El Txakoli, of whose grapes there are only a thousand hectares in the world, all in the the Basque Country, live a boom. All this after having removed the fame that it is only a young wine. "It has always been thought that it is a young wine, of the year, but it is the opposite", defends José Ángel Carrero, owner of the Berroja Winery . The winery is located in the beautiful area of Urdaibai (Vizcaya), Unesco Biosphere Reserve. Berroja Winery, opened 20 years ago, it only makes txakoli, of which it makes eight types. Why the boom in this wine?
Why the boom?
"It went from being a self-consumption wine to a gastronomic wine. The production has also changed: before it was done in a family way, in barrels and without yeasts, and now everything is done in stainless steel”, He explains.
When racer began, in 2010, “the txakoli had to taste like peach, Chardonnay and Sauvignon, flavors that have nothing to do with the Atlantic. Now people are aware of their uniqueness because they are such ".
Txakoli and its pairing
El Classic txakoli is still the one of the year, which pairs with anchovy, bonito, hake, shellfish or oysters. But in the tasting, Carrero offers wines from 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2017 to show that they are not just wines of the year. "These are not wines that I made to make them old, but we began to taste the ones that we had taken to the winery's cemetery," he says. Thus, those from 2009 and 2010 combine with quince or chocolate, and those from 2015 with oxtail or lamb.
La txakoli grape, mostly Hondarrabi Zuri, has a long cycle, like Cabernet, and needs many hours of sun to mature, says Carrero, who has 24 hectares.
Currently there is also a "Explosion of different types of" txakoli ", traditionally white. This winery started making rosé two years ago and plans to make red. In addition, it will market a natural, unfiltered wine of 2019, product of the pandemic. "We could not bottle for the confinement and we realized that we can keep wine cold, which is neither filtered nor stabilized ”.
Write: Monica Uriel. Journalist
