Wines from The Basque Country

The Basque Country is regarded as a European food sanctuary. It's true that there are few places where enthusiasm for the pleasures of the table (and good wine) is so deeply-rooted, and few cuisines have so many admirers across Spain as the Basque one.

The Basques can boast that a significant part of the Spanish wines that go out onto the market with the Rioja label are produced within their Autonomous Community.

In fact, the Alavan Rioja (Alava is one of the three Basque provinces) is home to many of the wineries, Marques de Riscal, Contino, Remelluri, Faustino Martinez, Palacio, Campillo, among others, which have cemented Rioja's good name.

Apart from the great labels, the province of Alava produces the so-called harvester's wines; young reds, full of fruity aromas, light and slightly pungent on the palate, very much in line with the "Beaujolais Nouveau" from the other side of the Pyrennees.

The list of Basque wines doesn't stop there. Geteriako Txakolina (Chacoli de Guetaria) and Bizkaiako Txacolina (Chacoli de Voxcaya) are the designations for some light, generally white, wines with a subtle acidic touch and strong personality. Perfect for accompanying the wonderful grilled fish and seafood which are so popular along the Basque coast.

Alavan Rioja
At the moment, the individual vineyard owner in the Alavan Rioja has on average only about eight hectares of land. However, there are plenty of large landowning wine producers, a higher percentage, in fact, than in the rest of the Rioja D.O. About 50% of the small vineyard owners produce their own wine, leaving considerably less grapes available for the market than in other parts of Rioja.

One of the main attractions of the Alavan Rioja is the survival, in this Basque strip belonging to the Rioja D.O., of a very old, original style of wine called locally "harvester's red", which is made exclusively to be drunk young by the method known as "carbonic maceration", fermenting whole grapes without pressing.

Choose a region for more information about wines in Spain

Choose a region for information about restaurants in Spain:

Visit our Spanish food pages to find out more about it.

To combine the discovery of food, wine and exciting tours, visit our culinary tours in Spain section.

If you know of a typical dish or an excellent wine that we haven't mentioned here please share it with us by sending an e-mail to: info@spanish-living.com