History & Origins

A Family’s Return to the Land

Roberto Ibarretxe and his brother Agustín grew up watching their parents, Pilar and Agustín, devote their lives to their dairy farm in the village of Zaratamo. Pilar, known locally as “the milkwoman,” sold bottled milk with her husband, and the family lived constantly tied to the demands of the cows. Their parents wanted something different for their sons, so they encouraged them to study. Agustín became an engineer, and Roberto a psychologist.

Their studies eventually brought them back to the village, where they purchased the old caserío (Basque farmhouse) for their parents. The family had lived there since 1780 without owning it, but long-term residence gave them purchase rights.

The land surrounding the farmhouse would soon define a new direction for the Ibarretxe family. While Roberto was studying in San Sebastián, he became connected with txakoli producers from the nearby province of Gipuzkoa. Conversations about giving up the cows and changing the family’s way of life led him to recall that txakoli had always been made at home. That memory became the seed of a new project.

With a dream to rejuvenate the local txakoli tradition and honor its contribution to the gastronomic and cultural history of Zaratamo, Roberto and Agustín recovered traditional grape varieties and planted their first vines in 1985. Several years later, they began making wine and named their project Uriondo, after the caserio which houses the winery.

It was during this time that Roberto met his wife, Isabel Viñas. Isabel began helping with the harvest in 1996, which sparked an interest in winemaking. Although she had initially completed a psychology degree, she decided to study a masters in oenology. Since 2010, Isabel has been the winemaker at Uriondo, working side by side with Roberto and doing all work manually from vineyard to bottle.