2010 Gurrutxaga Bizkaiko Txakolina Rosé (Previously $20)

SKU #1067534 90 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

The 2010 Rosado is salmon pink with an enticing nose of sea salt and strawberry. Crisp, lively, and surprisingly mouth-filling, it will drink nicely over the next 12-18 months." (06/11) 90 points Stephen Tanzer: "Light orange-pink. Fresh red berries, spices and minerals on the expressive nose. Bright and tightly wound, offering intense, mineral-driven flavors of blood orange and wild red berries. Balanced and pure rose with excellent finishing clarity, cut and length. This checks in at 10.5% alcohol and is absurdly easy to drink. (6/ 2011)

90 points Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar

Light orange-pink. Fresh red berries, spices and minerals on the expressive nose. Bright and tightly wound, offering intense, mineral-driven flavors of blood orange and wild red berries. Balanced and pure rose with excellent finishing clarity, cut and length. This checks in at 10.5% alcohol and is absurdly easy to drink. (6/ 2011)

K&L Notes

Gurrutxaga is located in the txakoli sub-zone of Bizkaia, a bit closer to Bilbao than to San Sebastián. Their vineyards, consisting of hondarribi zuri, Mune Mahatsa (gros manseng), Txori Mahatsa (Courbu), and old vine Hondarribi Beltza (the rare red variety used for their rosé) are situated on beautiful, green sloping hills that afford a magnificent close-up view of the ocean. This rosé, along with Ameztoi's, has earned a real cult following. Gurrutxaga's is a very different style though, produced by bleeding Hondarribi Beltza (red) grapes, which due to the ripeness of the vintage and a bit longer maceration, produce a deeply colored, distinctive, bitter cherry flavored elixir, with added freshness and verve provided by the slight petillance (effervesence). This wine will wonderfully complement a variety of foods, from seafood to roasted chicken or paella.