This year, thirteen producers from our department have won 19 medals at the Concours Général Agricole. Established in 1870, this competition aims to reward the best wines and the finest products of the French terroir.
These distinctions were awarded in the category of competitions for products from the International Agriculture Show, which takes place every year for the AOC wines, honey, and olive products categories.
Established in 1870, the Concours Général Agricole (CGA)* aims to reward the best productions from French agriculture and to promote industry professionals who are committed to ensuring healthy and quality food for all.
This year, producers from the Alpes-Maritimes can boast of having won a total of 19 medals (2 more than in 2014): 9 gold, 9 silver, and 1 bronze.
In the Provence wine competition:
– Bernard and Jacqueline NICOLETTI, Domaine de Toasc: 1 gold medal (Bellet wine, 2014 vintage, white).
– Jean SPIZZO, Collet de Bovis: 1 silver medal (Bellet wine, 2013 vintage, red).
– Nicolas COHENDET, Via Julia Augusta: 1 bronze medal (Bellet wine, 2013 vintage, red).
For honey:
– Jean-Louis LAUTARD, beekeeper from Tignet: 2 gold medals (dark mountain honey and Provence polyfloral honey), 3 silver medals (lavender honey, light mountain honey, and Provence polyfloral honey).
– Catherine and Marc LAVORIERO, beekeepers in Sospel: 1 gold medal (forest honey).
– Patricia and François GUERINOT, beekeepers in Belvédère: 1 silver medal (Lavender honey).
For olive products:
– Jean-Philippe FRÈRE, L’Oli d’aqui in Rouret: 2 gold medals (black olives and Nice AOC olive paste).
– Henri DEREPAS, EARL Champ Soleil in La Trinité: 1 gold medal (Nice AOP olive oil).
– Guillaume FRÈRE, from Tourrette-Levens: 2 silver medals (green tapenade and black tapenade).
– André GIAUFFRET, L’Oliveraie de la Sirole in Colomars: 2 gold medals (black olive paste with herbs de Provence and green tapenade) and 1 silver medal (black tapenade).
– Jacqueline BELLINO-POTOT, from L’Escarène: 1 silver medal (Nice olives).
M. ORSO also deserves recognition; he was the only candidate in the fruit juices and nectars category this year but couldn’t participate due to the theft of his sample package at the Postal Service. He will compete next year by personally taking his products to Paris.
Eric Ciotti, president of the General Council, who congratulated them, stated: “They all deserve our respect and admiration because they continually strive to perfect the quality of their products, symbols of the wealth and diversity of our region. Balancing ancestral practices with a taste for innovation, authenticity, and refinement, they exert tremendous energy to fully satisfy consumers. Their expertise, passion, and standards make them the ambassadors of our department and guardians of local traditions.”
Agriculture in the Alpes-Maritimes
A sector of excellence: A dynamic agriculture comprising 1,890 farms in our department (770 of which are considered professional). The sector’s turnover amounts to approximately €91.5 million. Agriculture utilizes 162,000 hectares, including 120,000 ha of pastures and 42,000 ha of cultivated areas, with 1,724 ha dedicated to olive trees. A varied agriculture exists within the region.
Numerous productions coexist: horticulture, vegetable farming, arboriculture, olive farming, viticulture, truffle cultivation, small red fruits, beekeeping (with over 13,000 hives), livestock farming (1,830 cattle, 69,000 sheep, 4,400 goats, some pig and poultry farming). A quality agriculture with 2 AOC wines (Bellet, Villars-sur-Var) and 1 AOC olive from Nice (table olives, oil, and olive paste, regrouping 110 producers around 25 mills).
With organic agriculture on the rise: more than 207 certified organic or in-conversion farms.
