Spanish retailer Eroski has announced its intention to collaborate with and promote newly-designated denomination of origin cider Euskal Sagardoa, it said in a statement.
The cooperative kicked off cider season at its hypermarket in Usurbil in the Basque Country last week. The opening of the 'txotx' or cider barrel was christened by ex-wrestler and cheese producer Maider Unda and chef-cum-sculptor Ramón Roteta, along with representatives from rural agri-food group HAZI and local cider houses such as Bereziartua and Gurutzeta..
During the ceremony, Eroski and representatives of the newly-created DO cider, made entirely from locally-sourced apples, announced their collaboration to promote the 'certified quality' product within and outside of the Basque Country.
The marketing campaign will kick off in the spring and will feature the DO trademark, marketing the cider mostly in the Eroski store network.
The retailer will sell roughly 1 million bottles of naturally-made cider, which makes up 10% of total production.
Starting this season, there will be two quality seals, 'DO Euskal Sagardoa', which denotes cider made only with Basque apples, and 'Gorenak', indicating a cider of 'equal certified quality' made in Basque cider houses with apples of distinct origins.
"We have been following closely the new strategic challenges that have been brought to light in the cider sector in the Basque Country; from the beginning we have encouraged it to make itself a denomination of origin, and we have become engaged in proactively promoting the marketing of this new, certified-quality cider," commented Eroski's commercial director of local products, Asun Bastida.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
