Bodega Katxiña, a gastronomic reference in the Basque Country.

Bodega Katxiña is synonymous with good txakoli and the best sea bream, the basis of any good menu in Orio.

The Katxiña winery represents the latest creation of the Zendoia family, a winery located in the coastal town of Orio where the house txakoli accompanies some of the best dishes of the Basque town. The wine of this winery, Katxiña Txakolina, provides the sparkling point to all the meals served in this Basque enclave, a wine of the land, which combines perfectly with the magnificent grilled fish dishes found in this establishment.

The name Katxiña is known throughout Euskal Herria for its link with the good culinary work, a gastronomic project, under which we find a steakhouse, a restaurant and a winery, all of them in the town of Orio, in the province of Gipuzkoa. Although it is always interesting to talk about the whole Katxiña family, today we will focus on the youngest of the family, the Katxiña Winery, a must visit establishment for lovers of wine and good food.

Orio, one of the towns to take into account in any gastronomic route through the bowels of the Basque Country, offers a wide variety of restaurants and grills. A list, among which we find the two establishments of the Zendoia family, Katxiña Erretegia and Katxiña Txakolina, steakhouse and winery respectively. Strategically located on the Basque coast, between two of the Basque capitals, Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastian, this Basque establishment represents a very good option for all those people who travel along our coast in search of good fish at competitive prices.

The Zendoia family takes a step forward with the addition to its gastronomic offer of the Bodega Katxiña, an establishment in which in addition to continuing with the same line of its predecessors, they surprise us with beautiful views and a careful decoration. Every detail counts. From Bodega Katxiña they emphasize the family tradition around the Txakoli and the grill, two of the pillars of this new Gipuzkoan establishment.

Izaskun and Iñaki Zendoia, brothers and sisters responsible for the Katxiña winery, point out that they have been creating dishes over the historical embers of the Katxiña grill for more than 34 years and seeing how their aita (father in Basque), had the dream of making known the txakoli that generation after generation has been handcrafted at home. Said and done, grill and txakoli or what is the same, restaurant and winery Katxiña.

History: The Oria river, the main artery of the Gipuzkoan municipality that houses the Katxina winery, can be appreciated perfectly from the garden of the premises that occupies us today. A space where vineyards, farmhouses and the Oria river form an idyllic perspective. The municipality of Orio, was once home to whale fishermen, and the fact is that the Oriotarraz, like dozens of other Basque towns, were great fishermen, a fact that is still attested to today by the successes that the town’s trawlers have achieved.

All this history and tradition is to blame for the fact that today we find in Orio one of the best grills on our coast: Katxiña Erretegia (grill in Basque), the origin of the winery we are visiting today. The sea bream is the king of this municipality, as evidenced by the festival held annually in the town in honor of this fish, a contest in which the best sea bream of Orio is chosen, a prize that the Katxiña grill already has in its list of winners, now it is the turn of the Katxiña winery.

After more than 34 years of success and good reviews, after grilling thousands of sea bream and fish, the Katxiña grill has created its own wine cellar, a gastronomic place where the high quality of its raw material together with the good hand of its human team gives rise to a gastronomic temple with capital letters.

Although it has nothing to do with gastronomy, the fact that Orio is the origin of illustrious personalities such as the singer-songwriter Benito Lertxundi or sculptor Jorge Oteiza, shows us the strength with which Basque culture flows in the municipality.

Plan: Orio is a land of fishermen and winemakers, land of sea bream and txakoli, a good enclave to enjoy the charms of the coast. A visit to a txakoli winery is practically obligatory, as is the tasting of a good sea bream or grilled fish. The winery Katxiña offers us a 2 in 1, visit to the winery and food in the same space, perfect for all those people who do not have much time in their trip, you can not ask for more.

Specialties: Although there are many dishes that we liked during our stay, we must emphasize the importance that the sea bream and txakoli have in this Basque establishment, the two specialties of the house. Bisigua in Basque, sea bream so that you understand us, is accompanied by garlic, chili pepper, oil and vinegar, like all life, simple and perfect. While the txakoli matured in the vids that surround the cellar acquires the so famous txinparta that offers the txakoli gipuzkoano due to the carbonic, two typical products of the town that welcomes us.

Building: Beautiful, elegant and practical, this is the new temple of gastronomy of the Zendoia family. The beauty of the surroundings and the building of the Bodega Katxiña is such that it has become one of the most popular restaurants for events. The structure reminds us in general terms of the typical buildings of our town, the baserris (farmhouses in Basque). A building in which the noble materials such as wood, metal and stone stand out from the rest. A modern enclave in which the Basque culture has great presence.

Katxiña Txakolina: Txakoli, the great Basque white wine, formerly elaborated in our baserris in an artisanal and homemade way, has been professionalized to reach the ears of all good winemakers of international level. The Hondarribi Zuri variety, the queen of all Txakoli vineyards, is once again the protagonist. This variety, introduced by European Christians in the Basque Country, has its origin in the Middle Ages, a variety that has been able to adapt to our land and has mutated to appropriate unique characteristics, undoubtedly the best known native variety of vine of the Basque Country for our visitors.

The Katxiña winery specializes in this type of white wine, a winery that was inaugurated in July 2016 along with the 8 hectares of vineyards that surround it. A small space that is nourished by the weather and the soil of the slopes of Oria to provide us with a quality broth (katxiña Txakolina) at a reasonable price, 12,50€. We were fortunate to be able to visit the Katxina winery with Iñaki, the person in charge and owner of the establishment, who, in addition to commenting on the advantages of the technologies applied to the world of wine, reviewed the most notable characteristics of his txakoli. According to the experts, Katxiña txakoli, pale yellow in color and with intense and fruity aromas, is fresh in the mouth, in our opinion, it is a txakoli with a lot of flavor and easy to drink, dangerous. When tasting it directly from the barrels, we were struck by the temperature at which it is kept, around 7 degrees, quite cold.

Experience: We leave the good for last, our gastronomic experience at the Katxiña winery. We came to this establishment in Orihuela after a day of hiking between Ulia and Pasaia, a family route that runs along the coast of Gipuzkoa for almost the entire route.

We arrived at Katxiña at dusk, the atmosphere of the wedding that was taking place on the upper floor could be appreciated from the parking lot, but once inside, we did not even hear about the wedding, we were perfectly isolated, soundproofed, perfect to quietly enjoy the grilled sea bream that awaited us. Our table was on one side of the dining room, with views to the outside, good separation between tables and better service.

We opted for starters to share (ventresca, grilled prawns and croquettes), 2 sea breams to share as main course and a good homemade dessert to finish.

All this paired with the house txakoli, of course. Although all the dishes brought a smile to our faces, the sea bream took the prize, it was simply superb, although the first of them was perhaps a little too vinegary.

The homemade desserts were very good, of all of them we highlight the torrija (French toast) and the cheesecake. A very complete menu with which we enjoyed like children.

Price: 50€ per head. A very competitive price if we take into account the quality of each bite we take to our mouths.

TurismoVasco Tiketa: In recognition of the good gastronomic work of Bodega Katxiña, we gave them our tourist accreditation “TurismoVasco Tiketa”. A sticker by means of which we make clear our commitment to this establishment.

The Katxiña winery has offered us a surprising experience among vineyards, a small gastronomic txoko that we highly recommend and to which we will definitely return. On egin!