The tapas or pintxos bars, as they are known to locals, were heaving. Rollo Crittenden, second-generation wine maker from the Mornington Peninsula, at the beginning of what would become his ongoing ‘viaje español del vino’ or Spanish wine journey, took a seat at one of the wooden stools. The long bar was lined with tasty clusters of morsel size tapas – squid and shrimp, ham and potatoes, anchovies and tomatoes – which customers ate with as much gusto as they spoke. Behind the bar, the barman grabbed a bottle of local wine in one hand, a short stout glass in the other which he held out at waist height, and reached the wine bottle high above his head, turned it up side down and poured a liquid arc of the wine into the glass, the force splashing wine onto the floor.
“At first I had no idea what it was,” says Rollo of his first encounter with the wine. “There was this fantastic theatre with the arm held high and this amazing ability to pour the wine out at a right angle and drop straight into the glass. It just looked so enticing. But it was only being poured for the locals. I had to ask specifically for some of this exciting wine.”
The wine was the local Basque white wine Txakoli (pronounced shark-o-li), a slightly spritzed, highly acidic, lower in alcohol wine. The wine is poured from a height to aerate the wine and encourage the slight spritz, which is a feature of the local drink.
“The most exciting thing was how Txakoli matched with food. I was blown away by how it brought the palate back to life after each piece of tapas, preparing the palate for the next piece. It was an incredibly enticing food and wine experience,” says Rollo.
Though Rollo’s first experience with Txakoli was a lasting one, some years would pass before he made his own. It was not until Garry Crittenden, Rollo’s father and founder of Crittenden Estate, went to Spain and came back talking about this fantastic Basque wine that they got into action. “Having established the Los Hermanos range with my sister Zoe, it seemed like a perfect wine to introduce to the range. So we started researching where to source the grapes in Australia and went from there”.
Translating as the siblings in Spanish, Los Hermanos is a range of wines that explores and celebrates Spanish wine varieties and styles. The 2011 Saludo al Txakoli (salute to Txakoli) is the fourth wine in the range – all are wildly food friendly and approachable.
Says Rollo of the new addition; “The Txakoli is a nice counterpoint to the rest of the range. It has a different profile – fantastic acid and a nice spritz, and now means we have wines from four Spanish regions: Rioja, Catalonia, Galicia and now with the Txakoli, the Basque region.”
Traditionally, three varieties are used to make Txakoli – Hondarrabi Zuri, Hondarrabi Beltza and Petit Manseng. However, the first two varieties are not available in Australia as yet so the 2011 Los Hermanos Txakoli is made from the third, Petit Manseng, from the King Valley.
The result is a fitting salute to the Basque wine – a light and lemony coloured wine, with a gentle waft of fruit and lovely floral notes as well as lashings of enlivening acid. However, as Rollo points out, the taste is not what the wine is about.
“It’s a lovely wine but it’s not so much about the flavours but about the experience. It’s designed to make food taste better. Food is not an accompaniment to this wine; it is an accompaniment to food”.
And yes, for maximum drinking pleasure be sure to pour from the wine from a height.
Andrea Frost
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