Artadi Izar-Leku 2019

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate: “The sparkling 2019 Izar-Leku, from an average year with the usual rain (1,300 liters), has the usual parameters: moderate alcohol, low pH and very high acidity that add to the mineral and saline character of the wine. The base wine matured for one year with lees, one-third in barrel, before it was put to referment in bottle, where it matured for 36 months before it was disgorged. They feel their work in the vineyard, reducing yields, are now paying back. They feel there’s more depth from the vineyard and less bakery aromas from the yeasts. The wine is elegant, clean and subtle, with a very harmonious palate and a faint touch of creaminess from partial malolactic, but it is still sharp and with very good freshness and acidity, vibrant and tasty with a salty twist in the finish. This is a very surprising wine that has been growing from vintage to vintage. They feel they have got to where they wanted to get with this wine. It is impressive. They bought a further seven hectares of vineyards, and in the future, they should grow to a total of 40,000 to 50,000 bottles; they did 30,000 bottles from 2022. In 2019, they produced 13,000 bottles.” 95 Points