Ulacia

Wine does not have to be complicated, and nowhere is this better demonstrated than in Julián and Amaia Ulacia’s simple but functional winery above the small fishing port of Getaria, a few kilometers along the coast from San Sebastián in the heart of Basque Country. This 6-hectare estate was founded in the 1940s and is now operated by the third generation of family ownership. They produce a scant 6,000 cases of wine annually, much of which is consumed locally. True to the classic type of Getariako Txakolina (the official name of the appellation, which dates only to 1989), the wines are cold-fermented and cold-bottled straight from the tank– no lees stirring– for a classic petillant prickle to go with their razor-sharp crisp fruit. 

The Ulacia’s holdings are planted to approximately 95% Hondaribi Zuri (the local white grape) and 5% Hondarribi Beltza (the red) in the trellised system classic to the zone that allows maximum airflow in this extremely wet area. In years where rosé is produced, essentially all the red grapes go towards it, whereas in years of little or no rosé production the white wine sees an admixture of red grapes, which does not affect color as every bunch at this address is whole-cluster direct-pressed.