THE CAMPAIGN
The Objective of the Campaign
“Great Gatherings”, is a three year campaign, funded by the EU that aims to promote European premium quality wine and cheese to the markets of United States of America (USA) and Canada.
The general objective of the campaign is to increase the competitiveness of the E.U. agricultural and livestock sector. More specifically, the campaign aims to promote two of the most iconic food and beverage European products, namely wine and cheese.
THE ASSOCIATION
The Finest Grapes
The proposed action is submitted by Organosi Paragogon Ampelooinikon Agiou Vasileiou IKE (PGVSV PC) and Milk Producers Organization (PO) of the Agricultural Livestock Cooperative of Mesotopos Lesvos (PO AC Mesotopos). The products which they represent are Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) Feta cheese and Ladotyri Mytilinis and the Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) Corinthia wine, both products of premium quality that can be matched perfectly.
The AC Mesotopos was founded in 1923 and operates continuously until today. This unit consists of 160 members who are active livestock farmers, which corresponds to about 18,000 sheep and goats while the production of sheep and goat milk amounts to 4,000,000 kg, out of which 3,200,000 kg of sheep milk and 800,000 kg of goat milk.
PGVSV PC is a newly established company, which was created in order to be active in the field of agricultural production and more specifically in the field of Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Corinthia wine. PGVSV PC has already been recognized as a Producers Organization in the field of wine and consists of a group of 12 members-producers in the greater area of the Municipality of Corinth. The PO focuses on the cultivation of the Greek indigenous varieties, Malagouzia and Agiorgitiko.
Geographical indications food & drink
Α guarantee of authenticity
European food and drink reflect the continent’s cultural diversity and rich lands. EU Geographical Indication schemes protect specific know how, authenticity and agro-environmental conditions.
Geographical Indications include Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) and Protected Designations of Origins (PDO). These schemes protect the name of a product that comes from a specific region and follows a particular traditional production process.
For PDOs, the raw ingredients need to come from the region of origin where all steps of production need to take place. As for PGIs, at least one of the stages of production, processing or preparation takes place in the region.
