Zapiain Sagardoa

Sagardoa is a Basque word that literally means apple wine. The  first written mentions date back to the 11th century. It had special importance in the 16th century, in the Basque naval expeditions that traveled to Newfoundland, Iceland and Norway to fish for cod and hunt for whales.

The name Zapiain has been linked to the production of sagardoa since at least the 16th century, in full splendor of the production of Basque cider. The first record of the relationship of the Zapiain family with the production of cider is a document dated June 3, 1542 – a manuscript for the sale of an 87-foot plot of apple trees located in Astigarraga.

In the 20th century Basque cider was going through a moment of decline, when Roxario Zapiain abandoned other tasks on the farm to dedicate exclusively to the making of Sagardoa. In the 1960s he built two cellars with chestnut wood barrels in which we still make cider today.

Starting in the 1980s, the new generations of the Zapiain family joined the cider house, modernizing the facilities with stainless steel tanks and the installation of temperature control. At that time, Miguel Zapiain, the first winemaker in the Basque cider sector, joined the team.

Since then, Zapiain has focused on the search for excellence in its products. Exclusively imported by Quality Ferments and available for home delivery and trade.

We currently import several products from Zapiain:

Gure Sagardoa – a natural cider made mainly with sharp and bitter apples. This is a live, unfiltered, unpasteurised and unstabilised product made under the Gorenak quality brand. Kegs available for Trade customers – please enquire!

Euskal Sagardoa – a natural cider made with 100% native apple varieties, mainly sharp and bitter of the Gezamiña, Urtebi, Patzolua, Errezila and Moko. Again, this is a live, unfiltered, unpasteurised and unstabilised product. The entire process is controlled by the regulatory council of the Euskal Sagardoa designation of origin.

Sagardoa Ekologikoa – Zapiain’s organic natural cider is made only with cider apples from organic farming. It’s yellow or greenish-yellow and presents certain turbidity or sediment in the bottle because it has not been filtered.

Sagarmut – Zapiain version of a Vermut, using late harvest apple juice aromatised with plants collected in the Basque territory such as artemisia, tansy and yarrow; fig leaves and leaves and bark from the apple trees themselves.

Bizi-Goxo – Sweet Ice Cider made from late ripening apple varieties such as Errezil which has a natural tendency is to raisin; in its over-ripening phase it loses water and wrinkles instead of rotting. During this process, all its values are concentrated: acids, sugars, aromas, etc. It is an ideal raw material to make an ice cider.

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