In 2001, Pacale and Bixintxo Aphaule, trained in agriculture and winemaking, decided to launch themselves in the life of peasant cider-trees. They continued the long history of apples in the Basque country, which precipitated the fall of the Roman Empire when the Romans discovered, in the year 100 after Christ, this green and pleasant place, interlocking between the Gulf of Gascogne and the Atlantic Pyrenees, on horseback between Spain and France, and who succumbed in 101 to the magic of the fermented apple. The Aphaule started with a small piece of vineyard that was not enough to live on and a 2.5 ha orchard that did not live up to expectations, being planted with Golden, Canada, international varieties that needed intensive treatments (every 4 days of March to September !) to give an edible fruit, without corresponding to the desired taste.
They decided to re-graft the entire orchard with local varieties that existed around the farm (Bordalesa, Apez Sagarra, Eztika, Anisa, Eri sagarra, Minxuri, Gordin xuri, Mamula,, Burdinga, Jinkoa, Gehesia Gorria, Errezila, Koko xuria) and passed on too collecting old apples from neighbors who do not use pesticides or herbicides. They rebuilt a wide variety of apple trees by grafting locally and experimenting on different soils (dolomies, black shale, red sandstone) to study the behavior of the tree and the fruit it bore. They produce more apple wine, Sagardoa em vasco, than cider because they approach the old varieties with the eyes of winegrowers and winemakers and because gas is a residual element in the wines produced. The apple wines produced have names that refer to Basque mythology and reveal a gastronomic character and a natural expression that opens our horizons :
Basandere, to pronounce Bachandéré, which means wild woman.
Basajaun say « bachadiaoun » the wild man or devil.
Txalaparta vinified with 2 varieties: Apez sagarra for its tannic structure and fineness, Eztika for its smoothness and fruity expression.
