Tastes of Europe Study Visit
Reveals First Hand Look and Origins of European Food & Beverage

The Tastes of Europe campaign launched by the European Union promotes European agricultural products to the world. This year the campaign promotes the unique traditions, diversity, and quality of food products in the EU recognized with certified Geographical Indications (PDO and PGI) in China.

To gain a first-hand understanding of the characteristics and benefits of these products, the Tastes of Europe campaign organised a five day study visit to Europe for 10 Chinese lifestyle, food and beverage media and key opinion leaders (KOLs) to get a close look and taste of several representative European food cultures. Along with the tour of the countries of origin, including United Kingdom and Portugal, the study visit also explored and sought to reveal the rich cultural history behind these European foods, including the process of selecting/harvesting quality ingredients, age-old production techniques, and the heritage and first hand experiences of the producers themselves. Each bite of food tells a story.

The tour featured English beer made exclusively with water in Rutland, famous traditional cheeses from Stilton, and the distinctive organic olive oil produced in Trás-os-Montes, Portugal. The study tour also included a special visit to the Douro Valley in the vicinity of Porto in Portugal, where Port wine and Douro wine are made in fine vineyards from grape growing, picking and wine producing. Mr. Wang Ziqiang, a famous photographer, global gourmet traveller, producer and host of a Youku.com tourism program said, “This farm to fork experience not only helped me understand how these tastes of GI products were formulated and developed, but I also discovered how each of the unique flavors are all directly influenced by the products’ unique high quality ingredients and special production processes. I got to see and learn about the traditional production tools and techniques that have been passed on through multiple generations and , made me appreciate more about the food and beverage on my table. ”

All the products presented during this study visit are registered either as PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) or as PGI (Protected Geographical Indication),.

PGI Rutland Bitter

PGI Rutland Bitter beer is a traditional English beer made using an age old recipe and local ingredients that give this beer its unique taste and aroma. The major ingredients obtained exclusively from the region include: water and yeast from Rutland Lake. PGI Rutland Bitter is a 3.4% Permanent Ale exhibiting a full bodied flavour which belies its lower than average gravity, and with only 1.9 units of alcohol per pint, it is truly a unique ale. The taste characteristics of this beer are predominantly bitter balanced with some sweet, fruity and hoppy flavours. It smells fruity and hoppy, has a texture cool and watery to the palate.

The first record of a beer titled Rutland is 1964, and the first use of Rutland Bitter for a light ale was in 1985. The Rutland Bitter beer was officially registered as a PGI in June, 1996.

PDO White Stilton and Blue Stilton cheese

White Stilton and Blue Stilton cheese were awarded the Protected Designation of Origin in 1996 and was the first British cheeses to receive this honour. The PDO guidelines stipulate that for a cheese to be designated as Stilton it must adhere to a strict set of rules:

·  It must be produced in one of the 3 Counties of Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire

·  It must be made from locally produced milk

·  It can only be made with pasteurised milk

·  It must be cylindrical in shape and allowed to form its own coat

·  It must never be pressed

Stilton cheese is made in three varieties, White Stilton, Blue Stilton, Mature Blue and/or Vintage Blue Stilton. The processes by which Stilton cheeses are made have been evolving since the establishment of the core techniques over 250 years ago. This knowledge has been handed down through generations of families, and it is these descendants who now make up a large part of the pool of local knowledge and expertise unique to the area.

White Stilton has a fresh, clean, acidic flavour with a flaky or crumbly, moist texture and is a uniform white colour. The Blue Stilton has a clean subtle flavour and is of a uniform creamy white colour with blue and green mould and a velvety or flaky open texture.

PDO Port wine

Port wine is produced in the mountainous eastern reaches of the Douro Valley in northern Portugal, one of the world’s oldest vineyard regions where wine has been made for over two thousand years. In December 1991, Port wine was awarded the Protected Designation of Origin. Port owes its distinctive characteristics to a unique association of climate, soil, grape variety and wine making traditions. The Douro Valley is the only significant wine producing area in the world to practice hot climate hillside viticulture.

The Douro Valley boasts a unique terroir. Many of the oldest vineyards are now classified as World Heritage sites and planted on narrow terraces. About two thirds of the vineyard areas are planted on slopes with a gradient of over 30% and supported by hundreds of hand built dry stone walls. Due to these unique features, the remarkable wines produced in the Douro Valley simply cannot be replicated elsewhere.

As Port is a fortified wine, it is made by adding a proportion of grape spirit, or brandy, to the wine at some point during the production process. In the case of Port, the addition of the brandy takes place before the wine has finished fermenting. This means that the wine retains some of the natural sweetness of the grape, making it rich, round and smooth on the palate.

PDO Trás-os-Montes Olive Oil

The olive oil made in the region of Trás-os-Montes received the Protected Designation of Origin in June 1996 due to the geographical and climatic characteristics that gives the product its unique flavour. The Trás-os-Montes area is in north-eastern Portugal, which is known for its wide-ranging temperatures. The PDO registration identifies how the olive groves are located on sloped terrains with shale-rich soils, planted in non-intensive distribution patterns (with a minimum ten metres between olive trees). The climate is referred to as Terra Quente Transmontana, which translates to “Trás-os-Montes warm lands”.

The extra virgin olive oil is produced within the scope of a Protected Designation of Origin, meaning no chemicals are employed either in its cultivation or extraction and it comes from an area considered uniquely suited to the development of this product, made exclusively from olive trees in the Tras-os-Montes region of the local native varieties: Cobrançosa, Verdeal Trasmontana and Madural.

The characteristic taste of this olive oil is delightful and appealing to the nose. On the palate it is round and smooth. It has a light almond-like sweet flavour, a smattering of spiciness in the throat, followed by greens, olives and wild flowers.

PDO Douro Wine

Viticulture in the Douro region began its development thousands of years ago at the hands of vintners drawn to the ideal climatic and geographical characteristics. In December 1991 the Douro wine was awarded the Protected Designation of Origin. The average altitude of 320 meters above sea level and the coolness of its nights during the grapes’ maturation period confer upon the estate’s wines a freshness which the Douro’s lower areas do not often possess. There is a great dedication to grape quality and, in the cellar, everything happens with a minimum of interference. The PDO registration also recognizes the fermentation of reds made in open granite tanks with indigenous yeasts.

For more details, please visit the Tastes of Europe campaign: http://tastesofeurope.eu/, its weibo account @源味欧洲 and Official WeChat account:

About EU GI labels:

§  Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) — A PDO is a name which identifies a product (foodstuff, wine, etc) that originates in a specific town, region or country, that has characteristics that are particularly linked to the place of origin through inherent natural or human factors, and which is produced, processed and prepared in the defined geographical area.

§  Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) — PGI covers names of products originating in a specific place, region or country which are recognised for their quality, reputation or other characteristics essentially attributable to the defined geographical area. The PGI name also marks the products as being produced and/or processed in the area in question.

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About the European Union (EU):

The EU, which consists of 28 countries, has the world's largest economy and the third largest population, after China and India. Though richly diverse, the countries that make up the EU (its 'Member States') are all committed to the same basic values: peace, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. They have set up common institutions so that decisions on matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level. By creating a frontier-free single market and a single currency (the euro), which has been adopted by 18 Member States, the EU has given a significant boost to trade and employment. It is also at the forefront of policies on sustainability.

For more information, please visit www.eu-in-china.com or follow our weibo @欧盟在中国.

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‘Tastes of Europe’ is a campaign financed by EU and implemented by DEVELOPMENT Solution andWeber Shandwick.

For media Inquiry:
Xu Weijia
Weber Shandwick
E-mail:
Tel: +86-10-8569-2310