News

The Basque Country and its food and drink culture has once again made headlines in the New York Times. This time, the subject is local wine Txakoli.

Txakoli has been making headway in the US since 1989 when, states the NYTimes, importer Jorge Ordoñez carried over 200 cases of Txomin Etxaniz "the granddaddy of Txakolina products".

In 2009, 111,000 bottles of Txakoli - of various appellations - were exported to the country.

What is more, says NYTimes reporter, Eric Asimov, "Txakolina" is making waves stateside in a way it has never managed back home in the Basque Country.

Aside from the most famous Txomin Etxaniz Getariako Txakolina "officially established in 1930, but with records dating to 1649," other styles of Txakoli have cornered markets in the US where at home they have "met with indifference".

Andoni Sarratea of Bakio-based winery Doniene Gorrondona told Mr Asimov, "the real Txakolina of the region is red... The old people drink it because it''s what they remember".

However red Txakoli, described by Asimov as "deliciously spicy, herbal, raspberry-scented", is almost entirely shipped to the US, while Txakolina rosé, he reports, "gorgeously zingy and fruity" is nearly all sold to New York.

André Tamers, the founder of De Maison Selections, an American wine-importer and leading importer of Txakoli to the States, received 14,000 bottles of Txakoli rosé in 2010, nowhere near enough to meet the "crushing demand".

Tamers, who fears for the level of demand in the US, explained his theory behind the wines'' success stateside:

"They''re simple, they''re fresh, they''re easy, and I think that people are starved for something like that," he told Eric Asimov.