BASQUE BEAUTIES 🍏

Hey, Fionn this Thursday!

Gonna try to keep this short and sweet… Any moment now, a pallet of delicious wine will be rolling through the doors! When I say rolling through the doors, I mean rolling down our somewhat unconventional loading bay of an alleyway precariously by me on a two-wheel box trolley. Perhaps, I’m sadistic but I actually love taking in large pallets of wine. It saves me from forking out on a gym membership! More on these next week…

Firstly, a friendly reminder that we won’t be packing orders on Monday. Therefore, anything ordered after 2:30 pm on Friday will be delivered to you on Wednesday the 5th of June.

Anyway, I just returned home from a whirlwind tour of the Basque country. I ate my body weight in Jamon and consumed Txakoli by the gallon. In the nicer Pintxo spots, they poured these three gems here, here and here. If you’re unfamiliar with Txakoli, it is a bone-dry, uber-refreshing, spritzy white that goes down easier than water. The ultimate crisp white, if you will. I’ve heard some slander that it’s simple, a bit one-dimensional. But, that’s not the point is it? It’s meant to be fun, poured from ridiculous heights, to be drunk merrily with friends alongside salty snacks. If the weather ever picks up, this should be your go-to. Get a case,  and always keep one in the fridge in case the sun comes out.

Not, just Txakoli though. Weirdly enough, unbeknownst to my lager-drinking friends our trip just so happened to coincide with a small natural wine fair. The highlight was meeting the legendary Joan-Ramon Esconda. If you don’t know, he is considered natural wine royalty due to him and La Sorga kicking off the ‘Brutal’ wine movement. This is a saline, tropical blend that he GENEROUSLY filled our tasting glasses with. Proper legend, proper fun wines.

Another standout bottle consumed on my getaway was this gem from Envínate. It’s been a few years since properly smashing into a bottle of this. I can’t believe I left it so long. Pound for pound this is one of the most delicious bottles we have on the shelves. Medicinal-like Mencia. Beautiful red fruit, plenty of herbal charm and a seductively savoury finish. So good in fact, I squirreled away some older vintages of the top cuvées in my hand luggage. Also, a shout-out to this at an even more wallet-friendly price. These guys do not miss, everything they touch is magic. They are super versatile and will appeal to classic drinkers, right the way through to die-hard natties. If you’re not familiar I’d change that pronto.

Discovered some new favs too. This Rioja was just WOW. Rich but not heavy, savoury but full of class, fresh but serious. Far from lethargic thanks to a small portion of white grapes blended in for a bit of lift. A steal considering the age. If you’re yet to get your head around why wine geeks go nuts for stuff with some age this is the perfect little bottle to get you addicted.

I could and would love to go on, but alas the aforementioned pallet is waiting… Can’t wait for you all to hear about it next week.

LOTS OF LOVE
FIONN