DO Chacolí de Vizcaya / Bizkaiko Txakolina concentrates on making white wines, that represent more than 80 percent of its total production, although modest batches of reds and rosés, commonly know as “rooster eye”, owning to its colour, are still made.
The whites are wines with an alcoholic content of 11º-12º, pale yellow in colour with greenish iridescence or steely with highlights of fruity aromas together with floral and woody hints. It is slightly acid to taste, refreshing and balanced, with a fairly persistent aftertaste in which a slight bitterness can be appreciated that invites one to keep on drinking. When it is recently bottled a light carbonic presence can be detected, that disappears after a brief time in the bottle. Its recommended drinking temperature is 8ºC – 9ºC and always the year after the harvest.
Although it has always been characterised as being a young and light wine, the unstoppable improvements in vitiviniculture practices and techniques have made modern Vizcaya taxolis have a more a noticeable structure, a fact that had led various bodegas to make whites fermented in oak or aged on lees. These are wines that, without losing their marked fruity character, turn out to be more complex, owing to their ageing process.
Furthermore, some bodegas, driven by the opportunity to explore new possibilities, go even further in their quest to experiment. A result of this effort is the recent marketing of a ‘vendimia tardía’ (late harvest wine) and a sparkling wine. Wines that, if they are to be controlled by the Regulating Council, cannot official be considered as txacolí but as “special wines”.
Rosés, that in their heyday enjoyed great popularity, have seen their production limited in recent years. Their alcohol content is between 11ª –11.5º and they ought to be made with at least 50 percent of the Ondarrabi Beltza red variety. Pink in colour, with nuances that shift between pale strawberry and raspberry, they present a frank aroma of small wild fruits, with garden and green pepper hints. It is a light to medium structured wine, refreshing and lively with a long, fruity aftertaste typical of the variety. Its recommended drinking temperature is 10º C, and always the year after the harvest.