EN Official Journal of the European Union C 331/7

Publication of an application pursuant to Article 50(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

(2016/C 331/04)

This publication confers the right to oppose the application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1).

SINGLE DOCUMENT

‘MIEL VILLUERCAS-IBORES’

EU No ES-PDO-0005-01268 — 21.10.2014

PDO ( X ) PGI ( )

1. Name

‘Miel Villuercas-Ibores’

2. Member State or Third Country

Spain

3. Description of the agricultural product or foodstuff

3.1. Type of product

Class 1.4. Other products of animal origin (eggs, honey, various dairy products except butter, etc.)

3.2. Description of the product to which the name in (1) applies

‘Miel Villuercas-Ibores’ is honey made from native flora by bees of the species Apis mellifera.

On the basis of the different areas of vegetation the following types of honey have been defined:

— single-flower retama honey (Retama sphaerocarpa),

— single-flower chestnut honey (Castanea sativa),

— multifloral honey (miel de milflores),

— honeydew honey.

(a) Common characteristics of all PDO ‘Miel Villuercas-Ibores’ honeys:

Physical characteristics moisture 14-17 %





Chemical characteristics HMF (when placed on the market) < 10 mg/kg Electrical conductivity Not less than 0,8 mS/cm (chestnut and honeydew honey). Not more than 0,8 mS/cm (retama and multifloral honey). Sucrose < 5 g/100 g Fructose + glucose > 60 g/100 g (in general) > 45 g/100 g (honeydew honey)

(b) Pollen:

Retama honey: > 50 % Retama sphaerocarpa.

Chestnut honey: > 70 % Castanea sativa.

Multifloral honey: this is the honey collected at the beginning of summer and its pollen spectra reflect the floral diversity of the preceding months; it is rich in pollen from the area’s characteristic Fabaceae, Fagaceae, Ericaceae, Lamiaceae and/or Cistaceae.

Honeydew honey: this is the honey made by the bees from secretions produced by or found on the living parts of plants, especially species of the Fagaceae family and the genus Quercus, together with a small percentage of pollen from the area’s characteristic Fagaceae, Ericaceae, Lamiaceae and/or Cistaceae.

This is produced mainly at the end of summer, which is the time of year when the fewest plants are in flower in the areas where the bees collect nectar.

(c) Diastase activity: not less than 30.

(d) Organoleptic characteristics:

Retama honey: light to dark amber colour with reddish lights; very aromatic with a sweet taste.

Chestnut honey: dark amber colour, with reddish or greenish tones. Strong aroma. Slightly acidic, bitter and with an astringent character.

Multifloral honey: colour ranging from light to dark amber depending on the flowers, with variable aroma and taste.

Honeydew honey: dark amber colour; less sweet taste and strong, characteristic smell.

3.3. Feed (for products of animal origin only) and raw materials (for processed products only)

—

3.4. Specific steps in production that must take place in the defined geographical area

The honey comes only from beehives located in the production area; transhumance outside this area is not allowed.

Removal of the bees from the frames using brushes and/or smokers.

Uncapping carried out in the traditional way using knives or combs.

Extraction of the honey from the combs by centrifugation.

Storage of the honey in drums or settling tanks.

Decantation and filtration of the honey to remove impurities.

In the exceptional situation that the survival of the hive is in jeopardy, because of a poor harvest, supplementary feeding of the bees is permitted outside the nectar collection period. The food may consist of one or several of the following products: honey from the hive itself, sucrose (cane sugar), glucose and fruit syrup.

3.5. Specific rules concerning slicing, grating, packaging, etc. of the product to which the registered name refers

The packaged honey must be in a liquid (fluid) or solid (crystallised) state.

Crystallised honey is heated to a maximum temperature of 45 °C for decantation and packaging.

3.6. Specific rules concerning labelling of the product to which the registered name refers

The honey must bear a numbered secondary label with the designation logo, which must be affixed at the packaging facility in such a way that it cannot be reused. It must bear the EU symbol and the ‘Miel Villuercas-Ibores’ PDO logo.

The ‘Miel Villuercas-Ibores’ PDO logo is as follows:

On the right-hand side is the name ‘Extremadura’ and a map on which the honey production area is marked with two concentric circles.

4. Concise definition of the geographical area

The honey production area is located in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura (Spain), in the south-east of the province of Cáceres. It comprises a total of 27 municipalities, which make up the comarca of Villuercas-Ibores; all these municipalities are in the province of Cáceres.

5. Link with the geographical area

Natural factors

The comarca of Villuercas-Ibores consists of a series of mountain formations, which are extraordinarily steep and jagged, topped by armorican quartzite crags and flanked by slate and sandstone. The highest peak is in the La Villuerca massif (1 601 m). The hydrographic network includes rivers that form part of the Tagus and Guadiana basins. The ombroclimate is of the subhumid type and therefore precipitation is generally higher than in most of the other comarcas of Extremadura.

According to the USDA’s classification system (Soil Taxonomy) the soils are entisols, inceptisols and alfisols. the entisols form very narrow strips on the plains of the rivers Ruecas and Silvadillos. The inceptisols are basically found on north-facing mountain slopes. The alfisols are found in the southern part of the area, in river terraces and scrub plains. They are soils that have few of the requisite characteristics for crop-growing, but are suitable for forestry activities.

The comarca of Villuercas-Ibores has a rich and diverse flora, corresponding to the biogeographical area in which it is located (Ladero, 1987), and large areas of pasture and scrubland where the bees can harvest nectar extensively from native flowers, which produces a honey with excellent qualities. There are also numerous groves of holm oak, cork oak, chestnut and oak trees, which provide the bees with nectar, pollen and honeydew. Although the comarca is generally populated with forest and dehesa species, chestnut, olive, matorral and Cistus are the area’s most important species, together with large oak forests.

From among the countless plant species from which the bees can obtain food, some of the most important melliferous plants in the comarca of Villuercas-Ibores are listed below; they are all native to the production area:

BORAGINACEAE: Echium plantagineum L. (purple viper’s bugloss), Anchusa azurea Miller (lengua de buey).

BRASSICACEAE: Raphanus raphanistrum L. (wild radish).

ERICACEAE: Erica australis L. (brezo rubio or colorado), Erica lusitanica Rudolphi (brezo blanco), Erica umbellata L. (brezo, quiruela), Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull (ling heather), Arbustus unedo L. (strawberry tree).

FABACEAE: Retama sphaerocarpa L. (retama común, retama de bolas), Trifolium stellatum L. (starry clover), Genista tridentata (carquesa), Cytisus multiflorus (escoba or retama blanca).

FAGACEAE: Castanea sativa Miller (chestnut), Quercus pyrenaica Willd. (Pyrenean oak), Quercus rotundifolia L. (holm oak), Quercus suber L. (cork oak).

LAMIACEAE: Lavandula stoechas subsp. pedunculata Miller (cantueso, tomillo borriquero), Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary).

ROSACEAE: Rubus ulmifolius Schott (elmleaf blackberry).

APIACEAE (UMBELLIFERAE): Erynginum campestre L. (field eryngo).

CISTACEAE: Cistus ladanifer L. (brown-eyed rockrose), Cistus spp. and Halimium spp. (rockroses in general).

Human factors

The comarca of Villuercas-Ibores has always been linked with beekeeping. Specific references go back to at least 1086 and make mention of such well-known events as the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe (1575). Today, there are still many place names in the comarca that recall bees and the local flora (Castañar, Carrascalejo, Peraleda), and natural features with names that evoke beekeeping activity, such as ‘La Umbría del Colmenar’ in the municipality of Cañamero and ‘El Arroyo del Enjambrero’ and ‘Valle del Enjambrero’ in the municipality of Alía.

The production area has a markedly rural and mountainous character, with municipalities with low population densities, where crops and livestock farming are the main livelihood. These circumstances, and a native flora virtually unaltered by human activity, make it a good area for beekeeping, where the honey is still extracted in the traditional way in order to preserve all its qualities.

One significant local traditional beekeeping practice concerns the management of the hives. There is no transhumance and the beehives may only be moved from one place to another within the production area.

Another basic feature of the production process is that the last batch of honey is left for the hive to eat. The local beekeepers thereby practice non-intensive apiculture. When the honeycomb is removed from the hive in the autumn, they do not extract all the honey, but leave the requisite reserves to feed the hive. In this way the well-being of the bees is respected and the hive is sustainable, so the bees are kept in top condition.

Specificity of the product

The production area, with its long beekeeping tradition, is a part of Extremadura where beekeepers have been making good use of the native flora for centuries. The choice of the name ‘Miel Villuercas-Ibores’ reflects the historical prestige of honey in this area, the skill and traditional and artisanal techniques with which it is prepared and the special qualities of the honey, which derive from the environment in which it is produced.

Moreover, unlike in other comarcas of Extremadura, there is no transhumance, so the honey obtained is homogeneous in terms of the local flora, and its particular characteristics derive solely from the natural and human factors that come together in the defined geographical area.

Evidence of the traditional production system can be seen in the values that are obtained for given parameters for the final product, which are an indication of the high quality of the honey:

— characteristically low HMF values, which indicate freshness and artisanal production,

— low moisture values, which indicate ripeness and are due to the fact that the comb remains capped as this is not an intensive form of beekeeping,

— high diastase activity, due to the freshness of the honey,

— electrical conductivity values and organoleptic properties that are characteristic of the type of pollen from which it is made.

Causal link between the geographical area and the quality or characteristics of the product

Study of the different pollen spectra has made it possible to define the geographical markers that characterise ‘Miel Villuercas-Ibores’, i.e. the pollen of all its flora, giving homogeneous pollen profiles which are specific to the area and contain no more than 1 % pollen from cultivated or non-native plants.

The honeydew honey is another distinctive feature of this unique area, which was recently designated the Villuercas Ibores Jara Global Geopark by Unesco. This honey is made in September and October when flowering is coming to an end or has stopped completely and the bees do not have any nectar. They collect secretions from the living parts of plants of the Fagaceae family or secretions found on them due to the action of certain insects. This enables them to survive during the months when there is no nectar, given that there is no transhumance to other areas where they could find flowers. This differentiates it from other honeydew honeys from other areas, as it is not as sweet, as indicated by its glucose + fructose index (> 45 g/100 g).

Publication reference of the specification:

(the second subparagraph of Article 6(1) of this Regulation)

http://www.gobex.es/filescms/con03/uploaded_files/SectoresTematicos/Agroalimentario/Denominacionesdeorigen/PC_mielVilluercasIbores.pdf

(1) OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.