Ameztoi with Getaria in the background, photo courtesy of the winery. I have just returned from a wonderful trip to Australia and New Zealand and will be telling you about some of my experiences over there in the future. In the meantime, I have returned to some very warm weather and so sought out some lovely fresh white wine to enjoy with some seafood so that I could properly celebrate this last fling of summer.
Txakoli is a wine style that I love and have written about before, but until recently it has been considered somewhat obscure. In fact I liked it so much that I made it my Wine of the Week. Wine map of Spain, see Getariako Txakolina on the Atlantic coast to the east of Bilbao β click for a larger view.
Getaria is a wonderful place almost totally dedicated to hedonism, bars and restaurants line the streets. Much of the cooking is done outside, so the smell of grilling fish is a constant and guaranteed to make you hungry.
In many ways it works to go there on your way to San Sebastian as it prepares you for the delights to come. One of the great pintxo bars in Getaria, note the sea urchin and octopus. If you are a hedonist and like food and wine, then San Sebastian β Donostia in Basque β is a place you must visit. It is teeming with bars and life, the best tapas in Spain β they call them pintxos β and loads of Michelin star restaurants too, if that is your thing.
Txakoli should really be poured from a great hight into a tumbler β get a Txakoli pourer if you can. My Txakoli being poured in San Sebastian, note the green Txakoli pourer in the end of the bottle, it helps to aerate the wine and they also use them for cider in the Basque country.
