According to the Basque Gastronomic Dictionary-Encyclopaedia “the words chacolí, txakolí, txakolin, chacolín or txakolina, are all used to name the Basque Country’s characteristic wine, light, extremely lively on the palate and with an elegant aroma”. Established in 1994, Chacolí de Vizcaya / Bizkaiko Txakolina is a young appellation created to protect and promote txakolis produced and made in Vizcaya. In its short lifetime, it has managed to recover this ancestral wine and reach a level of quality and volume that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

The province of Vizcaya belongs to the Autonomous Region of the Basque Country. A region with a long coastline, surrounded by the Bay of Biscay. Industrial and urban development left their mark on this region during the 20th century, in the same way as the tenacity of a group of agricultural and livestock farmers who worked to preserve the traditional crops and to obtain recognition for the quality of their products, wine being one of them, known commonly as “txakoli” (in Basque) or “chacolí” (in Castilian).
At the end of the 20th century, after enjoying a splendid past, with an important socio-economic presence, a progressive recession began that culminated in the ‘70s with the almost total disappearance of the Vizcaya vineyards.
It was at the beginning of the ‘80s when a group of winemakers got together to form the Asociación de Chacolineros de Vizcaya (BIALTXA), (Vizcaya Txacoli-Makers Association) and with the support of the Basque Authorities launched a campaign to restore this exquisite and individual wine. As a result of this work and collaboration in 1994 DO "Chacolí de Vizcaya - Bizkaiko Txakolina" was born, with the objective of recovering the native grape varieties and promote the modernisation of the vitiviniculture techniques and processes to achieve a wine of renowned quality. Its head-office is located in Leioa, at only 8kms from Bilbao.
From a geoclimatic point of view, Vizcaya is a typical Atlantic region. That is to say, it has a mild and rainy climate, with annual rainfall of between 1,000 and 1,300mm spread equally throughout the year. It has a low altitude mountainous relief, that together with its proximity to the Bay of Biscay, condition the agricultural production activity.
Its soils are heterogeneous, although they could be described as sand-clay, slightly acid, with low permeability and with a fine surface layer rich in organic material.

DO Chacolí de Vizcaya / Bizkaiko Txakolina endorses vineyards planted in the province located at a maximum altitude of 400 meters. In total, they occupy an extension of around 240 hectares that are divided between 66 bodegas, of which 58 have made txacolí during this harvest, with a production of 895,000 litres, a drop of around 40,000 litres in comparison to the previous campaign. Like many of the other regions in the north of the Iberian peninsula this year, the reason for this fall in productivity can be found in the adverse weather conditions suffered during the whole of the viticulture year.
Ondarrabi Zuri (white) and Ondarrabi Beltza (red) are the main or recommended varieties, whereas the unlimited endorsed variety is Ondarrabi Zuri Zerratia (Petit Courbu). Other endorsed varieties recognised by the regulating body are: Mune Mahatsa (Folle Blanche), Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Izakiriot Ttipi (Petiti Manseng), Izkiriot Haundi (Gros Manseng) and Riesling.
The Mune Mahatsa (Folle Blanche) variety, processed by the bodegas, must not exceed 20 percent of the vineyard’s total surface area as from 2011. Similarly, the combined total of the rest of the endorsed varieties processed by the bodegas, must also not exceed 20 percent of the vineyard’s total surface area. With these limitations, the Regulating Council hopes to guarantee a predominance of the native varieties in the coupaje made by the bodegas and preserve the special character that makes txacolí unique, and gifted with a great personality.