The certification and control of the Protected Geographical Indication of Medronho do Algarve will be carried out by the Algarve Wine Commission.
The Algarve entity will be able to start evaluating requests from interested producers as soon as it receives the green light from the National Accreditation Institute (IPAC) to extend its certification powers to this product, as is already the case with Algarve wine.
The acknowledgment of the CVA as a certifying entity for medronho in the region was published last Friday, in Diário da República, by the General Directorate of Agriculture and Regional Development. This is a decisive step for the certification of this regional product to start being made.
According to the president of CVA Carlos Garcias, so that IPAC's authorization is guaranteed, something that will have to happen within a maximum period of one year, “productions will begin to be evaluated, with a view to their certification”.
In the process of creating the Medronho do Algarve IGP brand, which was also recognized in the same publication, «10 producers from the region joined», so it is expected that they will be the first to seek certification for their product.
But any producer who meets the requirements may start to bear the brand, when marketing their product, as long as they submit the process to the CVA and it is approved. This certification also makes it possible to combat situations in which arbutus produced in other regions is sold as being from the Algarve.
About a year ago, the president of Apagarbe – Arbutus Producers Association of Barlavento Algarvio José Paulo Nunes pointed to Sul Informação the advantages of creating the IGP Medronho do Algarve, for both producers and consumers.
Whoever buys the product has “a guarantee of quality and a product in which they can have absolute confidence”.
On the other hand, consumer confidence in the product gives a competitive advantage to those who sell the brandy. “This certification will reinforce the difference in relation to other products that are on the market”, he explained.
"This is the result of a long process with several actors and will allow the entry into a new era of expansion, opening horizons in the future for the consolidation of the various sectors involved and the respective economic agents, in a sustained manner", he considered, for his side, Carlos Garcias.
«It is important that arbutus brandy produced in the Algarve has a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI). Thus, when consumers drink a certified brandy, they know they are consuming a quality, genuine product with specific characteristics», he added.
For now, the CVA's perspective is to certify around 20 thousand liters of arbutus brandy per year, «but that number could reach 50 thousand liters, with the entry of other farmers who, in parallel with the production of brandy, will also to market fresh fruit and sell the branches, as a by-product, for the production of wreaths».
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