Domaine Arretxea Hegoxuri 2005
Domaine Arretxea “Hegoxuri” 2005 (Irouléguy) The unfamiliar words comprising the name of this wine come from Basque, as does this wine. It is a blend of Gros Manseng (55%), Petite Manseng (35%) and Petit Courbu (10%). For the curious, the names of the grapes in Basque are Izkiriota, Izkiriota Itipia and Xuri Zerratia respectively.
The wine has a hint of oxidative handling to the nose as well as a little botrytise. That said, he has a very lifted grapey character. The palate is minerally with prickly acidity, likely no malo here. There’s a feeling of the traditional about the wine and yet it’s clean and pure. With a creamy cheese, this was superb. It also handled the spiciness of a lapin à la moutarde very well — many others would have failed.
