Gorrondona 2005 Bizkaiko Txakolinatto Aldape Spain. 12.5% alcohol. Imported by De Maison Selections. $22.99 from Chambers Street Wine.
Deep red color, deep hue, very dark fruit aroma with hints of smoke and roasted meat and herbs, very complex tastes of fruit, spice, herbs, minerals and earth, evolving and changing over three hours in quite extraordinary ways, firm tannis that softened and lengthened over time, long finish with all those notes and more.
Excellent match with goat cheese and figs, with just a bit of honey, which seemed to soften some of the harsher tannin notes in quite a remarkable way. A fascinating wine; I'll try to track down the 2004 vintage which Florida Jim enjoyed. 4*+.
Notes:
Robinson OCW3: Hondarrabi: family of Spanish basque vine varieties. Hondarrabi Zuri, of which 364 ha/900 acres were identified in Spain's official vine statistics in 2004, is light berried and more common in Getariako txakoli than the dark-berried Hondarrabi Beltza, which is more common in Bizkaiko Txakoli around Bilbao. dna profiling at Madrid suggested that Hondarrabi Zuri could be a hybrid between Vitis vinifera and another vitis species.
http://www.demaisonselections.com/
CSW: This red wine from the Basque region is made from Hondarrabi Beltza, a grape thought to be related to Cabernet Franc. This wine from 100+ year old pre-phylloxera vines is surprisingly complex - earth and minvereral notes with dark cherry fruit.
Floriday Jim: Tasted with:
First: Manchego cheese, figs and crackers
Second: pasta with zucchini, cream, parmesan, chicken and a topping of fresh tomatoes
2004 Gorrondona, Bizkaiko Txakolina (pronounced chack-o-LEE-nah): This wine is from the Basque region of Spain and is made with the grape hondarrabi beltza, an indigenous variety. The vines are over 100 years old, from a single vineyard and the fermentation is done in stainless. Very dark fruit on the nose, somewhat roasted, with accents of scorched earth and herbs – intriguing; intense dark fruit in the mouth with herbs, chalky bitter-chocolate tannins and a rustic but balanced delivery; long finish. The tannins smoothed out over the course of the evening yet never lost grip. 12.5% alcohol, and about $18 on release: I’d buy it again.
I chose the wine to match with the Spanish cheese but then Diane found the figs (which also do well with manchego). By then the wine was already opened so we ate the cheese and figs without it but when we had only the crackers and cheese it really paired nicely as the cheese became creamier and the wine lost some of its bitter-chocolate notes and smoothed out.
With the second course, the wine also did well as the cream and cheese softened it and the fresh tomatoes made the herbal notes complimentary (almost like having basil with fresh tomato).
(Aside: This wine has come a long way since release when it was too tannic to drink and the herbal tones were dominant – now they are simply an accent and a light one, at that.)
2004 Gorrondona, Bizkaiko Txakolina (red):
The grape is hondarrabi beltza from 100+ year old, ungrafted vines in the Basque; it’s 12% alcohol and fermented in stainless. A pungent leafy/herbal streak is center stage in the nose with solid red fruit and mineral notes (sort of Loire cab. franc like); the herbaceousness steps aside on the palate as the fruit becomes more complex and detailed; long, very detailed finish. 99% of the time I don’t like this much herb in my wine but this got better in the glass and became so complex and challenging that I was enamored; even Diane, who hates ‘green’ in her wine, liked this. About $18.
I do believe I’ll let this sleep awhile; such was my impression.