Nowhere does cooking enjoy such a high status as in the Basque Country. This is reflected, for example, in the fact that the kitchen is traditionally located in the middle of the house. Or that an exceptionally large number of top chefs come from the Basque Country. The typical thing about Basque cuisine is that it is always limited to very few ingredients – and usually dispenses with spices. In fact, the gardens on the Bay of Biscay produce incomparably tasty products. One who has perfected the art of these authentic flavors is Eneko Atxa of the Azurmendi restaurant in Labarretzu near Bilbao. The restaurant not only has three Michelin stars, but also its own greenhouse, vegetable garden and associated winery. And what applies to Basque vegetables and meat also applies, of course, to the wine specialty Txakoli: This white wine impresses with particularly intense aromas. While Eneko creates avant-garde appetizers in the kitchen with incredible precision and a love of experimentation, his uncle Gorka Izagirre does the same in the wine cellar. With a lot of patience, the renowned winemaker observed, tasted, selected – and finally created the G22. It was his goal «to capture the essence of the grape variety Hondarrabi Zerratia and bring it into the bottle». In doing so, Gorka Izagirre elevates Txakoli to a new level. A must-have for every gourmet!
