País Vasco/ Euskadi

The Basque Country is a landscape on the Atlantic coast in the border region of the two countries Spain and France. In Spain, it comprises the three provinces of Gipuzkoa (Spanish Guipúzcoa), Biscay (Basque Bizkaia, Spanish Vizcaya) and Álava (Basque Araba) of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, as well as the province of Navarre, and in France, the northern Basque Country in the west of the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The French part of the Basque Country (pays basque français) is the ancient Basque-speaking area in the extreme southwest of France with the three provinces of Labourd (Basque Lapurdi), Basse-Navarre (Basque Nafarroa Beherea) and Soule (Basque Zuberoa). The Basque language (Euskara) is the only non-Indo-European language in Europe (this has developed differently in the two countries).

In the French area are the appellations of Béarn and Irouléguy. In the north of Spain, this is one of the 17 regions (Spanish País Vasco, Basque Euskadi = collection of the Basques) directly on the French border. It used to include Gascony in south-west France (joined France in the 15th century). There are three provinces (marked yellow on the map), the capital is Bilbao. The region has three DO areas: Chacolí de Alava, Chacolí de Guetaria and Chacolí de Vizcaya. A special feature is that vineyards in the very south of the province of Alava belong to the DO area Rioja (Rioja Alavesa).

Picture left: by Unai Fdz. de Betoño, based on User:Willtron - Mapa, CC BY-SA 1.0, Link
Image right: by Basotxerri - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link