A Basque cider for summer
Descripción
With actual, honest-to-goodness summer weather in San Francisco this week, let's consider thirst quenchers: light wines, beers, fizzy rum drinks, cider.
Ficha
- Autor: Jon Bonné
- Fuente: The San Francisco Chronicle
- Fecha: 2009-08-11
- Clasificación: 2.1. Sidra
- Tipo documento: Prensa
- Fondo: Sagardoetxea fondoa »
- Código: NA-000859
Texto completo
With actual, honest-to-goodness summer weather in San Francisco this week, let's consider thirst quenchers: light wines, beers, fizzy rum drinks, cider. On that last, I was hunting for a writeup about this spring's hot-weather find, the 2008 Isastegi Sagardo Naturala($9) imported by De Maison Selections. Isastegi has been cropping up around the Bay Area for several months, and at 6 percent alcohol, it's a proper hard cider that's just right for a sweltering (ahem!) 76-degree afternoon. And when someone mentioned to me last week, I replied, "Oh, yeah. I've been drinking that for months." And went to go send them a link. I hunted high and low before finally realizing that it had been the Wine of the Week — actually, the Cider of the Week — for our Food & Wine newsletter in May. But had never appeared elsewhere. A reminder to me to make sure these picks eventually make it here, if not elsewhere. (But always first in the newsletter. And what's not to like about a free weekly dose of food and wine advice?) So, Isastegi: The cattle-raising Lasa family in the village of Tolosa, in Spain's Basque region, buys much of the local apple harvest and presses it into steel tanks and large oak casks known as kupelas. It ferments through completely natural means, and is bottled unfiltered in the spring. But get those sweet apple flavors out of your head: The result is sharp and almost bitingly dry, even more than Norman hard ciders, with virtually no carbonation and a yeasty jolt. Think of it more like fino sherry; at 6 percent alcohol, it's perfect for a picnic or an invigorating meal-starter. And in weather like this, it will serve that purpose without wiping you out before the main course, although the the 750-ml bottle will vanish quicker than you might think. What brought Basque cider back up again is my upcoming column on Txakoli, the other great Basque drinking import and another perfect pick for a hot day. (Read our previous consideration here.) Because one Spanish cider couldn't possibly be enough, De Maison has plans to bring in Poma Aurea, what it describes as a Champagne-style bottling from the Trabanco firm in Asturias, the region in northern Spain that considers cider its traditional drink. When it arrives, it's likely to join such producers as Eric Bordelet and Hans Reisetbauer as making an apple cider that earns its place on a white tablecloth. Meantime, there's the Sagardo — and plenty of other hard ciders — to keep us refreshed.