Eugenio Alava Ugarte was the visionary and first generation of the project to revitalize txakoli in the 1980s and 90s. He was responsible for the vision of replanting the txakoli vineyards he remembered as a boy with his original 6ha of hondarrabi zuri in 1988. In 2005, Eugenio’s two sons, the Alava brothers, furthered the family project by striking out on their own as Artomaña Txakolina. Together they founded a new cellar, combining their vineyards to achieve the current 20ha and with the rebirth of the txakoli tradition, passing Eugenio’s vision onto the third generation.

They named their wine Xarmant: “charming” in French, a fitting reflection of this joyous wine from the bountiful Amurrio valley in Spanish Basque Country. Artomaña Txakolina is located north of the town of Amurrio at 350m in the verdant foothills of the Sierra Salvada mountains, next to the Nervión river before the magnificent waterfall of Salto del Nervión drops over 270m, creating one of the highest and most beautiful waterfalls in all of Western Europe. The Amurrio valley faces the Atlantic Ocean where its proximity creates a unique, ideal microclimate. As an aside, this valley is also rich in sloe berries utilized for the local Basque liqueur, Pacharán.