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Food and beverage matching, according to Donostia-San Sebastián Basque Culinary Center''s head, Jose María Aizegoa, is more relevant than we think. In an interview for Basque public radio station Euskadi Irratia (which broadcasts in euskera, or Basque language), he admitted that there is no doubt about it.

In fact, professionals on cuisine keep on looking into the matter and studying the possibilities of the pairing of wines such as txakoli with different meals. For instance, this Basque light, young wine, perfectly matches with seafood, fish and even cheese.

After all, wine and food matching is actually a movement boosted in the US during the 80s by a group haute-cuisine lovers who started working on it demanding perfect care from culinary arts. The initiative was aimed to provide the wine an added value and separate it from its alcoholic character to give it more sophistication.

Basque Culinary Center organizes training courses intended for chefs and sommeliers to go beyond this subjective matter.

Separately, president of Bizkaiko Txakolina (Biscay''s txakoli) association Guillermo Iturriondobeitia was also interviewed by the Basque radio. As he says, Biscay''s txakoli, as a full-bodied wine, is perfect to be tasted together with the food, while Gipuzkoa''s txakoli is recommended before meals.

Latest txakoli harvest, according to experts, has been perfect and the production is a 15 per cent bigger than the last year, with a total amount of 1, 2 million litres. 20 per cent will be intended for the US market.