Parker über:
Ondarea
The 2022 Ondarea comes from the beginning of a warm and dry cycle—almost the opposite of 2021—and the south wind made the grapes ripen very quickly. It is a single-vineyard white from the first plot they planted in 1995, pure Hondarrabi Zuri on red clay and gypsum soils. It fermented and matured in used 500- and 600-liter oak barrels with around 20% of chestnut wood, where it matured with lees for four months. It's primary and floral despite its age, with some creamy/lanolin-like notes, perhaps pollen; it's different from the others but not oaky at all. It's a little riper and comes in at 13% alcohol, with a pH of 3.1, which means very good freshness. 3,776 bottles and 100 magnums produced. It was bottled in September 2023. 2022 is the vintage on the market, but they still have small quantities from past vintages. 2023 gave a shorter crop, and the wine was not produced in 2024, which was a very challenging vintage.