Irwin Mitchell Cheese & Wine Tasting

The Basque country is to classic Spain as chalk is to cheese. The lettering is different, and the names make you wonder if you've suddenly and accidentally wandered into Greece. Like many parts of Spain, vineyards in the Basque Country have been tended since Ancient Roman times. The region is bounded by the Bay of Biscay to the north and to match the resulting cuisine, the wines are piercingly acidic and refreshing.

Rezebal have 20 hectares of high-trained vines on the green, humid coastal outskirts of Zarautz in the small Chacolí de Guetaria DO. The Rezabals (Mireya and Anders) were folk singers in their youth, but their family history lay in wine and in 1996 they decided that wine was where their future lay too. They now have some 20 hectares of high trained vines on the green, humid coastal outskirts of Zarautz in the small DO of Txacolí Getariako, about halfway between the important Basque towns of Bilbao (Bilbo) and San Sebastián (Donostia).

Their entry wine is pure Hondarrabi Zuri, the most important indigenous grape of the region, with an exuberant lemony punch, a refreshing buoyancy and the hallmark, bracing acidity found nowhere else in the peninsula and just 11% alcohol. This is classic, coastal Txacolí with just the rightamount of spritz, typical of the style.

From Chris- "Pinotage has a reputation of being something of a “Marmite” variety and, in truth, I still blow pretty hot and cold with it. It’s very much a South African speciality - a cross between Cinsaut and Pinot Noir that’s been around for 80 or so years. At its best it’s all about lush, brambly fruit – loganberries and blackberries, at the other end of the scale it reeks of acetone and burnt rubber. I remember a tasting with Andre Van Rensberg, then winemaker with Vergelegen, who responded to a question with the retort “I’ve never killed anyone, never stolen from anyone and never planted Pinotage.” Any road up, I think this is rather good. Delheim were the first to produce a rose Pinotage in 1976 so they’ve had plenty of time to finetune their act. This is elegant and clean-as-a-whistle with more than a hint of strawberry fruit. Proper summertime rose."

100% País, from dry farmed vines which are estimated to be over 150 years old. Grapes are hand picked and destemmed and put in to open top wooden tanks where slow alcoholic fermentation takes place over 18 days with soft pump overs to avoid extraction. Malolactic fermentation takes place and the wine is aged in concrete eggs and old French oak barrels for 18 months. Red fruit aromas such as cherries and wild herbs, with an earthy hint. The palate shows firm and gentle tannins, structured and balanced, an elegant and complex wine that is reminiscent of Chile´s native forest.

Maison Roche de Bellene