Collection: Izadi

Located in Rioja Alavesa, Izadi aims to produce wines that express the character of the varieties indigenous to Rioja: Viura, Malvasía, Garnacha Blanco & Tinto, Tempranillo Blanco & Tinto, Graciano, and Mazuelo. They own 72 hectares and have access to another 108 hectares through long-term contracts. All are located within a triangle formed by Villabuena, Samaniego, and Ábalos – hence the triangle on their labels. Farming is sustainable, with many organic practices to eventually convert their vines to certified organic. The average age of their vineyards is greater than fifty years old. The soils are a mix of sandy clays and clay-limestone typical of vineyards situated at the foot of the Sierra de Cantabria.

Stylistically, they adhere to a middle ground between tradition and modernism, valuing the former’s elegance to the latter’s fruit-forward qualities. The Antón Family founded Izadi in 1987 after years of managing vineyards in Villabuena de Alaba and restaurants in Vitoria. Most notably, the Antóns own and run the one-star Michelin Restaurant Zaldiaran in Vitoria. The transition from a purely culinary family to one that also embraced winemaking began in 1997 when Don Gonzalo Antón hired Mariano Garcia (the former technical director of Vega Sicilia and the current director of Aalto in Ribera del Duero) to assess their vineyards, complement them with setting up contracts with their neighbors and constructing a cellar to make their own wines. Together with Roberto Vicente, the current winemaker for Izadi, the Antóns, and Mariano Garcia created what we now recognize as the Izadi style: robust yet refined, modern, and elegant.

This Villabuena-based producer obtains its grapes from over 180Ha, 100 of which are own by Izadi. All of them are located on the Sierra de Cantabria foothills, in a triangle formed by the villages of Villabuena, Samaniego and Ábalos and whose average size is under 1,5 hectares. The triangle on their labels tries to highlight this fact.

While the Crianza (€9, 800,000 bottles) is widely available, Izadi Selección (€13, 95,000 bottles) sources grapes from the oldest vineyards with an average age of 60 years and includes 20% of Graciano alongside the prevailing Tempranillo.

El Regalo Reserva (20,000 bottles, €19) is a single vineyard red which aims to be classified as “viñedo singular” and will carry the organic seal from the 2019 vintage. Grapes are sourced from a four-hectare plot which has preserved part of the original plantings from 1936. The former owner gifted it to his wife (regalo means gift, hence the name) and their sons built afterwards a small chapel devoted to Nuestra Señora del Regalo.

Collection: Izadi

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