Gourmet wine travels and our journey

When invited I didn’t know what to expect. A wine group? What does this entail? As most of you know, I don’t usually do a lot of group tours more than a day because:

a. I don’t like people that much

b. I don’t like people micromanaging a vacation. I am pretty good at figuring out the best experience for me on my own, to be honest. However, navigation of a huge wine region with very unique grapes needs to be an exception. Because I kind of went into this blind, I have to admit a bit of anxiety, but I had my friend Anna with me and we aren’t capable of having a bad time.

First evening, we did a city tour. It was similar to the last post but without wine 😜 so I will skip a detailed description. We had just met the group and even though we were the only English speakers, the tour was in English *awkward*. When 5 of the 7 are Swiss German, I honestly felt guilty that everything was in english. No matter, everyone was mostly able to communicate, so that’s all that matters. I just wish I knew more German.

Our first day started with a drive and wineries. We stayed at a lovely place in Laguardia called villa LaGuardia (very inventive). With close proximity to the town, it was really lovely. Plus, there was a good spa with lots of options! We made a quick stop in Gatzelgetxe to take photos of a rock that I guess was in Game of thrones. I know nothing else about the place but from the cute guest houses on the northern Basque coast, it looked like a cool place. Neither Anna nor I have seen game of thrones to be clear. I cannot commit to 7 seasons of anything except stranger things.

Winery #1: doniene Gorrondona Txakolina

Txakoli is the local white grape that dominates. Similar to gruner vetliner in Austria, it is very acidic and citrus, which I just love with a good cheese plate. I won’t bore you with winey details, but Emma, who has been with the vineyard for a time, explained that this used to be a cattle only area, but that they discovered the valley was great for growing txakoli and a few other grapes. The property is hundreds of years old, but the winery about 30 years. The old stone house, however, is unique and charming.

Stop 2: Gorka izagirre winery. Run by the son of the founder, it is a lot more modern than the previous, much bigger production. We toured the vines for a bit then got to tasting. The txakoli here is a little less citrus, the oak process showing through nicely. Plus, they gave us snacks, and Gildas at that (see previous post). I love snacks. The remainder of the evening we mostly relaxed. Anna and I decided to do a massage with oil and grapes…honestly the most messy endeavor ever, but also a nice massage. They put us in a couples room and gave us weird thong undies 😜. We had to be wrapped in plastic at the end and were finding squashed grapes in crevasses for a while after. Like I said, an experience but a bit squishy.

Transport: walk it…uphill or not. Laguardia is beautiful and deserves the slow stroll.