The 2026 txotx season, when cider is served straight from the cask, is now under way. On Wednesday 14 January, at the Petritegi cider house in Astigarraga, representatives of the Euskal Pilota Selekzioa, the Basque pelota team, gave the cry of “Gure Sagardo Berria” before the first kupela (cask) of the year. It was the centrepiece of the 33rd Sagardo Berriaren Eguna, the day organised by the Sagardun consortium to welcome the new cider.

The guests were the team’s president, Joxe Mari Mitxelena, and the pelota players Enara Gaminde, Eñaut Lizeaga and Beñat Lizaso. Before heading to the cider house they planted an apple tree of the Errege Sagarra variety in Plaza Kontxa Etxeberria, next to Erribera Kulturgunea, as is now customary. The bertsolaris (improvising verse singers) Agin Laburu and Joanes Illarregi put the day into verse, and the procession arrived at Petritegi to the sound of the txalaparta and with a sagar dantza (apple dance). Inside, the txotxero Argoitz Otaño opened the first cask in a house that turns 500 this year.

Lizeaga summed up the experience with an image from the fronton: the first sip, he told Noticias de Gipuzkoa, felt “like hitting a good hook”. Mitxelena, for his part, looked at the press conference for common ground between pelota and cider, such as the size of the ball, similar to that of an apple, or the basket, which used to be used to gather them.

More cider, but less than expected

At the presentation, the director of the Euskal Sagardoa Designation of Origin (DO), Unai Agirre, gave the figures for the season. The harvest was bigger than the previous one, although in many places it fell 15 to 20% short of forecasts, mainly because of the lack of cold weather in winter. Around ten million litres of cider have been made, of which 3.1 million carry the DO seal, spread across 46 cider houses: 2,965,000 litres in Gipuzkoa, 95,000 in Bizkaia and 40,000 in Álava.

Agirre said that the ciders will generally be lighter, at around 6% alcohol, but with big differences from one house to another. The cider in the opening cask was made with varieties such as Urtebi Txiki, Urtebi Handi and Errezila, mainly sharp, late-ripening apples, and on the nose citrus notes of lime and lemon stand out. The Basque Government’s director of Food Quality and Promotion, Nora Beltrán de Otálora, suggested, according to Naiz, that 2026 could be the year the designation extends to all seven Basque territories.

A week of openings

Astigarraga’s was the first in a series of presentations. Thursday 15 was set for the openings of the Goierri at Oiharte (Zerain), of the Álava cider houses at Trebiñu and of the Navarrese ones at Toki-Alai (Lekunberri), as well as the event at Saizar in Usurbil. Bizkaia had its own on Tuesday 20, at Uxarte (Amorebieta-Etxano).

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