“EU Organic Awards”: the winemakers Sara Vezza and Gianpaolo Mancini in the final

The organic farming sector plays a decisive role in achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal, the “Farm to Fork” strategy, and the biodiversity strategy, pillars of the European Union policies in the coming years. For this reason, the Commission has set a target for 2030 that 25% of EU agricultural land should be organic. An ambition that the EU has been supporting since March 2021 with an ad hoc plan, including support for production and consumer education, to stimulate consumption. It is in this context that the “EU Organic Awards” are born: 8 prizes, divided into 7 categories, to the protagonists of the strictly organic agricultural and food chain of the Old Continent.
The award ceremony will take place on the 23d of September, in Brussels, with two young Italian winemakers among the finalist in the category “Best organic farmer” (which recognizes two awards, one for men and one for women, ed): Sara Vezza, the fifth generation of the wine-makers family and today at the helm of her Azienda Agricola Sara Vezza, in Monforte d’Alba, where she produces Barolo and Alta Langa, and Gianpaolo Mancini, who, with “Il Sentiero del Riccio”, in Sicignano degli Alburni (Salerno), with seven hectares of woods, olive groves, chestnut trees, vineyards and vegetable gardens on the slopes of the Alburni Mountains, produces wine, honey, and oil.
We remain in Campania for another finalist, the Cilento Bio-District association, an association of farmers and local authorities of the Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park, in the “Best organic bio-district” category, while among the finalists in the “Best organic small or medium enterprise” there is Gino Girolomoni Cooperativa Agricola, a historic pasta factory in Isola del Piano, in the Marche region, and a precursor of organic farming in Italy. There are no Italians, however, in the other 4 categories of the “EU Organic Awards”: “Best organic region”, “Best organic city”, “Best organic food retailer” and “Best organic restaurant”.