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AOC — Aquitaine
At the cry of ‘Txotx!’, the new cider flows from the cask — a drink the Basques call sagarno, ‘apple wine’, documented since the 12th century in the orchards of Labourd, Basse-Navarre and Soule.
Cider-based drink from Aquitaine, AOC since 2025.
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Cider production is among the oldest traditions of the French Basque Country: the earliest documents attesting to it — apple tree regulations, ordinances, royal decrees — date from 1189, and archives held by the Musée Basque establish the presence of cider apple orchards in Bayonne as early as 1198, proof that apples were already cultivated there in the 12th century. A notarised document from 1753 further confirms that apples were a source of income in the Baigorri valley in the 18th century, and the botanist Auguste Chevalier makes repeated reference to Basque cider apples in his 20th-century scientific writings.
Fostered by the mild, damp climate of the Basque Country, this drink — sagarno, literally ‘apple wine’ — was traditionally prized for its refreshing, energising and medicinal properties: Basque sailors are said to have taken it on their voyages to combat scurvy. The 20th century, however, marked a sharp decline in this tradition as it faced competition first from wine and later from beer.
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To reverse this decline, farmers founded the Sagartzea association in Saint-Étienne-de-Baigorry in 1990: an orchard inventory identified around a hundred apple varieties across the northern Basque Country, eighty-nine of which underwent genetic analysis. This renewed enthusiasm led in 1998 to the creation of the first cider festival in Hendaye — Sagarno Eguna —, joined by Bayonne associations in 2000.
The Spanish side of the Basque Country has for several years had its own appellation, ‘Euskal Sagardoa’. On the French side, the Syndicat des cidres du Pays Basque nord – Iparraldeko sagarnoen sindikata, established in 2023, brings together around thirty cider-apple producers with an annual production capacity of some 200,000 litres. With technical support from the INAO, both sides prepared a joint application, approved by the national committee for appellations of origin on 6 February 2024, then submitted to the French and Spanish ministries on 12 January 2024 and to the European Commission on the following 6 February: the very first cross-border PDO application submitted for a food product. The national objection procedure that followed had notably to address concerns raised by a collective of Norman producers; it concluded with the approval of the specifications as an AOC, the file for which was subsequently forwarded to Brussels for the European stage — unified protection on both sides of the border, unmatched anywhere else in Europe to date.
The specifications recognise three types of Basque cider, distinguished by their production method: the semi-sparkling, produced by alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, hazy and traversed by very fine bubbles; the bittersweet (‘Gazi-gozoa’), with a profile shaped more by the balance between sweet and bitter; and the bottle-refermented (‘pindartsua’), which undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle of at least six weeks, using a traditional or ancestral method. The 194 authorised native apple varieties — 159 of which have unique DNA, accounting for 82% of the cultivated area — are divided into sharp, bitter, bitter-sharp and sweet varieties, blended to craft each cider.
Appearance
Colour ranging from straw yellow to old gold; cloudy appearance, threaded with very fine bubbles of carbon dioxide — unlike filtered, clear ciders.
Aroma
Aromas of volatile substances from the apple varieties: green fruit notes from an early harvest, sweeter notes from a late harvest, sometimes enhanced by floral, fruity or spicy notes depending on the fermentation.
Taste
A balance between sweetness, acidity, bitterness and astringency, marked by a characteristic volatile acidity; sagarno from the northern Basque Country is renowned for being sweeter than its counterpart from the Spanish side.
Texture
Low natural effervescence, without filtration or stabilisation.
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In a cider house, tasting follows a precise ritual: at the cry of ‘Txotx!’, heralding the opening of a new cask, guests rise to serve themselves and drink their share straight away, glass tilted to allow the cider to bead and breathe. The traditional meal accompanying it typically brings together a salt cod omelette, a grilled rib of beef and a sheep's milk cheese served with quince paste — even if this txotx tradition remains more pronounced on the Spanish side of the Basque Country.
Since: 2025
Area covered: Pays basque français (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) — Labourd, Basse-Navarre, Soule, environ 157 communes
Key requirements: Cider produced from the alcoholic (and, depending on the type, malolactic) fermentation of apple must from 194 authorised native varieties, grown within the geographical area; no added sugar, water, flavourings or preservatives; unpasteurised; effervescence exclusively of endogenous origin. Three recognised types: semi-sparkling, bittersweet (‘Gazi-gozoa’) and bottle-refermented (‘pindartsua’).
The specifications for this AOC have been approved with a view to submission to the European Commission for recognition as a PDO (AOP) — a cross-border initiative with the Spanish side of the Basque Country, where the ‘Euskal Sagardoa’ appellation already exists separately. The European application, registered under dossier number PDO-ES-FR-02309, is still under consideration in Brussels; it is the first cross-border PDO application submitted for a food product.
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