The Regulatory Council guarantees the 100 per cent Asturian origin of the apples used to make cider under the designation of origin by means of extensive controls.
Firstly, the apples can only come from farms registered in the Regulatory Council’s Register of Plots of Land. When producers apply to register their apple groves, the Council’s auditors inspect them to verify compliance with the specifications regarding varieties, planting layout, pruning, and other compulsory aspects. Then, the apple plantations are inspected regularly to ensure their correct maintenance.
During the harvest season, the cider mills must inform the Regulatory Council, at least 24 hours in advance, of the receipt of Designation of Origin apples, as well as the list of suppliers for that day. With this information, the Council’s experts carry out unannounced inspections on the farms where the apples were grown to ensure that the fruit is actually being collected and that it is being stored inside the plantation, ready to be transferred to the cider mill. When the apples are being loaded, we also check that the varieties match those growing on the supplier’s farm.
Finally, at the end of the campaign, all the producers must provide the Regulatory Council with a sales statement broken down by deliveries, dates, destination cider mills, and kilograms delivered. The cider mills, in turn, send the Council a statement of purchases, broken down also by deliveries, dates, producers, and farm of origin, and kilograms received. The Regulatory Council inspectors check all this data to verify that it matches exactly.
For the Regulatory Council, it is an absolute priority to guarantee the Asturian origin of the raw ingredients because that is our whole purpose: Sidra de Asturias (Asturian Cider) is made exclusively from Asturian apples. No other natural cider can refer to Asturias on its labeling.
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