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Cheese campaign set to taste victory in Brussels
WENSLEYDALE cheese made in Yorkshire could finally receive special protection within months.
Uniquely Yorkshire: Watch Wensleydale cheese being made
The Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes is hoping to get approval from the European Union before the end of the year to stop impersonators using its name.
Read messages of support for the campaign from Yorkshire Post readers across the world>>
The protected designation of origin status for Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese will prevent producers outside the area from making a cheese with the same name.
It will finally mark victory for the Yorkshire Post's Uniquely Yorkshire campaign and the end of a lengthy process for the creamery to convince first the Government and then Brussels officials to grant the status.
The creamery's managing director, David Hartley, welcomed the progress at an event to promote the cheese at Claridge's in London yesterday, backed by Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague, MP for Richmond and a keen fan of the product.
Mr Hartley said: "Hopefully what has been a very long process is going to come to a conclusion in the end of 2009."
Mr Hague said only 16 products from this country – including Cornish clotted cream and Shetland lamb – have the protected status.
"It would be a great achievement if real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese could join them," he added.
"Once you've tasted real Yorkshire Wensleydale there's a distinctive quality no substitute can match."
The creamery originally chose Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese as the title it wanted to protect but during the UK consultation it revised its bid to Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese after concerns were raised over the exact wording.
Mr Hague hailed the creamery, which has a turnover of 18m, as a champion in supporting rural livelihoods. It employs 198 people and each year it pumps more than 11m back into the local economy through milk payments, wages and purchases.
See next page for Mr Hague's speech, in full>>
Mr Hague's speech:
"I am very pleased to see so many people here today, especially those who have travelled long distances, and to have the opportunity to say a few words about The Wensleydale Creamery, based in Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales.
"The Dales are a magnificent part of our country and I am incredibly honoured to have been the Member of Parliament for the past 20 years.
"Championing locals business and products from our constituencies should always be one of the top priorities for an MP, which is why when I received the invitation to participate in this event I did not hesitate in saying yes – a decision made, of course, in full knowledge of the enticing produce that would be on display today.
"To many people local to North Yorkshire, cheese made in Wensleydale is not simply a delicious cheese that creates a perfect harmony of flavours with a slice of moist fruit cake – as you are discovering this morning – it is so much more.
"It is the result of a centuries' old tradition, which forms a valued component of our regional heritage, having first been made in the area in 1150 by Cistercian monks.
"Some 860 years later, we have a world class product able to make a significant contribution to our regional economy through The Wensleydale Creamery, which uses recipes passed down the generations and long-established handcrafting techniques.
"The Wensleydale Creamery is a successful business, which lies at the very heart of the rural economy in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Using current figures, from an annual turnover of 17.7m The Wensleydale Creamery puts 11.6m back into the local economy through milk payments, wages and purchases.
"It has expanded over the years to become one of the Dales' largest employers with the wages of its 198 employees also helping to sustain the local economy.
"Furthermore, the importance of The Creamery to the Dales economy is demonstrated by its network of 40 upland farms within a 15 mile radius of its base.
"It is a champion in supporting rural livelihoods, through its use of local farms to supply its milk, which is vital to sustaining the surrounding agricultural community.
"At a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware and concerned about the origins and quality of food products, the close ties The Creamery has with its farmers is reassuring. Local farms are, after all, the bedrock of The Creamery
"My experience of being brought up in a family running a local soft drinks business has taught me that the careful cultivation of trust between suppliers and producers is an essential precondition upon which all real success depends and I am heartened by the emphasis that The Wensleydale Creamery places on nurturing its relationships with our community.
"Two years ago in the spring 2007, David Hartley, Managing Director of The Wensleydale Creamery, visited me in my office in the House of Commons bearing two gifts.
"In one hand, much to the joy of my staff, he carried a cool bag filled with every single variety of Wensleydale imaginable, and in the other, a petition signed by over 14,000 people to which I readily added my own name.
"The petition was to support the application for Real Yorkshire Wensleydale to have European protection under the "Protected Designation of Origin" status thus preventing manufacturers outside Wensleydale from producing cheese with the same name.
"Items classified in this way must be produced, processed and prepared within a particular geographical area, and possesses unique features and characteristics which are determined by geographical area.
"There are currently only 16 products in the UK with full PDO status, examples of which are Orkney Beef, Shetland Lamb, West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, Cornish Clotted Cream and Jersey Royal Potatoes.
"Swaledale Cheese and Swaledale Ewes' Cheese are the only two products under this classification from Yorkshire and it would be a great achievement, and one truly deserved, if Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese could join them.
"And I am sure many of you will agree from the wonderful samples available this morning, once you have tasted Real Yorkshire Wensleydale, there is a distinctive quality that no substitute can match.
"Obtaining PDO status is a lengthy and complicated process – as all dealings involving the European Union inevitably are – but I hope that the assessment board will realise the strength of our case and we will have good news soon.
"Then we will be able to add a rider to the well-known phrase from that other stalwart of Yorkshire – "More cheese Gromit……but make it Real Yorkshire Wensleydale!
"Joking aside, it would be a real testament to everyone involved in making this superb cheese from dairy farmers to the staff to the Board of Directors of The Wensleydale Creamery, an indeed, for each person from the area who is passionate and proud of their cheese.
"Perhaps no item is more synonymous with Wensleydale than its award-winning cheese, and no creamery more famous than our very own Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes.
"Last week Wensleydale cheese even captured the national headlines – it has led the recent surge in British food exports, and has been described as a 'star performer' by UK Trade and Investment, the government export agency.
"For this, and for the other reasons I have outlined, it is important that The Wensleydale Creamery continues to receive our support. I am in no doubt that due to the personal commitment and vision of its Board of Directors, coupled with the dedication and enthusiasm of its staff and suppliers, Real Yorkshire Wensleydale will continue to go from strength to strength – and I don't just mean from mild to extra mature.
"The Wensleydale Creamery is a splendid example of a local company with a national reach and growing international recognition and I am certain that Wensleydale made by The Wensleydale Creamery will continue to present the very best of North Yorkshire to discerning consumers in this country and, indeed, beyond."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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