Makatzak

Aitor Irazu founded Makatzak Wild Wines with his cousin, Jon Estebanez, in 2019, when they obtained the Sorgintxulo vineyard near the town of Aia in Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country. Aitor had worked previously at a local winery in the same city, and his cousin works as a carpenter. From the outset, the goal was to farm organically and biodynamically, and make wine with limited intervention in the cellar. Sargintxulo seemed like the perfect place to make this a reality. Aitor got to work reviving and farming the parcel.

The vineyard is a 3 hectare ecosystem, primarily planted to the local Hondarrabi Zuri grape, with some Hondarrabi Beltza. Extremely steep, facing south with slate soils and the traditional parral-trained vines, it is isolated from its neighbors and hadn't seen any chemical treatments in years. But Sargintxulo was in a difficult condition when they purchased it: abandoned five years before, it was full of various native plants and weeds, and required two years of hard work to recover to the point that it could produce grapes for wine. Makatzak's first successful harvest was in 2021; organic and biodynamic certifications are being sought and should be received in the next few years. In addition to his work at Sargintxulo, Aitor purchases grapes from a neighbor whose vineyard is inland from Sargintxulo and also farmed organically to make the wine Ghaur. 

In the cellar, Aitor Irazu works simply. After harvesting by hand in 10kg boxes, the grapes are fermented with native yeasts in neutral vessels and age in the same. Nothing is fined or filtered, and sometimes a small amount of sulfur (<15mg total) is added at bottling.


The Wines

Ghaur is 60% Hondarrabi Zuri and 40% Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratia (aka Petit Courbu) from organically and biodynamically farmed vines planted at 400m in a 2-hectare parcel in the Mendarte area. The soils are sandy loam with bands of sandstone. The grapes are harvested and dstemmed, then pressed to ferment in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks with native yeasts. After fermentation, the wine rested on its lees for ten months without bâtonnage in the same vessels. Bottled without fining or filtering and with only a small addition of SO2.

Sorkin is 100% Hondarrabi Zuri from an organically and biodynamically farmed own-rooted 3ha parcel situated at 300m elevation. It is planted on south-facing terraces of clay loam shot through with calcareous slate, trained on parral (pergola), and surrounded by forest and pasture. The grapes are hand-harvested in 10kg boxes with initial sorting in the vineyard, destemmed and pressed into stainless steel tank for an initial 36 hours of cold settling. Fermentation is at cool temperature in tank and the wine is raised on fine lees for 16 months without battonage. The finished wine is bottled unfined, unfiltered and without added SO2.

Narrasti is 90% Hondarrabi Zuri and 10% Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratia (aka Petit Courbu) from organically and biodynamically farmed own-rooted vines planted at 300m in a south-facing 3-hectare parcel called Sorgintxulo near the town of Aia. The parcel is terraced and the vines are trained on parral (pergola). The soils here are thin clay loam with calcareous and slate inclusions. 25-30% of the grapes are destemmed and skin-macerated for 3 weeks during primary fermentation, then racked into a used 400L French barrique and a 225L tinaja. The rest of the grapes are direct-pressed and fermented in stainless steel tanks. The wine rests on fine lees for 11 months before racking and blending. Bottled without fining, filtering and only a small SO2 addition.
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Harri Ta Zur is 90% Hondarrabi Zuri and 10% Hondarrabi Zuri Zerratia from organically and biodynamically farmed  own-rooted vines planted at 300m in a south-facing 3-hectare parcel called Sorgintxulo near the town of Aia. The parcel is terraced and the vines are trained in pergolas.  The soils here are thin clay loam with calcareous and slate inclusions. The grapes are destemmed and pressed to ferment in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks with native yeasts. Partially through fermentation, the musts are transferred to 225L neutral oak barrels to finish fermenting and go through malolactic conversion. The wine rests on lees in these barrels for 10 months, with periodic bâtonnage. Bottled without fining, filtering or SO2 addition, and aged in bottle for 12 months before release.

Location

General Info

  • Founded: 2019
  • Region: Gipuzkoa
  • Town: Aia
  • Climate: Atlantic
  • Soils: Predominantly slate
  • Farming: Organic and biodynamic 
  • Grower: Aitor Irazu

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