Pays Basque

Posted September 27th, 2009 02:09 by khodgson

A week unwinding in Basque country does wonders for reinstating any pounds lost harvesting bush vine muscat. This monstrous pot of cassoulet is just one example of the goodness of this region.
It truly is a zone of self-sufficiency. It is as though any victual commodity can be grown or raised--vegetables, cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry, grapes--and for the gastronomically motivated, there is much to be foraged, mushrooms, berries and chestnuts to name a few.
The DIY style means you don’t spend a lot of money on food. A lot of time--butchering, preserving, cooking--but not a lot of expense. Ah, and not to mention a lot of time talking about food.

We happened to be there during a face off between dairy farmers and falling milk prices in the EU. Farmers were seeing 0.26 euro per litre of milk that was costing them 0.36 to produce. The strike involved a refusal to sell, and a side effect was you could drive up to your local dairy farmer and fill up on whole milk for free. “Don du lait.” I had never tasted milk straight from the cow, and that was pretty damn good.

Wine wise, French Basque isn’t awash in grape juice, but it harbours its own little appellation, Irouleguy. Tannat and merlot in reds, the mansang family, among others, in whites. The limitation on production, I would guess, is due to precipitation and cooler coastal temperatures. The best sites are on the hills, terraced, and looking awfully labour intensive to farm. As a result, the good stuff is upwards of ten euro, but pleasant drinking with that thick, compote flavour of tannat but marked by razor acidity. The best whites are tropical with appealing viscosity, again balanced by altitudinal tang.

For a glimpse of the other side of the Pyrenees, we crossed into the Spanish frontier for some txakoli. Basque’s answer to vinho verde, it’s a racy, dry white with tongue-biting acid levels and a pickle of CO2.

Drappier champagne turned out to be an interesting study in single varietal bubble, no sugar added. As well, juice is from the first pressing only. Not a lot of fruit qualities, while not much toast, either. Subdued, but nice like that. Ample guts, which was good, though grating in the finish. With zero dosage, the heat really shows up, and I think if there had been some sweetener we would have seen better balance. Just a touch, but just enough to finesse the finish and stretch it out a bit...

Cellar Rat by Kenji Hodgson's blog