“It’s a historic day.”
French and Spanish producers of Basque cider have submitted their application for a protected designation of origin in Brussels.
It took hundreds of hours to describe, in Basque, Spanish and French, the reasons why Basque cider deserves to obtain the fifth cider AOP of France, but above all the first Franco-Spanish AOP.
And the third cross-border for France, after the Alpine genepi (with Italy) and two variants of gin (with the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany).
A request that almost never saw the light of day
This common request from French and Iberian producers almost never saw the light of day.
Cider makers in the Spanish Basque Country initially failed to inform their French counterparts of their intention to protect their beverage.
Euskal sagardoa nevertheless claims the same origin on both sides of the Pyrenees.
However, if the Spaniards had managed to go it alone, French producers would no longer have had the right to put either a cross or a Basque flag on their labels.
“With the cider industry in our region, we contacted the autonomous Basque government, which was already supporting its local industry in putting together the file to propose writing common specifications
,” recalls Joseba Erremundeguy, delegated advisor for cross-border cooperation of the urban community of the Basque Country.
Everyone must now be patient to obtain approval from Brussels.