We avoided watching the England Germany friendly by heading out for some tapas. The restaurant was far fuller than I'd expected and the service was grim. Catching a waiter (I'm opting to use that as a generic term - 'waitperson' just feels weird) was hard work, so when we forgot to order sherry it was just too late to recover. We'd gone straight to the wine list and I chose a Txomin Etxaniz Blanco Chacoli de Guetaria DO 2006. My reasoning was simple. I'd never heard of it before and I'd never tried a Basque wine.
It's made of Hondarribi Zuri and other local, unpronounceable grapes. Water white it had a gentle aroma of blossoms. Dry with a brisk rickle on the tongue, it's crisply acidic and positively zippy. There's some sweet fruit, but the overwhelming sense is of refreshment - the perfect tapas accompaniment.
At 10.5% alcohol it's quite light, and it comes in an oddly Germanic bottle. The barman told us the owner liked to carve out a hole in the cork with a penknife and pour it from a height to maximise aeration. It sounded bonkers but it seems in Basque country they have a special pouring device and tall glasses for that very reason. I recently received a different aerating tool as a pressie so maybe I'll try it out.
We paid about £18 which was at the upper end of the wine list, but pretty good value as it seems to retail at about £10.
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