Reviving the cider of the Northern Basque Country with its own apples. That was the challenge a small group from the Basque inland set itself in 1990 when it founded Sagartzea ("apple orchard" in Basque). More than three decades later, the association is still cataloguing local varieties, carrying out research with INRAE, France's public agricultural research institute, and showing its work at fairs and open days. It has two events open to the public in the coming weeks.

Sunday 4 October: a visit to the Abbadia orchard

Three Sagartzea members will be at Prentsaketa this Sunday, the apple-pressing festival at the Abbadia estate in Hendaye. At 14:30, Gabriel Durruty will lead a visit to the estate's conservation orchard and talk about the association's work with local varieties: according to the presentation of the visit, a largely volunteer-run survey of around a hundred varieties across the Northern Basque Country, the replanting of nearly 40,000 apple trees and the creation of a supply chain around the Eztigar cooperative and, later, the company Segida.

Organised by the town of Hendaye and the CPIE Littoral Basque, with support from the Basque Country urban community, Prentsaketa centres every year on the pressing in front of the Nekatoenea house. The apples are picked beforehand in auzolan (community work), with volunteers and local schoolchildren, and pressed so visitors can taste the juice straight from the press. The day starts at 11:00 with a round table for the CPIE's 40th anniversary and continues in the afternoon with an apple cooking workshop (booking required, 12 places), circus, children's games and txalaparta (Basque percussion). Full programme in the calendar entry.

Sunday 8 November: local apple juices at Lurrama

A month later, Sagartzea will be at Lurrama, the peasant-farming fair run by the farmers' chamber Euskal Herriko Laborantza Ganbara from 6 to 8 November at the Halle d'Iraty in Biarritz. On Sunday 8th, from 10:00 to 12:00, the association will crush and press four or five apple varieties and offer their juices for tasting. More in the Lurrama entry.

Pruning courses early in the year

Besides these events, Sagartzea runs intensive courses every winter on orchard work such as pruning. The 2027 dates have not been published yet.

Sagartzea belongs to the Arrapitz network of farming associations in the Northern Basque Country. Its page on the network's website tells of its early years: between 1990 and 1992 it catalogued local varieties and chose seven to start planting, and in 1996 its members set up the Eztigar cooperative. The figures on that page, which are older, are lower than in this year's presentation: more than 60 varieties catalogued and some 16,000 trees planted between 1994 and 1996, on about 30 hectares around Hasparren, Ostibarret and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

Sources

  • Sagartzea: information sent to Sidrerias.ws by its president, Pantxika Maitia, on 2 October 2026. Founding, work with INRAE, participation in Prentsaketa, Lurrama date and time, and early-year courses. Cover photo: Hasparren market, 2024.
  • Town of Hendaye and CPIE Littoral Basque: Prentsaketa 2026 press release. Programme for 3 and 4 October, time and content of the orchard visit, the association's figures, organisers. cpie-littoral-basque.eu
  • Arrapitz: "Sagartzea elkartea". History of the association, first varieties, 1994-1996 plantings and the Eztigar cooperative.
  • Lurrama: lurrama.org. Dates, venue and edition number.