Euskal Sagardoa presented the “Malus bat” project at the Txotx 2025 season show this Thursday in Donostia. The Basque Designation of Origin “Malus bat” is an initiative that aims to extend the Designation of Origin of the Basque cider to the rest of the provinces of Euskal Herria, beyond Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia and Álava. As explained by the coordinator of Euskal Sagardoa, Unai Agirre, Iparralde will first enter, with this year’s harvest, and Nafarroa and Treviño have begun to take steps to enter the future.

The project envisages, with the help of a grant from the Euroregion, a strategic 18-year plan to define the Designation of Origin as new and with characteristics that could be the first cross-border in the world, as explained by Naiz. “You will have more news in the coming months,” Agirre said.

The Basque Government Minister for Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries, Amaia Barredo, has highlighted the international recognition of the Basque cider, as an example of a recent test carried out in Japan. In his view, the new Designation of Origin, which will be extended to the whole of the Basque Country, will be positive for its international projection. “This year has been complicated in terms of production, but the result is magnificent,” Barredo said.

Year of lowest production but high quality

The txotx 2025 season will have a lower production compared to the previous year, as expected after the “opulenta” harvest of 2023. In total, two million kilos of apples have been collected in 250 orchards, which has allowed the production of 1,300,000 liters of cider in 46 quarries: one in Álava, three in Bizkaia and 42 in Gipuzkoa. “It’s less than half, but it’s enough,” said the President of the Euskal Sagardoa Designation of Origin, Maite Retolaza, who highlighted “the color, body and aroma of this year’s cider.” Under the motto “El Placer Local”, Euskal Sagardoa highlighted the excellent quality of the cider of 2024 and encouraged to enjoy “kupeltegiz kupeltegi”.

The Basque Cider Route will offer wider experiences in 2025, as explained by Amaia Zubeldia, responsible for the Basque Cider Route. Among others, there will be guided tastings, apple juice workshops, excursions and rural sports ginkanas for companies.

For her part, the Member for Mobility, Tourism and Spatial Planning, Azahara Domínguez, has announced that they will strengthen public transport to facilitate safe access to quarries. He also recalled that the txotx season “is not limited to weekends, but you can also enjoy what the sidrerías offer from Monday to Friday.”