Sagardotegi


A sagardotegi is a type of cider house found in the Basque Country where Basque cider and traditional foods such as cod omelettes are served. Modern sagardotegis can broadly be described as a cross between a steakhouse and a cider house.
Most Basque cider, like most cider varieties in Spain, is called "natural" because, unlike many other European varieties, it is still, instead of sparkling. It normally contains 4-6% alcohol and is served directly from the barrel in a sagardotegi.

Etymology

The word sagardotegi is composed of three elements: sagar "apple" and ardo "wine", yielding sagardo or "cider" and the suffix -tegi which denotes a building where an activity takes place. The word thus translates as "cider house". In some Northern Basque dialects cider is called sagarno or sagarano but that only reflects a different development of the Proto-Basque root *ardano "wine".
Although the word ardo today exclusively means "wine", the original meaning seems to have been "fermented drink". This is evidenced by the recorded form mahatsarno "wine"; mahats meaning "grape" so literally "fermented drink from grapes". Thus the original meaning of the related sagardo and garagardo "beer" must have been "fermented drink from apples" and "fermented drink from barley".
Collectively all Basque cider houses are referred to as sagardotegi but since the emergence of more restaurant-style sagardotegi, the traditional type where the grill and eating area are under the same roof as the press have been called dolare-sagardotegi/tolare-sagardotegi or "press-cider house".
In Spanish a sagardotegi is called sidrería; cidrerie or chai à cidre in French.

Tradition

The more recent traditions surrounding the sagardotegis hail back to the time when buyers interested in purchasing cider from a particular maker would bring along food for the tasting as it is considered best when taken with a meal. This soon evolved into gastronomical tradition with the sagardotegis becoming a cross between a grill and a cider house. In a traditional sagardotegi, three courses are taken:
The steaks today are usually provided by the sagardotegi but in some places the tradition of bringing along your own steak is still practised. Food is traditionally taken standing at tall tables but modern establishments often provide seating.
In the most traditional sagardotegi, each guest, after having paid in the region of 25 euros, receives a glass and at various intervals a txotx is called. At this, everyone who wishes for cider gets up and heads to the lower section of the sagardotegi where the barrels are located. The large barrels, which are stored horizontally, have a small tap in the lid at about head-height. This is opened by the innkeeper or the first guest to reach the barrel and a thin stream of cider exits, which the guests catch with their glasses as low down as possible to aerate the cider. People then return to their tables to continue with their meal and cider until the next txotx is called. Each guest may drink as much cider as they like.
As this can be a somewhat messy affair, the barrels are often located behind a partition and with a lower floor level than the main eating area.
After the maturation of last year's cider, the cider season opens, with aficionados sampling different houses.

Geographical spread

Most sagardotegi are located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in particular in the area around Hernani and Astigarraga but they can be found in all provinces of the Basque Country. Traditional tolare-sagardotegis are found in :
The towns of Astigarraga, Hernani, Urnieta, Oiartzun and Usurbil have the highest concentrations.

Basque cider

Production

The archetypal sagardotegi in the 16th century would typically resemble a low, two storey farm-building with a tiled roof. The three main parts of such a sagardotegi were the pressing area, the storage area and the kitchen.
The intricate pressing machine was spread across both floor levels. It essentially consisted on a large cantilevered beam which passed between the two central vertical support beams of the building. The fixed end was held in place by a wooden beam right beside the actual press. The far end of the beam sat around a tall wooden screw which ran between beams under the roof and the ground floor of the building, ending in a capstan-like turning mechanism. At the bottom end of the screw hung a stone weight which rotated in a hole in the ground. By turning the screw at the ground floor level, the horizontal beam on the first floor would gradually be pulled downwards and, along with the gravitational pull, exert pressure on the apple press at the far end. The apple press itself consisted essentially of a wooden base with a surrounding groove to catch the juices upon which the apple pomace is placed and a wooden platform which pressed down on the apples. Today, modern machinery is used to press the apples.
Apples are collected from the end of September onwards until the middle of November using the kizkia, a tool that resembles a stick with a nail in it. They are then scratted into pomace in the matxaka using wooden mallets called pisoiak but without cracking the seeds as this would add a bitter taste. The pulp is then transferred to a press and the must collected, processed and stored in barrels in the storage area to mature.
The barrels vary in size, the smaller are called barrikotea and hold up to 100l, the barrika holds between 100-600l, the bukoia between 600-1000l and the upela or upa more than 1000l.
The must undergoes two fermentations:
  • the first or alcoholic fermentation, an aerobic process where the natural sugar is converted to alcohol. This lasts, depending on the circumstances, between 10 days and 1.5 months.
  • the second fermentation where the malic acid is converted to lactic acid. This reduces the sourness of the cider and makes it fit for consumption. This fermentation takes between 2–4 months.
Must in the Basque Country typically contains
WaterAcidsSugarsPectinsTanninsTraces of
75-90%0.1-1.0%9-18%0.05-2.0%0.02-0.6%Proteins, vitamins, minerals, enzymes etc.

The finished cider typically has an alcohol content of 5-6%. The minimum is 4.5% according to Spanish Law, less than 100 mg/L sulphur dioxide, less than 2.2g/L volatile acid and a CO2 pressure over 1.5 atm.

History

The earliest written records on cider making and drinking go back to the 11th and 12th century. The very first is a record of Sancho III of Navarre sending an envoy to the Monastery of Leire in 1014 who mentions apples and cider-making. The other is the circa 1134 diary of the pilgrim Aymeric Picaud included in the Codex Calixtinus who mentions the Basques being notable for growing apples and drinking cider. The 16th century inquisitor Pierre de Lancre also refers to the Basque Country as "the land of the apple". It is known to have been used by Basque whalers and fishermen on their long-distance trips to Greenland and Newfoundland in preference to water.
Historically almost all Basque farm-houses had an apple-orchard and numerous Basque surnames and place-names are linked to the growing of apples or cider production. The earliest such reference is from 1291 where a place called Sagarro is listed in Navarrese documents. Surnames containing sagar appear in the written record from 1348 onwards: Sagastizabal "wide apple-orchard", Sagasti "apple-orchard", Bisagasti "two apple-orchards", Sagarbide "apple way", Sagastiberri "new apple-orchard", Sagastieder "beautiful apple-orchard", Sagastigoitia "upper apple-orchard" or Sagastigutxi "few apple-orchards". Later on, surnames related to the cider making process also appear such as Dolare "press", Dolaretxe "press house", Tolareberri "new press", Tolarezar "big press", Tolaretxipi "little press", Upabi "two barrels" or Upelategi "barrel building".
Traditionally gathering the apples was a communal activity. This ensured that people who did not own a press themselves would receive an amount of cider for their help in the harvest.
But with the increase of wine making in Álava, the increase in the production of cereals over the centuries led to a decline in cider consumption and the apple being regarded as food, rather than a raw material for making cider.
In the early parts of the 20th century the provincial governments supported the cider production and even subsidised the planting of apple orchards. The upheaval of the Spanish Civil War and the ensuing years of hardship resulted in many orchards being abandoned and the production of cider plummeting. It was during this period that cider production virtually ground to a halt in all provinces except Gipuzkoa.
During the 1980s, the town of Usurbil pioneered the Sagardo Eguna to promote the drinking of cider. The first Sagardo Eguna was held in 1981 and proved to be so successful that it has been a regular event since and many other towns have followed suit, celebrating their own Sagardo Eguna.