Sagardotegi

The word sagardotegi is composed of three elements: sagar "apple" and ardo "wine", yielding sagardo or "cider" and the suffix -tegi which denotes a building where an activity takes place.

In some Northern Basque dialects cider is called sagarno or sagarano[1] but that only reflects a different development of the Proto-Basque root *ardano "wine".

The more recent traditions surrounding the sagardotegis hail back to the time when buyers interested in purchasing cider from a particular maker would bring along food for the tasting as it is considered best when taken with a meal.

In the most traditional sagardotegi, each guest, after having paid in the region of 25 euros, receives a glass and at various intervals a txotx (pronounced [tʃotʃ]) is called.

As this can be a somewhat messy affair, the barrels are often located behind a partition and with a lower floor level than the main eating area.

At the bottom end of the screw hung a stone weight (pisu harria) which rotated in a hole in the ground.

Apples are collected from the end of September onwards until the middle of November using the kizkia, a tool that resembles a stick with a nail in it.

They are then scratted (crushed) into pomace in the matxaka using wooden mallets called pisoiak but without cracking the seeds as this would add a bitter taste.

The pulp (patsa) is then transferred to a press and the must (muztioa) collected (or caught on the ground floor in a vat (tina) in the medieval style sagardotegi), processed and stored in barrels (usually oak or chestnut) in the storage area to mature.

The very first is a record of Sancho III of Navarre sending an envoy to the Monastery of Leire in 1014 who mentions apples and cider-making.

The other is the circa 1134 diary of the pilgrim Aymeric Picaud included in the Codex Calixtinus who mentions the Basques being notable for growing apples and drinking cider.

In the early parts of the 20th century the provincial governments supported the cider production and even subsidised the planting of apple orchards.

The upheaval of the Spanish Civil War and the ensuing years of hardship resulted in many orchards being abandoned and the production of cider plummeting.

This was followed by a very volatile period until the output began to rise steadily again in the 1990s, breaching the 9 million litre mark at the turn of the century.

No specific Basque legislation exists surrounding cider but there is national Spanish legislation which states defines natural cider as la sidra elaborada siguiendo las prácticas tradicionales, sin adición de azúcares, que contiene gas carbónico de origen endógeno exclusivamente.

Su graduación alcohólica adquirida será superior a 4'5 grados[6] "cider produced following traditional methods without the addition of sugars, containing only endeogenous carbon gas.

As one proverb goes: sagardoak umea ekarri, kerexiak eraman "cider brings the child, cherries take it away".

This sentiment is mirrored in the Spanish proverb la sidra es buena, las cerezas malas "cider is good, cherries bad".