Txakoli & the Basque coast

Getariako Txakolina: the classic - lemony, salty, lightly fizzy and poured from height.

The oldest and best-known zone, around the fishing towns of Getaria and Zarautz, close to San Sebastián. Mostly Hondarrabi Zuri, made young and cold in steel tanks, with high acidity and a salty tang. Drink it with seafood and pintxos.

The oldest and best-known zone, around the fishing towns of Getaria and Zarautz, close to San Sebastián. Mostly Hondarrabi Zuri, made young and cold in steel tanks, with high acidity and a salty tang. Drink it with seafood and pintxos.

Hondarrabi Zuri: the white txakoli grape - lemon, apple and a salty tang.

The main white grape of all three zones. It keeps high acidity on the cool coast and gives light, lemony, saline wines. In Bizkaia it also yields creamier lees-aged bottles. Zuri simply means white.

The main white grape of all three zones. It keeps high acidity on the cool coast and gives light, lemony, saline wines. In Bizkaia it also yields creamier lees-aged bottles. Zuri simply means white.

Grilled fish, boquerones and prawns with young Getaria txakoli.

The obvious match: tart, salty txakoli works like a squeeze of lemon on grilled fish, oysters, anchovies and garlicky prawns. Padrón peppers are another classic partner.

The obvious match: tart, salty txakoli works like a squeeze of lemon on grilled fish, oysters, anchovies and garlicky prawns. Padrón peppers are another classic partner.

Celebration: K Kaiaren, Itsasmendi 7 or Astobiza's Malkoa.

Local top-end txakoli, aged on the lees, made in small amounts and hard to find abroad. Open one with crab or roast chicken instead of Champagne.

Local top-end txakoli, aged on the lees, made in small amounts and hard to find abroad. Open one with crab or roast chicken instead of Champagne.

Txakoli rosé (rosado): pink, dry, tangy - a Getaria speciality.

Made from the local red and white grapes, it is light, dry and fresh with strawberry and citrus. A very good picnic wine and an easy alternative to the white. Ameztoi is the house that defined the style.

Made from the local red and white grapes, it is light, dry and fresh with strawberry and citrus. A very good picnic wine and an easy alternative to the white. Ameztoi is the house that defined the style.

Hondarrabi Beltza: the red txakoli grape - red berries, herbs, green pepper.

A rare red grape, only a tiny part of the vineyard area. It makes light, fresh reds with high acidity and a peppery, herbal edge, and the pink wines.

A rare red grape, only a tiny part of the vineyard area. It makes light, fresh reds with high acidity and a peppery, herbal edge, and the pink wines.

Off the beaten path: an orange or sparkling txakoli.

A skin-contact wine such as Blai & Blai or Itsasmendi Bat Berri, or a bone-dry Brut Nature fizz from Ameztoi, gives you something nobody at home has tasted.

A skin-contact wine such as Blai & Blai or Itsasmendi Bat Berri, or a bone-dry Brut Nature fizz from Ameztoi, gives you something nobody at home has tasted.

Bizkaiko Txakolina: the experimental zone - lees-aged, blended and more serious.

Around Bilbao and along the Bizkaia coast and valleys. Coast-grown wines are lean, inland ones riper. Many growers age on the lees, blend in other grapes and bottle single plots, so this is where txakoli gets complex.

Around Bilbao and along the Bizkaia coast and valleys. Coast-grown wines are lean, inland ones riper. Many growers age on the lees, blend in other grapes and bottle single plots, so this is where txakoli gets complex.

Coast versus inland: the further from the sea, the riper and fuller the wine.

On the wet coast, such as Bakio in Bizkaia, wines are leanest. Inland Bizkaia is warmer and drier, and Álava has a continental climate with a longer season and later picking, giving more weight and texture. Getaria growers are also planting further inland.

On the wet coast, such as Bakio in Bizkaia, wines are leanest. Inland Bizkaia is warmer and drier, and Álava has a continental climate with a longer season and later picking, giving more weight and texture. Getaria growers are also planting further inland.

Bizkaiko label words: Bereziak, Apardunak and Uztagoienak.

Bizkaiko producers can add extra words to flag a style. Bereziak means a lees-aged wine, Apardunak a traditional-method sparkling, Uztagoienak a late-harvest wine; Apartak covers other styles. They help you find the serious or special bottles on a list.

Bizkaiko producers can add extra words to flag a style. Bereziak means a lees-aged wine, Apardunak a traditional-method sparkling, Uztagoienak a late-harvest wine; Apartak covers other styles. They help you find the serious or special bottles on a list.

Arabako Txakolina: smallest zone, fuller wines with texture and little fizz.

A young, small appellation in the hills of north-west Álava, inland from the sea. Longer ripening and later picking give more body and grip, and the wines are typically not fizzy. It has produced some of the zone's top-scoring whites.

A young, small appellation in the hills of north-west Álava, inland from the sea. Longer ripening and later picking give more body and grip, and the wines are typically not fizzy. It has produced some of the zone's top-scoring whites.

'Sobre lías', a named parcel or old vines: signs of a more serious bottle.

Producer cues rather than official tiers. 'Sobre lías' means aged on the lees, 'Parcela' or 'Single Vineyard' names a plot, and 'Cepas Centenarias' means very old vines. Expect more body, cream and length, and a higher price than the basic bottling.

Producer cues rather than official tiers. 'Sobre lías' means aged on the lees, 'Parcela' or 'Single Vineyard' names a plot, and 'Cepas Centenarias' means very old vines. Expect more body, cream and length, and a higher price than the basic bottling.

Cold steel tanks and early bottling keep the wine bright and fizzy.

Most Getaria txakoli is fermented in steel and bottled on its fine lees to keep freshness and a little natural spritz. Some producers add gas for fizz, so the sparkle can be natural or applied.

Most Getaria txakoli is fermented in steel and bottled on its fine lees to keep freshness and a little natural spritz. Some producers add gas for fizz, so the sparkle can be natural or applied.

Sparkling, orange and pét-nat txakoli: the new-wave corner.

Producers now make traditional-method fizz, pét-nat and skin-contact txakoli, and a few older wines are bottled sweet. Small production and quick changes, so treat each as a discovery and ask what is in stock.

Producers now make traditional-method fizz, pét-nat and skin-contact txakoli, and a few older wines are bottled sweet. Small production and quick changes, so treat each as a discovery and ask what is in stock.

Hondarrabi Beltza reds: light, peppery, herbal and rare.

A tiny share of the plantings, but a revival is underway. The red is light to medium in body with red berries, green pepper, herbs and high acidity, comparable to Cabernet Franc. Drink it lightly chilled with grilled meat or bacalao.

A tiny share of the plantings, but a revival is underway. The red is light to medium in body with red berries, green pepper, herbs and high acidity, comparable to Cabernet Franc. Drink it lightly chilled with grilled meat or bacalao.

Oak, large foudres and concrete eggs add texture without heavy oak flavour.

Where oak is used, it is mostly neutral or large format. Doniene's Barrel Fermented uses new French oak; Terlegiz rests in a foudre; Astobiza's Malkoa is aged in concrete eggs.

Where oak is used, it is mostly neutral or large format. Doniene's Barrel Fermented uses new French oak; Terlegiz rests in a foudre; Astobiza's Malkoa is aged in concrete eggs.

Txomin Etxaniz: Getaria's historic family house and the standard-setter for young txakoli.

A family estate in Getaria that traces its winemaking back to the 17th century. Its plain Txomin Etxaniz is the reference young Getaria white.

Txomin Etxaniz is the family house most people mean when they say Getaria txakoli. The winery, on the coast at Getaria, traces its winemaking to Domingo de Etxaniz in 1649 and, through the Txueka-Etxaniz family, has spent generations keeping the native Hondarrabi vines alive and modernising the zone. The core wine is the plain Txomin Etxaniz white: tart, dry, citrusy and lightly fizzy when poured. A rosé sits alongside it, and the estate also makes sparkling and late-harvest wines. The winery offers guided visits through the vineyards and cellar, followed by a tasting paired with local seafood such as Getaria anchovies and albacore tuna, booked through its website. Open the bottle young, cold and from a height.

Ameztoi: family estate behind the Rubentis rosé, with a wide Getaria range.

Ameztoi is known for defining Getaria rosé, and makes a full family of wines: plain white, Primus, a red called Stimatum, and sparklings.

Ameztoi is, with Txomin Etxaniz, one of the two family-run houses that carry Getariako Txakolina, and it is the one that shaped the rosé category here. The range goes well beyond the plain white: Primus is the step-up white, Rubentis the pink, and Stimatum a red. Sparkling is part of the family too, with Unicus Brut Nature and the Hijo de Rubentis rosé fizz. That breadth makes it a good one-stop tasting. Start with the Ameztoi white to meet the classic young style, move to Primus for more weight, then try Rubentis with ham or grilled seafood. If you only buy one bottle of Getaria rosé, it should be this one.

Itsasmendi: pioneer of age-worthy txakoli, with Itsasmendi 7 as the flagship.

A leading Bizkaia house. Itsasmendi 7 is a blend of seven vineyards made since 2003, and the winery also makes single-vineyard Paradisuak wines.

Itsasmendi is the Bizkaia name that most changed how serious people see txakoli. Its flagship, Itsasmendi 7, has been made since 2003 from seven different vineyards and is built to age: older vintages develop petrol notes that remind tasters of mature Riesling. The winery works across many municipalities, which lets it bottle the Paradisuak range, individual single-vineyard wines that show how much the Bizkaia coast and valleys vary. It has also made a sweet wine, Urezti, and an orange skin-contact wine, Bat Berri, so one cellar covers the whole range of what the zone can do. Start with the main Itsasmendi bottling, then taste Itsasmendi 7 beside it to see what lees ageing and blending add.

Astobiza (Okendo): the Álava reference, with parcel wine Malkoa aged in concrete eggs.

The top-scored Arabako estate in tastings. Malkoa is a parcel wine made on the lees in concrete eggs; the standard Astobiza is the easier way in.

Álava is the smallest of the three zones, a young appellation from the early 2000s that began with only a handful of producers. Yet in tastings of txakoli it has produced top scores, and Astobiza's Malkoa was the highest-scored wine in one major panel. Its wines come from a continental, hillier climate than the coast, with a drier growing season and later harvest, so they carry more weight and phenolic grip and typically have no spritz. Malkoa is the parcel wine: fruit from a selected plot, fermented and aged on the lees for two years in concrete eggs. It is dense, saline and long. The Astobiza single-vineyard white is lighter and cheaper, and makes a good first taste of the Álava style.

Lees ageing turns tart txakoli into a creamy white that can age.

Bizkaia led the move to leave txakoli on its lees for a long time. The result is rounder, saline and creamy, and the best bottles hold for years.

The old image of txakoli is a cold, fizzy glass to drink within the year, but Bizkaiko producers have shown it can age. Longer time on the lees softens the acidity, adds a creamy texture and keeps a saline thread through the finish. Gorka Izagirre varies the lees time by vintage: longer in cool years to tame sharp acidity, shorter in warm years to keep the wine clear and bright. Itsasmendi has chased longevity since 2003 with its Itsasmendi 7 cuvée, and an older vintage shows petrol notes like aged Riesling. K5 in Getaria leaves its top wine four years on the lees. Álava goes further, with Astobiza's parcel wine resting two years in concrete eggs. Treat these as wines for a table, not an aperitif.

Doniene Gorrondona: red txakoli pioneer from pre-phylloxera vines.

A Bizkaia house reviving red Txakoli, and the producer of oak-fermented whites such as Doniene Barrel Fermented.

Doniene Gorrondona is the Bizkaia house most linked to the return of red txakoli. It works with Hondarrabi Beltza from old pre-phylloxera vines and has talked of adding a rosé, so it is a good example of how a traditional farm wine is being rethought. Its whites show the same ambition: Doniene Barrel Fermented is fermented in new French oak and left briefly on its lees, giving a rounder, toastier, creamier txakoli than the usual stainless-steel style. The standard Doniene Gorrondona white is the one to taste first, since it carries the house's more textured Bizkaia style without the oak. If you only have time for one bottle that proves txakoli can be a serious food wine, this is a strong candidate, especially with bacalao or roast chicken.

K5: TV chef Karlos Argiñano's Getaria project, famous for long-lees Kaiaren.

A Getaria winery run as a chef's project, known for lees-aged bottles such as Kaiaren and a newer sparkling range.

K5 is the Getaria winery of Spanish TV chef Karlos Argiñano, and its wines have the gastronomic seriousness you would expect from a cook's project. Its calling card is long lees ageing. Kaiaren spends four years on the lees before release and is priced accordingly and carries a price to match, so it is a real talking-point bottle. The Sobre Lías bottlings, Pilota and K55, are the more affordable way into the same idea: a rounder, creamier, saline txakoli that works with a main course, not just an aperitif. K5 has also moved into sparkling and a pét-nat from Hondarrabi Zuri, so the range is wider than the standard young wine.

Cool, wet Atlantic air keeps txakoli tart, light and low in alcohol.

The vineyards sit close to the Bay of Biscay, with plenty of rain, wind and sea air. Grapes ripen slowly and keep high acidity, so the wines are fresh, lemony and often a little salty, with low to moderate alcohol.

The vineyards sit close to the Bay of Biscay, with plenty of rain, wind and sea air. Grapes ripen slowly and keep high acidity, so the wines are fresh, lemony and often a little salty, with low to moderate alcohol.

In the glass: High acidity, citrus fruit, a salty tang and low alcohol

Coast versus inland: the further from the sea, the riper and fuller the wine.

On the wet coast, such as Bakio in Bizkaia, wines are leanest. Inland Bizkaia is warmer and drier, and Álava has a continental climate with a longer season and later picking, giving more weight and texture. Getaria growers are also planting further inland.

On the wet coast, such as Bakio in Bizkaia, wines are leanest. Inland Bizkaia is warmer and drier, and Álava has a continental climate with a longer season and later picking, giving more weight and texture. Getaria growers are also planting further inland.

In the glass: Coast: lean, tart, salty. Inland: rounder, more texture and body

Many Getaria vines are very old, and some are over a century old.

Old vines survive on the steep slopes around Getaria and give small crops of concentrated fruit. Bottles that say 'cepas centenarias' or use a single old plot are where you get depth rather than just freshness.

Old vines survive on the steep slopes around Getaria and give small crops of concentrated fruit. Bottles that say 'cepas centenarias' or use a single old plot are where you get depth rather than just freshness.

In the glass: More concentration and a longer, more savoury finish

Lees ageing turns tart txakoli into a creamy white that can age.

Bizkaia led the move to leave txakoli on its lees for a long time. The result is rounder, saline and creamy, and the best bottles hold for years.

The old image of txakoli is a cold, fizzy glass to drink within the year, but Bizkaiko producers have shown it can age. Longer time on the lees softens the acidity, adds a creamy texture and keeps a saline thread through the finish. Gorka Izagirre varies the lees time by vintage: longer in cool years to tame sharp acidity, shorter in warm years to keep the wine clear and bright. Itsasmendi has chased longevity since 2003 with its Itsasmendi 7 cuvée, and an older vintage shows petrol notes like aged Riesling. K5 in Getaria leaves its top wine four years on the lees. Álava goes further, with Astobiza's parcel wine resting two years in concrete eggs. Treat these as wines for a table, not an aperitif.

In the glass: Creamier texture, softer acidity, savoury and saline depth, 5-10+ years of life in the best

Wet, steep, thin-soiled sites mean hand work in the vineyard.

Txakoli vineyards sit on slopes with thin soil over marl, in constant humidity. Mildew is the main enemy, so good growers prune and open the canopy to let air through.

At Gorka Izagirre near Larrabetzu, in Bizkaia, the vineyards are moderately steep, with thin soils over marl and constant humidity. Mildew pressure is high, so the team works the canopy by hand, removing leaves, trimming shoots and keeping it open for air. Each parcel is harvested by hand and made separately, and the estate crops well below what the rules allow. Winter sheep graze the slopes. Wild deer and boar bite the grapes, which can open the door to botrytis, so even a small vineyard needs constant care. The sites matter: Izagirre's Ama comes from one parcel of Zerratia and is made to age, while Zura comes from the Urizar vineyard. That is why single-parcel txakoli costs more than the standard bottle.

In the glass: Lower, more concentrated crops; parcel wines with distinct salinity and texture

Poured from a height: txakoli is served like Basque cider.

In bars and homes the bottle is lifted high and the wine splashed into a wide tumbler. The pour adds air and lifts any natural fizz. Not every txakoli needs it, but it is part of the fun.

In bars and homes the bottle is lifted high and the wine splashed into a wide tumbler. The pour adds air and lifts any natural fizz. Not every txakoli needs it, but it is part of the fun.

In the glass: Livelier aroma and a brief spritz in the glass

Cold steel tanks and early bottling keep the wine bright and fizzy.

Most Getaria txakoli is fermented in steel and bottled on its fine lees to keep freshness and a little natural spritz. Some producers add gas for fizz, so the sparkle can be natural or applied.

Most Getaria txakoli is fermented in steel and bottled on its fine lees to keep freshness and a little natural spritz. Some producers add gas for fizz, so the sparkle can be natural or applied.

In the glass: Clean citrus, high acidity and a light spritz

Long lees ageing and parcel-by-parcel work make txakoli creamier.

Top Bizkaia estates pick and vinify each parcel separately and leave the wine on its lees, sometimes for years. The wines gain a creamy texture, a savoury saline edge and the ability to age.

Top Bizkaia estates pick and vinify each parcel separately and leave the wine on its lees, sometimes for years. The wines gain a creamy texture, a savoury saline edge and the ability to age.

In the glass: Creamy texture, saline depth and longer life

Oak, large foudres and concrete eggs add texture without heavy oak flavour.

Where oak is used, it is mostly neutral or large format. Doniene's Barrel Fermented uses new French oak; Terlegiz rests in a foudre; Astobiza's Malkoa is aged in concrete eggs.

Where oak is used, it is mostly neutral or large format. Doniene's Barrel Fermented uses new French oak; Terlegiz rests in a foudre; Astobiza's Malkoa is aged in concrete eggs.

In the glass: Rounder texture, with fruit and salinity still in front

Skin contact, pét-nat and traditional-method fizz are new tools.

A small number of producers now macerate Hondarrabi Zuri on its skins for orange txakoli or bottle it as a pét-nat, and others make Champagne-method sparkling. These are the experimental end of the range.

A small number of producers now macerate Hondarrabi Zuri on its skins for orange txakoli or bottle it as a pét-nat, and others make Champagne-method sparkling. These are the experimental end of the range.

In the glass: Orange: tea, dried citrus, light grip. Sparkling: fine bubbles, bready depth