After being a partner at Bat Gara, a leading winery in DO Arabako Txakolina, priest Juanjo Tellaetxe embarked on his solo project. Grapes are sourced from four family vineyards in Artomaña and Delika, next to the impressive Nervión River waterfall in the Arrastaria Valley.
The five hectares of vineyards, the oldest being over 10 years old, are planted mainly to Hondarrabi Zuri and Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratia (Petit Courbu), as well as some Riesling and Chardonnay, plus one hectare of Hondarrabi Beltza, which Tellaetxe remembers seeing in the family home. This red variety grows well in this drier area, where 60% of the valley was under vine in the mid-19th century.
His first vintage was 2017. Beyond the fresh, sapid single-varietal Hondarrabi Zuri Tantaka (10,000 bottles, €15), Tellaetxe produces the more unctuous Tantaka Selección, later renamed Tantaka Diapiro (€20) which is sealed with an orange beeswax capsule and includes 25% Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratia in the blend. The first one is a single-vineyard white made from 12-year-old vines that is fermented and aged with its lees for five months in stainless steel tanks. This same vineyard provides half of the grapes destined to Tantaka Diapiro, which is aged for seven months; the rest is sourced from two additional plots grown in the same valley.
There is also a red made from Hondarrabi Beltza (€17) in limited quantities. It is fermented in oak barrels, aged in stainless steel tanks for six months plus a couple of months in oak barrels.
The latest addition to the portfolio is an interesting Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratia wine that is aged for five months with its lees in stainless steel tanks (€17, 2,200 bottles)
Tellaetxe works with a tractor although he harvests by hand, mows the cover crop by hand and applies limited quantities of copper, sulphur, horsetail and willow to his vines. Yields (6,000 to 7,500 kg/ha) are low for what is permitted in DO Arabako Txakolina (13,000kg/ha). Moderately deep, alluvial soils are dominant in his vineyards.
