Lizeaga Sagardoa
Natural cider made in Astigarraga
Ours is a traditional cider house, something reflected in our menu and the customs we maintain. The doors of our cider house are open almost all year round, offering a fantastic atmosphere every day of the year.
We start the cider season (TXOTX) in January and stay open until December.
OUR STORY
The country house known as Gartziategi was built in the 16th century for cider making. This makes it a 450 year old cider house. The cider-making area lies between the four main beams and around it we have the kitchen, bedrooms, stable and other quarters. Our family has lived in the farmhouse year in, year out, for centuries, making what we know best. Cider.
In time, Julian Arrieta bought the house from the Count of Peñaflorida, the previous owner, thus moving on from being a tenant to being the owner. In 1988, the brothers Gabriel and Joxe Mari Lizeaga decided on another name: their surname. And that’s why our cider house is called Lizeaga.
“JOXE MARI”, OUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER
We must mention our great-grandfather Joxe Mari. He was a cider maker and farmer, but was also knew how to work with wood and started making barrels when he was 70.
For 15 years he cut, shaped and planed the staves he used to make the barrels.
His work was special for one reason: the wood he used. Although most people used chestnut, our great-grandfather used acacia and oak, because of the taste they gave the cider.
To this day we still use one of the barrels made by our Joxe Mari, something very important to the family.
URUMEA, RIVER OF CIDER
‘Urumea, river of cider’ is a project that recreates how goods used to be transported from Astigarraga to San Sebastián/Donostia along the river Urumea. These goods obviously included the cider made at the Astigarraga cider house.
Barrels of cider, fruit and other goods were loaded on rafts at the jetties that Lizeaga and Petritegi owned on the river Urumea to be carried to San Sebastián/Donostia. On arrival, these goods were loaded onto ox carts and distributed around the city.
This project initiated by the Lizeaga and Petritegi cider houses aims to recover and share this custom, in order to safeguard a very special part of our culture.
QUALIFIED DESIGNATION OF ORIGIN
We are part of the Euskal Sagardoa association.
Ciders classified with the “Euskal Sagardoa – Sidra Natural del País Vasco” denomination are made with 100% local apples and have been granted a quality certificate.
The HAZI Foundation monitors the whole process in the Fraisoro laboratories (the first officially approved laboratory), from the apple trees to the bottling of the cider.
The cider sector has worked alongside the Basque institutions to promote the “EUSKAL SAGARDOA” designation of origin. The cider is of excellent quality and made solely from local cider.
