Bikote
50% Graciano & 50% Garnacha
 |
The email was simply too funny: (in Spanish) “I think you’ll like it, but it is a really BIZARRO wine… only for wine lovers”. And you think I wasn’t curious? I begged for samples. They were simply fabulous. Aftr all this waiting, the wine is finally here.
Bikote, a couple in Basque, is the perfect wine pair, but also opposites both in the vineyard and in winemaking. The garnacha comes from a vineyard where it is grafted on cabernet rootstock while the Graciano is from 20-year-old trellises. As always, all vineyards are cultivated using organic methods. The wines are elaborated separately prior to blending. Each are destemmed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in slow fermentation. The garnacha was matured in barrels for about 12 months while the graciano was kept in stainless steel. Less than 700 bottles were filled in August 2020.
|
Reviews
2019 Vintage
- There is a new cuvée of 50% Garnacha and 50% Graciano that Tortosa calls 2019 Bikote. It was born of the idea to use Graciano or Mazuelo (Cariñena) to improve the acidity of Garnacha in warmer vintages and will be a range of ephemeral wines, not produced every year and possibly all different from each other. The destemmed grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts in a soft and slow fermentation kept with very low sulfur, and the wine was bottled unfilled and unfiltered after the Garnacha matured in barrel for 12 months while the Graciano was kept in stainless steel. It combines ripeness with freshness, with notes of black fruit and an earthy touch reminiscent of graphite. It’s medium to full-bodied, with a fine texture and small grainy tannins. It has a vibrant and tasty finish. 666 bottles were filled in August 2020. This is sold without appellation of origin.
92 pts — Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate