Wineries Showroom - 2009 Vintage
On a cold and rainy afternoon, the Mendibile Palace became, once again, the "must" rendezvous for all wine lovers and connoisseurs who wished to savour the new vintage in which the Txakoli tastes of quality.
On 8 February a rendezvous was held in the Mendibile Palace of Leioa with the sixteen wineries that had obtained an increase in production of txakoli for the 2009 vintage to give the go-ahead to vintage that, according to the experts in the field indicates, has both quality and quantity.
And the fact is that, following the entry into production of 62 new hectares, the total amount of Txakoli of Bizkaia has increased by 15% as compared to the previous vintage.
This Wineries Showroom, intended primarily for the hotel business sector, reaped some very good reviews both by the showroom goers as well as the participants themselves, who proudly displayed the results of their efforts. As the president herself of the Regulatory Council, Elena Unzueta, observed a few days ago, this success is due "to the Biscayan winegrowers who have learned to live with these very difficult climatic conditions, and the effort of being on top of the vineyard, that year after year has achieved acceptable yields and an average quality of a very good grape".
As special witnesses of the magnificent results obtained following these efforts, and in the company of the hosts Elena Unzueta and Jose Antonio Txapartegi, president and secretary of the Regulatory Council respectively, those who attended the event were Jon Azkue, Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development of the Basque Government; Imanol de la Fuente, director of Food Quality Department of the Basque Government; Amaia Barrena, director of the Department of Innovation and Food Industry; Joseba Mikel Arieta-Araunabeña, director of the Bilbao Chamber of Commerce; Imanol Landa, mayor of Getxo; Josu Loroño, councillor for Communication for Getxo; Joseba Goikouria, mayor of Erandio; Juan Ramon Muguruza, head of the Agricultural Service of the Provincial Council of Biscay.
Sixteen ambassadors of a single Appellation
Once inside the place, tastings of the txakolis of Munetaberri (Bilbao), Gorrondona (Bakio), Magalarte (Lezama and Zamudio) and Oxinbaltza (Muxika) welcomed the ambassadors. That way, following that initial contact with the wines from such very different places, the visitors continued with the wine tasting route on the upper floor of the palace tasting the txakolis of Itsasmendi (Gernika), Iturrialde (Larrabetzu), Uriarte (Gamiz-Fika), Virgen de Lorea (Zalla), Berroja (Muxika), Bikandi (Durango), Txabarri (Zalla), Gurrutxaga (Mendexa), Elizalde (Elorrio), Abio (Bakio), Gure Ahaleginak (Orduña) and Otxanduri (Arrankudiaga).
As occurred last year for this event, on this occasion the visitors were once again bestowed with a wine tasting book where in great detail the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée was explained as well as a reference for each of these wineries, along with space for taking notes on each and every one of the exhibited trademarks.
