Atxeta Gazta, an Olympic cheese.

Quesería Atxeta, the small family farm of Maider Unda, one of the most successful Basque Olympic athletes.

Maider Unda, our most outstanding fighter, also shines with her own light in the world of Basque gastronomy, and the cheese that she makes with her family in the Atxeta farmhouse, is today an indispensable protagonist in the azokas (fairs in Basque) of our villages. Atxeta, name of the family farmhouse, is also used to name this traditional cheese that is elaborated under the Idiazabal denomination of origin, a cheese that we can acquire in the cheese factory itself or in some of the most important fairs of the Basque Country.

Our visit to the Atxeta farm coincided with one of the first snowfalls of the year, a time when the cheese factory is full of work and joy with the birth of hundreds of lambs. We toured the Atxeta cheese factory amidst the bleating of the flock and the company of Maider Unda, a luxury hostess. Do you want to know what we found?

Maider Unda, has hung up her wrestling tights to devote herself full time to the family business, shepherdess, cheesemaker and saleswoman, the facets that the Basque shepherds’ way of life encompasses today. The family farm, especially focused on sheep breeding and the production of Atxeta cheese, has a small shed next to the church of Oleta, near the road that connects the town with the neighboring Otxandio.

Maider: Maider Unda Gonzalez de Audikana, July 2, 1977, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Olympic wrestling athlete, our hostess. Maider is the living proof that with sacrifice and a lot of effort, it is possible to run a farm and at the same time compete at a high level in one of the Olympic disciplines. His long career has brought him moments of great splendor and sadness, because injuries did not respect him as much as one would like. Unda, obtained his great sporting reward in the Olympic category of 72 kg wrestling when he won the bronze medal at the London Olympic Games (2012). Now, it is time to fight in the squares of Euskal Herria, to demonstrate the quality of its cheeses, another stage is opening up.

Family farm: Together with Maider Unda, her aita, mistress and sister continue to maintain the way of life of their ancestors around the cheese, a traditional craft in Euskal Herria that has led to our land to make a small niche in the world of cheese internationally. The quality of Atxeta, not only is guaranteed by the Denomination of Origin Idiazabal, it also has the seal of Artzai Gazta, a certificate, which assures us the traditional and natural elaboration of all its cheeses.

Artzai Gazta: Atxeta’s cheeses are made only with the milk from his farm, a characteristic that, along with many others, makes it an authentic Artzai Gazta cheese, a brand that encompasses those shepherd’s cheeses that meet the following premises:

Price: Many times, we are not aware of the great work that hides the elaboration of traditional products of our environment. Milking the sheep, making the cheeses, maintaining the flock and going to the squares are just some of the tasks that this Basque family carries out to produce a high quality cheese. A practically manual work, with which a natural product is obtained, without additives. From our mountains to our tables. Now, 18 €/kg is its price, what do you think? We have it clear, we will buy again.

Location: The baserri Atxeta is located next to the church of Oleta, a small municipality in Alava in which we must multiply by 6 its number of inhabitants, 100, to obtain the number of sheep that we can find in the locality. A magical rural environment, where nature is present in every corner, corners like the slopes of Mount Anboto or the beech forests of the Natural Park of Urkiola are just the tip of the iceberg, a great ecological treasure surrounds the farm.

The visit to Caserio Atxeta was recommended by Koikili Lertxundi, a former professional football player from Otxandio, a great connoisseur of our culture and traditions that we had the pleasure to meet during our visit to Koikili Aterpetxea, the family hotel that he manages in his town. An establishment that, like the Atxeta cheese factory, we recommend through our exclusive TurismoVasco Tiketa accreditation.

Experiences: Tastings and visit to the cheese factory. Maider has created a txoko with exposed stone and wood for tastings of Atxeta cheese, a cozy space where you can enjoy tastings commented by Maider herself and get to know the farm in person. Minimum group: 5 people. First Saturday of each month is not necessary minimum group. Price: From 8€.

The cheese: Although in most of the cheese factories in the Basque Country it is common to find the traditional smoked cheese (cheese that our shepherds made in their own huts), in the Atxeta cheese factory they have focused on a single type, the white Idiazabal cheese. Although Maider and her family admit to prefer cheeses that are not cured very much, in Atxeta they offer us Idiazabal cheeses with more or less curing depending on our tastes, in our case we chose a wonderful specimen of 10 months of curing, an experienced cheese with some spiciness, which leaves the bar of the Atxeta baserri very high.

Thanks to the great work done in the Atxeta farmhouse we have cheese for many years to come, zorionak family!