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Spain in the News |
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From Wines from Spain News: Vol. XX, No. 1 "Enjoying the Food & Wine of San Sebastián"I traveled last summer with my husband, Luis, to the Basque Country ~ specifically to San Sebastián and to the gloriously green interior of Álava province ~ for the express purpose of gleaning information on txakoli, a unique Basque wine, and on a local liqueur called patxarán. Nevertheless, whenever we go to San Sebastián, food is always our first priority. San Sebastián is one of the worlds greatest cities for eating ~ a city that says "food" like no other in Spain, with as many top-rated restaurants as Madrid or Barcelona in a city a small fraction of their size. San Sebastián is also one of the three greatest places in Spain to enjoy tapas (it shares the honor with Madrid and Sevilla). Besides being a gastronomic hot spot, San Sebastián is also one of the world's most beautiful cities, set on a shell-shaped bay ringed by a fine sand beach and a lovely promenade, and filled with Belle Époque buildings, thus combining the ambiance of a beach resort and that of a full-fledged, sophisticated city. Go where you may, tapas ~ called pintxos in the Basque Country ~ will be exceptional because the tapas tradition is deeply embedded in the Basque psyche. Even the humblest tavern takes extraordinary care with produce and preparation ("after all," one tapas bar owner told me, "we shop in the very same markets as the cities great chefs"). So on arrival we immediately plunge into the tapas circuit, a somewhat daunting endeavor, considering the countless number of bars and the variety and complexity of tapas in this city. We make a beeline to the Old Quarter, where brightly painted red and green fishing boats bob in its tightly enclosed harbor, and begin making the rounds of our favorite tapas bars. Portaletas, Bar La Cepa, and Martínez are all here, among dozens of others that stand shoulder to shoulder along the narrow streets, and the astonishing array of pintxos on display, artfully arranged on the platters and plates, is a spectacle to behold. Donostiarras, as the people of San Sebastián are called, are finely attuned to great food, and not an inch of space is wasted as customers crowd in at peak afternoon and evening tapas hours. Pintxos are served on the honor system: take them as you please and repeat as you wish and give the barman as accurate a count as possible when you finish. Pintxos most often consist of painstakingly constructed canapés or a variety of ingredients simply speared together on toothpicks. Some typical combinations are hard boiled egg, shrimp, olive and a dab of mayonnaise on bread rounds, tartlets of crab, pickle, egg and pimiento, and fried bread topped with tuna and onion and garnished with sieved egg yolk and a slice of pickle. Mini rolls of Serrano ham, cheese and so many other enticing fillings are equally popular. Some pintxos are multiplex towers, a challenge to fit in the mouth in one bite. It's mind-boggling to imagine the time and labor expended in putting together the hundreds upon hundreds of tapas that can be found in just about any bar in San Sebastián. Bars will, of course, also typically serve pintxos of potato omelet (tortilla española) and other kitchen-prepared specialties like batter fried squid, txistorra (a long skinny chorizo sausage) and croquettes. Drinks to accompany pintxos are usually beer, hard Basque cider, or txikitos, squat glasses of red wine or the Basque white wine, txakoli. Since we are focused on txakoli, the foremost producer of which is on our itinerary the next day, we order it. Pleasantly light, fruity and refreshing, it is ideal with pintxos and is the traditional wine typical to this damp coastal climate. Recently a new breed of tapas has emerged, forming a link between traditional bar food and the innovative cooking of the city's celebrated dining establishments. Indeed, tapas bars in the trend-setting neighborhood of Nueva Gros take their cue from upscale restaurants that feature tasting menus that include small portions of many dishes ~ in essence, tapas. "Tapas are an integral part of our cooking," says Juan Mari Arzak of esteemed Arzak restaurant, "a mini-cuisine transformed into art." Bar Bergara championed "nouvelle" pintxos a few years ago and continues to be a leader, along with Aloña-Berri, in this growing movement. Such sophisticated pintxos as foie gras with apple compote, vegetables and prawns enclosed in phyllo pastry with leek sauce, and sweetbread and wild mushroom tartlets take pintxos to new heights. In the evening we switch gears, dressing in our finest to dine at Arzak, the temple of extraordinary dining that has garnered three Michelin stars and belongs to our good friend Juan Mari Arzak and his daughter, Elena. Located in a residential neighborhood of San Sebastián, in the house where Juan Mari grew up and where his mother once cooked in the family tavern, the restaurant was elevated to world class status when Juan Mari founded la nueva cocina vasca movement with chef and close friend Pedro Subijana, who holds court at another great San Sebastián restaurant, Akelare. The food at Arzak is ethereal and the wine list extraordinary, featuring the finest vintages from all over Spain and from all the great wine producers of the world. But Juan Mari is a passionate advocate of Basque wines, and the fine Rioja Alavesa wines from the Basque province of Álava are prominent on his wine list. He also offers txakoli, under the Txomin Etxaniz label as his white house wine. We sip it with an appetite teaser of creamed Cabrales blue cheese and apples. The combination is perfection and a wonderful beginning to one of so many extraordinary meals we have had over the years at Arzak. The following day finds us in the nearby seaside town of Getaria, where the bodega Txomin Etaniz has its headquarters. We drive up a steep winding road that takes us into another world, where the hills are covered with lush greenery and the vineyards, elevated from the ground to protect from humidity, seem suspended over the sparkling blue Cantabrian Sea. Affable Ernesto Txueka Isasti greets us outside his nineteenth century winery. As we chat, he proudly sketches his family tree on a scrap of pink paper, and it goes back to founder Txomin Etxaniz six generations before, although txakoli has been made in the region since the thirteenth century. Nevertheless, in the twentieth century txakoli fell on hard times. "We are forever grateful to Juan Mari Arzak for championing Basque products and singlehandedly reviving the txakoli industry," Ernesto says. "This led to greater recognition and gave us the means to modernize our facilities". Indeed, today in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa, txakoli has its own Denomination of Origin, Getariako Txakolina, and the remaining two Basque provinces of Álava and Vizcaya were also recently awarded the D.O's Arabako Txakolina and Bizkaiko Txakolina. It is a gloriously sunny summer day, uncommon in a region known for its rainy weather, and a panorama of grape vines stretches in all directions, descending precipitously to the sea. Here, two autochthonous varietals grow side by side: Hondarrabi Zuri, which yields the white grapes that make up 85% of the txakoli blend and gives the wine its character, and Hondarrabi Beltza, a red grape that favorably softens the wine's acidity. Grapes are harvested by hand from both young and older vines for optimum quality and transported in small boxes to prevent damage. The must is quickly extracted from the grapes to avoid coloration, then a slow fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks kept at low temperatures to preserve young fruity flavors. The wine remains there until bottled several months later and retains its pleasing natural carbonation. To be at its best, txakoli should be consumed within the year. Ernesto pours us each a glass, and we appreciate its unique personality and crystal clarity and savor its extraordinary aromas of herbs and wild flowers. The sun is fading as we make our way back to San Sebastián, now magnificently aglow, to unwind at a waterfront café and watch the crowds, dressed in their fashionable best, taking their customary evening promenade along the beach of La Concha. Once more tapas bars will fill to overflowing, and we easily fall into the relaxed rhythm of life in this captivating city. |
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