Apple picking for the Euskal Sagardoa Designation of Origin is already under way in most orchards in Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia and Álava, and it comes with bad news on quantity. The Regulatory Council expects to pick around 1.5 million kilos, 30% less than forecast and 65% less than last year. The final figure will not be known until the end of the year.

Heat, drought and an off year

Native Basque apples have a habit of their own, alternate bearing: a lot of fruit one year and little the next. On top of this low year came heat and lack of rain, which since mid-August have brought down a lot of apples early and left sunburn and rot.

The spread is also very uneven. There is more fruit inland, especially in the Goierri and parts of Álava, and much less on the coast, where the lack of cold in winter has also played a part.

Smaller apples, but more sugar

The other side of the drought is quality. The apples are smaller than last year’s and riper. The annual ripening report by Fruitel and Sagardoaren Lurraldea, carried out as every year in the second week of September, gives an average of 13 degrees Brix of sugar, the highest figure in twenty years. The sweetest varieties at the time of testing were Udare Marroi, Goikoetxe and Aritza. The sector therefore expects ciders “of great character”.

More apples for the years ahead

The figures were presented at the Otalarrea experimental orchard in Villabona, run by the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa. Some of the methods the sector is using to grow more of its own apples and even out the harvests are being tested there: thinning (removing flowers or fruit in high-yield years so the following year does not collapse) and new rootstocks on which to graft Basque varieties.

Most of the apples will still be picked by hand, by shaking the trees and gathering the fruit from the ground, as the terrain and the climate leave no other option. The ciders from this harvest will be the ones tasted at the 2027 txotx.

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