Oiharte is a family farmhouse located in the municipality of Zerain. They've been making cider for some time, but they jumped into the open market four years ago. They began with the production of conventional cider and then dedicated themselves to the elaboration of the organic cider. Sidrero Haritz Eguren Urrestarazu has stressed that they do not want to transfer cider to great production, but want to measure and create a product of the best possible quality. The first ecological scrub they prepared was for the 2013 txotx season. They were made about 3,000 liters per txotx and were destined for the sale of bottles. They make the cider with a juice extracted from the fruits they have purchased from the baserritarras of their chamomile and surroundings of Zerain, which mostly use apples of Idiazabal and Mutiloa, as well as some of Oñati. Last year, in addition, they tried to explain what apple was in every barrel. “We wanted to recognize the baserritars that sold the apple to us,” says Eguren.

This year, however, it has not been possible to make ecological cider. The Zerain sewer has declared that this year’s harvest has been low in apples. They had the option of bringing the green apple from outside, from Brittany, but it also had a cost, and they've preferred to let this year's one go on like this. However, there will be news: corks will be placed in the form of blankets for the service of cider in the 2014 cider bottles Oiharte. Petritegi was the starting point for Petritegi and the Zerain will be the second to publish this novelty. Next year, they are about to produce cider Labeldun, that is, with the certificate endorsing that it is native apple.

They combine the winery with the rural house that they keep open during the cider season of Oihart. It was in the year 2000 that the rural house was built. After five or six years, the first dining room was prepared with the idea of showing the attendees the culture of the cider so close. With the txotx season, they began to give food and gradually increased demand. From the surrounding villages people approached Oiharte and decided to make a new bet: to open a cider open to the public.

The Council of Agriculture and Organic Food of the Basque Country (ENEEK) grants the certificate to producers of organic products, and Oihart also has his own. They have to go through stringent controls: they measure the whole process, from picking apples to bottling. They have sealed the barrel, and if they have to make any changes to ENEEK, they have to pass the warning to go and inspect the movement. Furthermore, chamomiles must be registered as part of the organic cider certification, and before starting to make cider with the fruits of these chamomiles, the trees must undergo three years of cleaning or purification process.

Organic cider cooperative

It is an association of Lea-Artibai that works as a cooperative and that since 2001 they have been producing organic cider. Sixteen years ago, fourteen baserritars from the area came together and opened the way to expand their products to the market. The production of organic vegetables and jams, under the brand name Leartibai Heritage, began in the first place.

Among other products, which are not all organic, thirteen years ago began to produce organic cider. A partner of the cooperative took on the challenge of having an ecological apple tree and currently they have a production of between 2,000 and 4,000 liters, with apples brought from Arteaga and Munitibar. In this case, if they have had a winery in an industrial estate in Gizaburuaga, but they do not allocate the production to the txotx season, but it is to bottle and sell directly. In addition, it is the only association that produces organic cider in Bizkaia, and there is no cider that produces organic cider.

The cider of the Labor Cooperative is also certified by ENEEK, but in the forms of control there are differences with that made in quarries like Oiharte. The cooperative also works with non-organic products, so controls are carried out on the days that the organic product is to be carried out in order to verify that it is a genuinely organic activity.

In addition to direct sales at eco-fairs, they have a distributor and work with consumer associations for organic products. Cider is not intended for export, it is moving in small quantities, as organic products such as cider are said to have no great demand, although it is increasingly known. Greater is the sale of vegetable and organic fruit, of fresh product. In this way, they intend to start producing organic apple juice for next year.