertheless, there are still another 60 hectares authorised and pending execution, which means the Regulatory Council will shortly control 400 hectares.
The domestic market (Biscay) still monopolizes 80% of the share, whilst the remainder is divided between the rest of the Basque Country, Madrid and Barcelona. This year exports have increased to 35,480 litres -in2008 it was 33,378 l.-. Of these, 93% were sent to the United States, meanwhile Germany (3%) and Japan (1%) figure as other destinations a long way away, from the North American market.
Very good quality in a difficult year
The difficult terrain and our highly variable climate, with high relative humidity, which makes vine growing in Biscay very difficult from the start. However, these conditions are those that allow the Txakoli of Bizkaia to be increasingly valued as a different wine, with great personality and a very reputable quality.
For example, this last campaign, wherein Spring has been acceptable and allowed for the correct-though late-flowering, Summer has been extremely humid, which was meant the intensification of the fight against mildew and Botrytis cinerea. And the fact is that, in August, despite the fact that it hardly rained at all, there were only four days when the relative humidity fell below 90%.
Under these conditions, other vine growing areas would have lost much of its production. However, the Biscayan winegrowers have learned to live with these very difficult climatic conditions and, the effort of being on top of the vineyard, which year after year has achieved acceptable yields and an average quality of a very good grape.
This, coupled with the fact that the wineries have ever-increasing better facilities and advice from better trained and experienced oenologists, who explain that the txakoli of Bizkaia has achieved infinite regularity in terms of the quality of its vintages. Moreover, in the opinion of the most reputable critics, the Biscayan txakolis are progressively getting better and this is reflected in the scores awarded by the different guides.
Elsewhere, the wine tasting gradings held so far by the Wine Tasting Committee of the Regulatory Council, reveal that the submitted items, corresponding to the 2009 vintage, are of a very good quality.
Presentation in Madrid
So far, the local market has been suffice to ensure the sales of virtually all the production of Txakoli of Bizkaia.
Nevertheless, this year has seen a marked increase of the vineyard area and there are still another 62 authorised hectares that will enter into production in the short run. This means that, shortly, the supply of txakoli will undergo a marked increase. An increase in production which can be spectacular if the weather conditions favour high yields in the vineyards.
A scenario in which the domestic consumption will cease to ensure the sales of much of the vintage and it will be necessary to resort to finding a ready market for the production. Therefore, the Regulatory Council has organised a presentation in Madrid for 8 March, 2010 and plans to attend the next editon of Alimentaria ("The International Food and Beverages Exhibition") to be held in Barcelona.
In tandem with this opening of new markets, the Council would like to insist on defending the good name of our wines, increasin the pressure on whose persons who fraudulently pass of the trademark "Txakoli" as their own. "In this sense, we will continue with the task of consumer awareness with the message "It is only txakoli if it has the officila counter-label". At the same time, we will not hesitate to speak out against wine makers and merchants who offer as txakoli wine which is only table wine of very dubious quality and origin, which has nothing to do with the genuine Txakoli of Bizkaia", stessed Elena Unzueta, president of the Regulatory Council of the D.O. (Apellation d'Origine Contrôlée) Bizkaiko Txakolina.
