Tasting Spontaneous Fermentations with Bizio Cider

Knowing we’d be in San Sebastián for a fair amount of time, I had to figure out where I could score some natural wine. Thankfully I found PIRIPI, a quaint wine shop opened only two months ago by a husband and wife team, focusing on Spanish natural wines, beers, and ciders. And while browsing their great selection I found BIZIO, a group of Basque cider makers.

BIZIO Cider, produced in the Basque county of Spain


They use natural brewing methods (“ancestral petillant-naturel“) which means they intervene as little possible in the bottling and production process. They are made with 100% fruit, without additions –no sulphites, yeasts, or sugars– unfiltered and from spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts.

I’m also a big fan of their label designs. It’s very much in the vein of edgy, slightly punk style that is consistent with a lot of natural wine and cider makers. The feeling with many producers is that what they do is an act of rebellion from large-scale, mass produced wine houses. So the labels themselves should communicate that this is something, quite literally, counter cultural. It’s all beautifully done by Amaia Moran and Brou Gràfic.

BIZIO Cider, produced in the Basque county of Spain
BIZIO Cider, produced in the Basque county of Spain