Wine: Try some Basque wines this week

Wine: Try some Basque wines this week

I recently had a bottle of wine which reminded me, yet again, just how much I love dry rosé. I’m often asked what my favorite wine is, and I have often said that if I could choose only one wine to drink if I were stranded on a deserted island, it would be dry rosé.
.I recently had a bottle of wine which reminded me, yet again, just how much I love dry rosé. I’m often asked what my favorite wine is, and I have often said that if I could choose only one wine to drink if I were stranded on a deserted island, it would be dry rosé.
This has as much to do with what I imagine I would be eating in this castaway scenario as with my actual love of the wine.
The wine I was drinking was a very unusual rosé. With Boise’s large Basque population, some readers probably are familiar with Txakoli, or Txakolina (pronounced cha-co-lee, or cha-co-leena). It is a quintessential wine of the Basque region of Spain.
White Txakolina represents 85 percent to 90 percent of the total production of the region, but red and rosé also are produced. Like its white counterpart, the rosé Txakolina is lightly sparkling and relatively low in alcohol, making it fantastically refreshing.
The one I tried is Ameztoi Txakolina and is available at a few places around town for about $15. Do try to get your hands on a bottle quickly; fewer than 10 cases were allocated for the entire state this year. And if you can’t find a bottle of the rosé, don’t despair. There are multiple brands of white Txakolina available in Boise for less than $15. The white also makes for a delicious and lively summer beverage.
The area where Txakolina is produced is famous for seafood and sea salt, which is exported throughout the world. As you might expect, the wines are perfectly suited for all manner of salty seafood dishes.
The timing of this wine’s arrival was serendipitous, because there is a Basque wine festival in town this week. You had to register for events by June 7, but you can use the festival as an excuse to try some Basque wines on your own.
The Basque people have a rich heritage of winemaking; however, the nature of politics, geography, and history can make it somewhat difficult to define where exactly the Basque wine region is. Some folks know little more about Basque wine than Kalimotxo, a drink made from Basque red wine and Coke. The drink is common in Basque communities, as well as in other parts of Spain, central Europe, and even Asia. And, while it has certainly contributed to many a night of revelry and many a morning of regret, do not be misled into thinking that it represents all that Basque wine has to offer.
Rioja is one of the most famous winemaking regions in Spain and is generally considered to be entirely Basque.
Less well known in the United States, but also considered to be within Basque country, is the wine region of Navarra, which produces red wines from classically-styled Tempranillo to more modern bottlings of Syrah and Cabernet. Navarra also is well-known for producing excellent dry rosé.
Historically, the Basque people were spread into southern France as well, which means some places even as far north as Bordeaux can lay claim to some Basque heritage.
Boise’s large Basque population provides a wonderful chance to learn about the wine, food, and culture of the Basque Country, and I strongly encourage anybody who hasn’t already done so to take advantage of this opportunity.
MORE BASQUE WINES TO TRY
In addition to the rosé txakolina, I also tried the Zudugarai Getariako Txakolina, which was a great example of the classic style txakolina, slightly fizzy and tremendously refreshing with character of citrus and bits of minerality and salinity. As with most txakolina, this one is available for less than $15.
Rioja can range in style from extremely old-school wines that take years to reach optimum drinking age to very bright, fruit-forward wines that can be consumed immediately upon release. The 2001 Ramon Bilbao Gran Reserva is an example of the former. The current release is now 10 years old, and it shows exactly why this style of Rioja is worth waiting for. It retails for about $30.

The Valdelana Rioja Tempranillo 2009 is a younger style Rioja, showing very nice, bright red fruit character. It’s perfect for sipping and retails for less than $10.

Leil Cardoza has been the inventory manager for 3 › years at the Boise Co-op Wine Shop. His column appears in Life on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. He also writes a blog about wine: ithinkaboutwine.wordpress.com. Email your wine questions to ithinkaboutwine@gmail.com.

Origin information: The News Tribune