We have been hard at work getting the house fixed up and we are almost there.  And we have started to have dinners here in between the moving of furniture, new hardwood floors, wallpaper removal, painting, plaster repairing, hanging new wallpaper, stripping, staining and lacquering woodwork, new electrical fixtures and eventually some new carpeting, and I do not install any flooring; though I think that I can do everything else and I also think that I am a twenty-something individual, but my bones and muscles know better. 

We had The Caller and his charming wife over for dinner, and he didn’t even realize that he wouldn’t bump his head on the chandelier in the front entry and then he started to notice the difference in lighting and color and then he saw the living room and the total makeover there.  We started with appetizers in the living room, as we are old-fashioned and like entertaining there.  We just had some simple appetizers to get the evening going.  We had Shrimp Cocktails, Roasted Garlic and some wonderful White Cheddar with Black Truffles.

We also introduced them to my Bride’s new “go-to” wine.  Artomana Txakolina “Xarmant,” Arabako Txakolina, Spain 2020 made with a distinctively Basque colorful label.   Artomana Txakolina, S.L. began in 1988, when the Association of Artisan Producers of Txakoli from Alava (Arabako Txakolina) was founded with the desire to return a wine tradition to this region.  It started with six hectares of hand planting and the vineyard is now up to twenty hectares.  This is now a three-generation family project, now using modern technology to create a wine that they wish to have worldwide distribution.  Arabako Txakolina is a DO wine zone, which was conferred in 2001.  Txakoli is a Basque word meaning “wine from the village” and Arabako is the Basque name for the village of Alava. “Xarmant” means “charming and delicate.”  The region was devastated by phylloxera in the late 1800’s and basically laid dormant until the 1980’s.  The majority of the wines from this region are white made from the Hondarrabi Zuri varietal and also from Petit Courbu.  Hondarrabi is named after the local village and Zuri in Basque means white, and the grape is indigenous to the region and the perfect local pairing for the local cuisine of seafood and hot peppers.  Petit Courbu another white varietal was originally found in the Gascon region of France.   Artomana Txakolina “Xarmant” Txakoli 2020 is a blend of eighty percent Hondarrabi Zuri and twenty percent Petit Courbu.  The wine undergoes cold fermentation and maceration and the juice is left on the lees for a couple of months.  The quick aging allows the wine to offer natural flavors and the wine is actually bottle with the lees, which gives the wine a bit of natural residual carbon dioxide with a lightly sparkling finish similar to a Vinho Verde.  A pale-yellow wine with green tinges, has notes of citrus, florals and cut grass.  On the palate soft flavors of peach and green apple, a bright acidity (that calls for an immediate second sip), balanced with a nice finish of minerals (terroir).