EU Fab 6 Gala Dinner: A Celebration of Europe’s Finest PDO and PGI Meats and Wines

This EU Fab 6 campaign is a three-year campaign that was selected and co-financed by the European Union as one of the best projects promoting the finest food and drink products from the EU across the world. Focusing on PDO and PGI wines and deli meats from Europe, the EU Fab 6 campaign aims to increase the recognition and consumption of European wines and deli meats worldwide. In particular, the campaign focuses on six key French, Italian and Spanish associations within the agricultural and food sectors:

1. ODG des Premières Côtes de Bordeaux et Cadillac (French wine)
2. Consorzio Italiano Tutela Mortadella Bologna (Italian meats)
3. Consorzio Tutela Vini d’Abruzzo (Italian wine)
4. Consorzio Cacciatore Italiano (Italian meats)
5. Consorzio Zampone e Cotechino Modena IGP (Italian meats)
6. Asociación para la promoción del vino de Garnacha (Spanish wine)

Whilst campaign activity will take place over the next three years to promote this fantastic scheme, I had the opportunity to mark the campaign launch at a Gala Dinner in London, which I’ve featured in more detail below.

Before I recap the Gala Dinner celebration, however, I wanted to quickly run through what PDO and PGI mean when it comes to food and wine products. PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) and PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) food and wine indications represent products that must originate from a certain region, country or place. However, there is a distinctive difference between PDO and PGI, which is important when referring to products with these labels. PDO is the strictest of the two labels. For produce to have this label, all raw materials used to make the product and all production methods involved in the development of the product must take place in a specific geographical location.

Whereas, PGI products do not need to stick to one specific geographical location when sourcing raw materials and or producing their products. They must, however, have at least one production, processing or preparation method take place in that geographical location. A great example of this is for wines with the PGI status. To qualify for this accreditation, wines with PGI status must include at least 85% of grapes from their specific location. The other 15% can come from elsewhere.

To mark the start of the campaign, I joined food and wine journalists, press and influencers in London for a celebratory Gala Dinner at Frescobaldi, London. Here, we were able to learn more about the campaign, hear from the establishments that are directly involved in the campaign, and taste the brilliant PDO and PGI produce. We sat down to a beautiful four-course dinner, which focused on showing off the best of the produce alongside wine pairings. Before each course we heard from experts from each of the three campaign partners, who took us through their selected meats and wines, sharing information about their processes and produce, which was fantastic and informative. We also heard from sommelier Peter Ferguson, who shared his thoughts and tasting notes on each bottle.

We started with Tartare of Mortadella Bologna PGI with fondue of stracchino and pistachio crumble. Having just returned from a trip to Bologna I was thrilled to see this on the menu (I never bore of Mortadella!). The tartare was a unique take on Mortadella, usually served finely sliced, but one that I enjoyed. Alongside this was a glass of Chateau Sainte Catherine Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux AOC 2018 which was dry but full of dark fruit flavours such as dark cherry. It was bold and peppery with hints of leather too – beautiful. We then moved on to our first course, risotto with Salamini Italiani alla Cacciatora PDO and parmesan, served with Pasette Testarossa Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva DOC 2021. This dish was all about the Salamini Italiani alla Cacciatora – its simplicity let the Salamini sing and showed off what the produce had to offer.

Overall this was a fantastic evening that felt truly celebratory of the EU Fab 6 campaign. It definitely kicked off the campaign with a bang, setting the tone for the next three years of the campaign. I look forward to following along with the campaign over the coming years and hopefully see more people familiarise themselves with incredible PDO and PGI products of France, Italy and Spain. If you’re interested in learning more about the selected products and organisations in the EU Fab 6 campaign, I recommend visiting their website for more information.

Interested in finding new French, Italian and Spanish wines to try? I’ve shared three of my favourites below. For even more wine recommendations, check out my full list of wine reviews right here.