Basque Natural Craft Cider.

Basque Natural Craft Cider. Unfiltered, unsweetened, unpasteurized, uncarbonated. Just Basque Cider.

After the harvest the apples are selected and put through the grinder or ‘matxaka’. After grinding and pressing the fruit, the must sits in stainless steel tanks for 24 hours. Under strict temperature controls, the must is then transferred into wooden casks or ‘kupelas’, where alcoholic fermentation — and subsequently malolactic fermentation — take place. The cider rests and ages in casks on lees for two months before it is ready to be drunk, straight from the barrel in the traditional ‘txotx’ ritual. The cider is bottled, unfiltered, in June. 


Astarbe is one of the oldest cider houses in Gipuzkoa (founded in 1563), run by the same family that generation after generation, for five centuries, has been dedicated to making cider and growing apple trees. The transfer of knowledge, the quality of our apple trees, the control in the cider production and the quality of our traditional gastronomy courses are some of our differences.