Gorka Izagirre Arima 2020

Arima is a white wine of late maturing from Bizkaiko Txakolina Appellation. It is a pirouette for going even further. It uses the essence of some grapes that partially dehydrate in the stock before the beginning of November, when they are to be harvested. A practice that is only possible in vineyard grown on territories with low rainfall level which allows to maintain the clusters more time in the stock. The result is a sweet wine, which in this geoclimate does not lose its acidity as some great European wines of this sort do. It comes from a particular vineyard of almost 2 hectares, which is 15 years old. They are the sunniest plots, generally the steepest ones, facilitating less rain water retention in the ground.

The used grape is 100% Hondarrabi, native variety, of very small clusters on average with weigh between 100 and 120 gr, at most having 3 clusters per plant. The grapes were selected by hand, cluster by cluster, in boxes of 15 kg. Once in the winery, the clusters had their stems removed, followed by a 12-hour pre-fermentative criomaceration in inert atmosphere, which facilitates berries aromatic extraction at a low temperature without alcohol presence. The grapes are then subjected to light pressing to pass static sediments removal or clarification for 36 hours at 10°C before 14-day fermentation in new 500-litre French oak barrels at a temperature of 14°C. The fermentation stops before sugar disappears in order to maintain its sweetness, eliminating the yeasts to prevent the wine from complete fermentation. This wine was aged for six months on its lees, also in new French fine oak barrels, later to be poured into steel tanks for clarification and stirring and to be left absolutely clean and transparent before bottling, where it was matured for 3 more months before being sent to the market.

As a result, the obtained wine has a bright yellow colour, with a honeyed aroma, with faded flowers and crystalized fruit, with a fatty paladar taste, sweet, of exquisite acidity and freshness.