The Basque Country is famous for a green, slightly sparkling and tart wine known locally as txakoli, and as chacolí elsewhere in Spain. It is produced in the region's three provinces: Guetaria (known as Getariako in Basque), Álava (Arabako) and Vizcaya (Bizkaiko).
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Location
Situated in the foothills of the mountains running down to the sea
in Guipuzcoa (Gipuzkoa), the Basque Country’s northwesterly
province, which borders on to France.
Grapes
- Red: Hondarrabi Beltza
- White: Hondarrabi Zuri
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Most chacolí is white wine with an average alcohol content of 10.5%. It is characteristically bracing, with a green-apple sour-sweetness and a hint of spritzy bubbles, designed to complement the wonderful local fish and shellfish cookery. Some winemakers are now moving away from the traditional image of chacolí by giving the wine greater fruitiness in the mouth.
The white version is more common in Chacolí de Guetaria, whereas the red is plentiful in Chacolí de Vizcaya. However, the small growing area and the wines growing local popularity provides little surplus to send abroad.
This wine is almost always drunk young - within a year of the vintage - and is traditionally poured an inch or so at a time into characteristic flat-bottomed tumblers and then drunk before it loses its sparkling edge.
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