The Álava cider house season was officially opened on Thursday 15 January at the Trebiñu cider house in Ascarza, which hosted the event this year under the rotation among the province’s houses. The honour of opening the first kupela (cask) fell to Gari and Beñat, the two members of Dupla, the band from Agurain. They take over from the Red de Semillas de Euskadi association, which had in turn taken over from the cyclist Mikel Landa.

After the first glass, Gari summed up the cider in a few words: “it tastes very much of apple”. For the two musicians it was a different kind of outing from their usual ones, but they enjoyed it because, as he put it, “it is part of Álava’s culture”. After the txotx, the ritual of drinking cider straight from the cask, they planted an apple tree in the cider house garden.

The host was Julen Markinez, of Trebiñu, who described the harvest as “uneven”. The opening also marked the start of the season’s menu: chorizo cooked in cider, scrambled eggs with salt cod, rib steak and, for dessert, Idiazabal cheese with quince paste and walnuts.

Fewer litres, good quality

The apple trees have yielded less this year than in previous seasons. According to Gasteiz Hoy, the Álava harvest came to around 130,000 kilos, which will produce some 80,000 litres of cider, juice and other products; last year almost 120,000 litres of cider were made. This is normal for a fruit tree that bears biennially, alternating generous years with leaner ones.

Benito Peciña, president of the association that brings together Álava’s fruit growers and cider makers (ASSE) and head of the Kuartango cider house, sees no cause for alarm: with three small cider houses, the litres are enough and the quality is good. The weather shaped the year. Spring rains in the Llanada knocked the pollen to the ground and hampered pollination; a very dry summer followed, and the rains at the end of the year allowed the harvest to recover. “The rains at the end of the year have fattened up the fruit,” Peciña explained.

There was no fungus, but the sector is keeping an anxious eye on fire blight, a serious disease of apple trees, two outbreaks of which were confirmed in Álava in the autumn, in Aiara and Aramaio. The Provincial Council set up zones with a one-kilometre radius around each one, to be monitored for at least two years. The harvest has not been directly affected.

January to May, and by coach

The Álava season will run until May, with Saturdays and Sundays the busiest days, at the province’s three cider houses: Trebiñu, Kuartango and Iturrieta. As in previous years, the houses themselves lay on coaches for their customers, an increasingly popular service that means nobody has to give up cider in order to drive.

Sources

  • Noticias de Álava, Nagore Abasolo: “Txotx con ritmo alavés para ir abriendo boca”, 15 January 2026. Report on the opening: Trebiñu’s turn, Dupla’s first txotx, statements by Gari and Julen Markinez, planting of the apple tree, menu, season until May, the three cider houses and the coaches. Photos by Alex Larretxi.
  • Gasteiz Hoy, Pablo González: “Dupla inaugura el Txotx 2026 en la sidrería Trebiñu”, 15 January 2026. Preview published the same morning: previous guests of honour, figures for the Álava harvest, statements by Benito Peciña (ASSE), the weather and fire blight.