Bereziartua cider house, tradition, culture and history of Basque cider.

Experience the Basque cider culture by tasting Bereziartua wines.

Bereziartua, a Basque cider maker founded in 1870 in Astigarraga, the birthplace of Basque cider, has a strong family character, and it is now the fourth generation to manage the Bereziartua brand, a benchmark in the production of natural cider in the Basque Country.

Aware of the importance of the cider culture throughout the history of our people, Bereziartua, not only elaborates natural cider, but also collaborates in several projects and associations to make known the traditions, spaces and figures of the natural cider culture of the Basque Country. This is how we got to know Sagardoetxea, the museum of the Basque cider in Astigarraga, a museum in which Bereziartua is an active part and that we recommend to visit as a complement to this great cider house.

Kupelak in Bereziartua

As lovers of our culture and traditions, to see how a family makes last in time many of the rituals that more than 100 years ago were performed by their ancestors, is an honor, an honor that we want to share with all of you.

History Bereziartua

To talk about the Bereziartua family is to talk about the cider of the Basque Country, a whole life linked to the apple, a very sacrificed way of life difficult to understand without that passion that overflows each member of the Bereziartua family. Jose Miguel, his wife Eva and his sons Aitor and Oscar make up the backbone of the Bereziartua product and experiences, but we must not forget their ancestors, creators of Bereziartua and all those who collaborate in the day to day of Bereziartua.

Bereziartua Cider House

In 1870, in the neighborhood of Ergobia (Astigarraga), in a farmhouse located between two bars, the history of Bereziartua began, a history that has only just begun.

Nowadays, the tradition of Txotx has made it possible for everyone who visits the Basque Country to get to know our apple culture. But in the past, it was not like that, the Bereziartua family has witnessed this, evolving along with social trends without forgetting its origins. Jose Miguel Bereziartua, visible head of Bereziartua, tells with a certain nostalgia, how his aita (father) Geronimo produced between 30,000 and 40,000 liters of cider that hardly ever sold in its entirety due to the influence and impact of new drinks such as wine and coca cola, a great challenge that the Basque cider industry continues to overcome.

The Bereziartua story is still being written, and we have no doubt that one day you will visit Bereziartua, fall in love with its cider and values and become part of this great history.

Bereziartua Experiences

The Bereziartua cider house offers two high quality experiences around the Basque cider. On the one hand, it invites us to learn about the history, tradition and culture of cider through guided visits to its particular temple of the apple in Bereziartua. On the other hand, it offers us a very popular gastronomic offer in the Basque Country, the sagardotegi (Basque cider house) menu.

Bereziartua Logo

Guided tours in Bereziartua

Would you like to learn about the washing, crushing and pressing of the native Galician and French apples that reach Bereziartua and the whole process they go through until they reach our palate? In the Bereziartua cider house, they are waiting for us with open arms to discover the secrets of the elaboration of their cider.

The best time to learn about the elaboration of cider is from the first apple harvest, which depending on the year and the variety of apple, extends from late September or early October to mid-November. During this time, we will be lucky enough to see live the elaboration of Bereziartua cider. The smell of crushed apples, the taste of freshly brewed must and the sound of the cider fermenting in the kupelas, creates a unique atmosphere around the tables and barrels, are you going to miss it?

Basque cider elaboration in Bereziartua

The main characteristic of Bereziartua is that it is NATURAL, without additives, a characteristic that little by little we value more and more in any product we eat, it is time! The natural process of the apple begins with the washing, crushing and pressing, thus obtaining the precious must that is mixed with other musts of different varieties based on the criteria of the winery. The fermentation process lasts about 10 days, during which the sugar is converted into alcohol and CO2. After this first phase, the malic acid is converted into lactic acid, softening the cider, creating a natural cider ready to taste.

If you want to know first hand the process of elaboration of the natural cider Bereziartua do not hesitate to contact them through the contact section of their website.

If you book your visit to Bereziartua outside these dates, don’t worry, through a small audiovisual presentation you will have the opportunity to learn about the whole process that the apple goes through until it reaches the bottle.

Sagardotegi (Basque cider house) menu in Bereziartua

Bereziartua, giving continuity to the tradition of the txotx, only offers the sagardotegi menu from the Friday before January 20 until the end of May. This tradition, which began with the tasting between the cider maker and the customer (hoteliers, individuals, gastronomic societies,…) before the purchase is made, has ended up becoming an important popular event in Basque society.

Bereziartua T-bone steak

The dining room of the Bereziartua cider house is located around the cider house kupelas and in it, we will have the opportunity to enjoy our beloved traditional cider house menu:

-Codfish omelet

-Cod with green peppers.

-Beef steak.

-Cheese, quince and nuts.

Bereziartua Products

Thanks to this line of quality and tradition that has been preserved over time, Bereziartua has a large number of unconditional followers who year after year anxiously await the “Txotx” season to taste the new cider.

In the following lines we will uncover the colors, aromas and flavors of Bereziartua products. A range of great quality that we can get with just a few clicks on their website, although we recommend a visit to the winery, to know in more detail if possible, the whole history of the wine that we are going to taste.

Bereziartua Products

This cider maker elaborates 3 natural products without any kind of additives, of great quality and with a very good quality-price ratio. Do you want to know more about Bereziartua products?

Although many of you will already be familiar with the culture of Basque cider, Bereziartua recommends that you first shake the bottle well so that the sediment dissolves again and the flavor of the cider is more rounded. Once this is done, fill the glass to a height of two fingers and drink it slowly but surely so that it does not lose its qualities. Currently you can find Bereziartua cider in England, France, Italy, Sweden, USA, Japan and New Zealand.

Successes achieved by Bereziartua

Bereziartua, produces a great natural cider capable of competing worldwide, making the Basque Country known as one of the regions with more tradition and quality in the production of this great drink. There are many awards and accreditations that have been accumulated over time but we want to highlight the GLINTCAP 2015 Gold Medal award and the recent mention in Falstaff magazine.

GLINTCAP (Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition) is the most important cider competition in the world and in this year’s edition, Bereziartua won the gold medal in the category of natural ciders, being the only one awarded with this distinction among all the Spanish wineries participating in this prestigious competition in the Great Lakes of Michigan (USA).

GLINTCAP Bereziartua Medal

The German wine publication Falstaff has ranked Bereziartua’s cider as the sixth best European cider after obtaining a score of 89 points out of 100.

Mention in Bereziartua’s Falstaff magazine.

In addition to the aforementioned awards, Bereziartua has obtained our exclusive tourist accreditation “TurismoVasco Tiketa”, an accreditation that rewards the trajectory of this family in its objective to make part of our traditions last while creating a quality cider with a great future and worldwide repercussion.

Tourism AccreditationVasco Tiketa

Small details, a great cider house

Bereziartua has shown us how, through hard work and small details, the pinnacle of perfection can be reached, a natural cider and a high quality cider house.

During the visit we noticed small details that caught our attention and that undoubtedly made us feel at home. Among them we highlight:

–Transfer service: Bereziartua cider mill usually organizes buses or minibuses for groups as in many other cider mills, but Bereziartua goes further, offering its visitors who do not have the possibility of forming a large group the transfer to their hotels or points of origin. The minimum group for this service is 4 people, a very understandable and affordable minimum group.

–Recovery of the local apple: Bereziartua collaborates with Eusko Label and other entities for the gradual recovery of native apple production.

-Traditions: The Bereziartua cider house is committed to keeping alive many of the traditions of the Basque Country, a detail that makes the atmosphere in this Basque cider house more traditional, more authentic.

Bereziartua with Basque traditions

As you can appreciate what was once a small cider maker located in the Ergobia neighborhood of Astigarraga has become one of the references of the Basque Country thanks to the effort and good work of the Bereziartua family. Undoubtedly a cider maker recommended for its effort to keep alive our cider tradition based on a cider that competes worldwide, what are you waiting for to live the Bereziartua adventure?

See you in Bereziartua!