Sidrería Petritegi, the giant of the Basque cider.

Visit the Petritegi winery, the particular temple of culture and gastronomy of the Otaño family.

The Basque cider house (in Basque and from now on sagardotegi) Petritegi, faithfully represents the cultural values of cider in the Basque Country, and Petritegi is not only gastronomy. During our visit, we find all kinds of elements linked to our culture, tradition and history:

Traditionally, the sagardotegi season runs from January to mid-April, a tradition forced by the production capacity of yesteryear and the impossibility of maintaining the cider’s properties in perfect condition over time. Nowadays, Petritegi, is one of the few sagardotegis that allows us to enjoy the culture of the Basque cider during the whole year, an advantage of which we have wanted to enjoy and you?

The Otaño family, represented by several of its generations (currently 4th, 5th and 6th), works daily to try to achieve excellence in the world of Basque cider. An example of this is their “Premium visit”, a product designed for cider and Basque gastronomy lovers that includes visit, tasting and menu, a type of visit that caught our attention and that we tell you about below.

Located in Astigarraga, capital of the Basque cider, Petritegi uses all the tools at its disposal to promote the Basque cider culture. Petritegi tools for the dissemination of cider culture:

During our stay, we enjoyed the Basque cider through the apple trees, barrels and cellar of Petritegi, elements that we discovered as we progressed in our Petritegi experience, discover it with us!

Petritegi is a very active sagardotegi in all the events that take place around the Basque cider, a fact that we had the pleasure of verifying during Sagardo Apuruaan event in honor to the more than 100 sagardotegis that used to flood Donostia – San Sebastián, an event through which the culture of the Basque cider is brought closer to all those who visit the capital of Gipuzkoa. Do you want to know everything we found in Petritegi? Let’s start!

Visit to Petritegi.

The guided tour in Petritegi begins among apple trees, at the back of the sagardotegi. What better place than next to an apple tree to enter the world of Basque cider?

Apple trees: The product, the apple, completely marks the final product, the natural cider. In the elaboration of the cider, an infinity of varieties are combined in order to obtain a balance that pleases in mouth, sight and smell, a balance that each producer obtains by means of its particular mixture of sour, sweet and bitter apples. In this case, Petritegi has a small sample of apple trees of some of the 14 varieties used in the elaboration of its wines. It is here, where we know firsthand some of the most representative types of apples of the Basque Country.

Although many of these varieties come from Petritegi’s own crops, there is currently no production in the Basque Country capable of satisfying the existing demand, which is why some of the apples used to make Petritegi’s wines come from different parts of the world, including Normandy, Brittany, Albacete and the Czech Republic.

Tasting: Next to the apple trees, at the beginning of the visit, there is a small tasting of sour, sweet and bitter apples, apples that are not easily found in supermarkets. This tasting reminded us of the one that takes place in Sagardoetxea, cider museum of Astigarraga, a different tasting with which we understand the importance of the type of apple to be used during the elaboration of the cider.

Press: We continue our visit to Petritegi visiting an apple press (tolarea in Basque) from the 15th century. We should point out that during our travels throughout Euskal Herria the oldest press that we had been lucky enough to see was that of the baserri Igartubeitia press 1 century more modern than the one that Petritegi shows us in his visit. Next to the press, we can see the tanker cart that, pulled by oxen, travels the streets of our cities on special occasions. Wood and ingenuity were enough to raise this piece of Basque engineering of the 15th century, a piece that thanks to the love of the Otaño family for the history and culture of our town we can appreciate today in perfect condition.

Winery: After the exterior part of the visit, we move on to the interior part, to the modern Petritegi winery, the place where the apple is washed and selected and then crushed and pressed to obtain the precious must. This must is cooled, decanted and prepared for its future fermentation in the kupelas, a fermentation based on the transformation of the sugar in the must into alcohol.

Baserri Petritegi: Our visit was coming to an end, but not before contemplating the old baserri tolarea of Petritegi, the place where it all began, the origin of Petritegi in Astigarraga. Today, converted into a store (1st floor) and dining room (first floor), it is still an important space in Petritegi, although, unfortunately, it no longer has the 16th century press that gave life to its interior. This space also houses the recently inaugurated Petritegi store, a place where you can take a nice souvenir home, an authentic Basque souvenir.

It is here where we enjoyed the model/puzzle of a baserri tolarea and the audiovisual of Petritegi, all accompanied by a small tasting of apple juice. By the way, pay attention to the apple juice of Petritegi, a real luxury, so much so that we took a couple of bottles home. Must for everyone!

Kupelak: We finished the visit among wooden barrels, in front of a very special kupela, the Albaola kupela, a project that shows us the union between Basque cider and the sea, two constants in the history of the Basque people. We were delighted to find 2 huge rooms full of wooden kupelas, a material that due to its difficult maintenance has less and less presence in the kupelas of the Basque cider houses.

In short, a very entertaining and educational visit, a must before enjoying a good traditional sagardotegi menu.

Traditional menu in Petritegi.

After enjoying the guided tour of the facilities, it was time to gather strength, it was time to enjoy a traditional sagardotegi menu.

Our table was in the Sagar dining room, near the kupelas, a long table that we shared with a family from Gipuzkoa, Gipuzkoans and Biscayans enjoying their culture and gastronomy, a real pride.

A menu that once again did not disappoint. Highlights: steak, tile/cigars of Tolosa and cider. To improve, cod omelette. T-bone steak in its point, of great flavor, as the canons dictate. Tejas and cigars from Tolosa, amazing, crunchy, as always. Cider, very good, dangerous. Cod omelette with little flavor.

With this experience we have managed to obtain a global vision of Petritegi, forget about those who tell you that Petritegi has lost the tradition and culture of the Basque cider due to its immensity, moreover, we have just recognized the quality of this experience through our exclusive tourist accreditation“TurismoVasco Tiketa“.

The “Premium visit” experience at Petritegi is an excellent way to get to know the Basque culture through cider, an experience to repeat, a cider house to which we will definitely return.