Colours
by Europe
Tastes of Excellence

Côtes du Rhône are the 21 basic varieties of red, white, and rosé wines from the wine-growing Rhône region in France. The red blends are most well-known, and made from Grenache, Mourvèdre, or Syrah grapes planted on a variety of different soils which contribute to their unique character.

Jambon d’Ardenne PGI is a dry ham which takes its name from the Ardenne region of Belgium. The ham is deep brownish pink in colour and has a salty and spicy taste.

This clear alcoholic beverage from Cyprus and Greece is similar in taste to other anise liqueurs like pastis, sambuca, and raki.

Jihoceská Zlatá Niva PGI is a marbled cheese from the South Bohemia region of Czechia. It is made from processed cow’s milk. It is wheel shaped with a rind that is marked by washing or by rubbing, with a cream to light brown coloured surface. The cheese itself varies in colour from cream white to butter, with a green-bluish marbling and visible cross signs. The texture is pasty.

Feta – meaning slice - is a distinctive Greek cheese. It is white with a very intense salty and tangy flavour and comes in blocks submerged in brine. It is quite compact to touch, with small irregular holes but no rind. Only cheese made in the traditional way from certain parts of Greece can be labelled as Feta PDO.

Budějovické pivo PGI, or beer from Budějovické, is a pale lager beer from the South Bohemia region of Czechia. The beer is a deep golden colour, with a white head or foam top.

Kalamata Extra Virgin Olive Oil PDO is made from cold pressed Koroneiki olives in the Messinia region of Greece. Its colour ranges from an intense to a golden green. Flavour-wise it has medium fruitiness, with an aroma of green fruit, light bitterness and light to medium pungency.

Tokaj PDO is a sweet white, golden wine made from aszú grapes in the Tokaj region of Hungary or the adjoining Tokaj wine region in Slovakia. Named by King Louis XIV of France ‘the wine of kings, the king of wines’ and mentioned in the official anthem of Hungary, the wine from this region has an even older tradition than champagne.

Prosecco PDO is an Italian white wine named after the village of Prosecco in the province of Trieste. It is predominantly made from the Prosecco grape (renamed Glera in 2009 within the European Union) and is almost always made in sparkling (spumante) or semi-sparkling (frizzante) style. A still wine version (tranquillo) also exists.

Szegedi szalámi PDO, or winter salami, is a type of Hungarian salami made from pork and spices. A simple yet flavourful cured meat, it has a delicate peppery and savoury taste.

Vinho do Porto (Port) PDO is a fortified wine that comes from the Douro Valley in Portugal. It was named after the seaport city of Porto where much of the product was brought to market for export to other countries in Europe.  There are a number of red Port varieties (including ruby and tawny) as well as white and rose. 

Telemea de Ibăneşti PDO is a traditional cheese from Romania made from sheep and cow’s milk.  It is soft white with a creamy texture and a salty, tangy aftertaste. It is permeated with little holes or ‘eyes’ throughout.

Upplandskubb PDO is a traditionally produced rustic bread from Uppland, Sweden. It is made from local rye and wheat flour, and is boiled in a water bath rather than baked which means that the bread has no crust. Its texture is fine and compact and somewhat sticky on the inside, with small cavities. The bread is produced in a cylindrical shape with a diameter of 16-23 cm. This means that a slice is a segment of a circle.

Latvijas lielie pelēkie zirņi PDO are dried Latvian grey peas of the ‘Retrija’ variety. These peas have an especially large, coarse seed with a marbled pattern that give them a greyish tinge. When boiled they have a soft, floury consistency and a mild yet distinct flavour, which comes from the skin.

Poland’s association with apples dates back to the 12th Century when Cistercian monks created the first orchards. Since then, Poland has become the largest apple producing country in Europe, thanks to the region's particularly favourable climatic conditions. Crunchy apples of all colours from deep red through to green are produced, with distinctive flavours and aromas.

Azeite de Moura PDO is Portuguese extra virgin olive oil. It is characterized by a goldish and green colour tone. Due to the absence of refinement methods, it has more concentration of vitamins and minerals such as vitamin E, Omega 3, and fatty acids.

Kranjska klobasa PGI, or Carniolan sausage, is a small Slovenian sausage made from pork, garlic, salt, and pepper, that find its origins in the times of the Austro-Hungarian empire. The sausage is smoked and cured and held together with a wooden skewer. It is a reddish-brown colour on the surface and has a faint scent of smoke.

Fromage de Herve PDO is a soft cheese made from cow’s milk and shaped into a small cube, with a beige body and a washed brick-coloured rind. It has a firm, elastic, and smooth texture, with a rich flavour.

The region around Lake Constance in Germany is famous for its rolling orchards and the numerous types of apples grown there. It is one of the world’s best climatic growing areas for aromatic fruit. More than 250,000 tonnes of apples are harvested every year on around 7000 hectares of cultivated land.

Kolokasi Sotiras PDO, known as Cyprus taro, is a root vegetable grown in Cyprus. Shaped like a spinning top and similar in size to a potato, it is hard with a rough brown exterior and smooth white interior.

Halloumi PDO is a white semi-hard, un-ripened, cheese that is made from cow, sheep, or goat's milk, in Cyprus.

Tolminc PDO is a hard, full fat cheese made from raw or thermised cow’s milk. It takes its name from the city of Tolmin, situated in the high Isonzo Valley (Zgornje Posočje), in the northwest of Slovenia.

Kiwi Latina PDO is a fresh fruit produced in the provinces of Latina and Rome in Italy. Like other kiwis, it is oval, with a brown hairy exterior, and green flesh inside which is dotted with small black seeds. It has a characteristic acidic sweet flavour and a fruity aroma.

Jamón Serrano PGI is a Spanish dry-cured ham made from the cerdo blanco, a race of white pig native to Spain. It has broad strips of pink meat alongside strips of pure white fat, with no marbling.

Cerise des coteaux du Ventoux PGI are handpicked cherries from the foothills of the Mont Ventoux Mountain in southern France. The cherries are deep red in colour and are quite large in size – at least 24mm.

Connemara Hill Lamb / Uain Sléibhe Chonamara PDO is lamb bred, born and reared on the mountainous terrain of Connemara in the West of Ireland where it feed on herbs, heathers and grasses unique to the region.

Jagnięcina podhalańska PGI is lamb produced from three specific breeds of sheep: Polish mountain sheep, coloured mountain sheep and Podhale zackels.

Kaimiškas Jovarų alus PGI, or rustic beer, is a naturally fermented farmhouse ale from Lithuania. It ranges in colour, from golden yellow to amber. This complex and full-flavoured beer has a strong nutty and malty flavour and is bitter in taste. Kaimiškas is made with a unique yeast that is only found in this area.

Kiwi de Corse PGI is a French variety of hand picked kiwi fruit which comes from small orchards in the Haute-Corse region of Corsica. The fruit is oval, has brown hairy skin, and when opened has bright green flesh dotted with tiny black seeds.

Eisenberg – which translates as Iron Mountain – is a wine growing region close to the Hungarian border in southeast Austria that stretches about 30 kilometres from north to south and only has around 515 hectares of vineyards in total. Its wine has come to distinguish itself among the world’s greatest. Red wine from the Blaufränkisch grape is the best known from the Eisenberg region and is characterised by a particularly earthy mineral spice, and a peppery flavour.

Pollo y Capón del Prat PGI is chicken from Catalonia's native Prat breed. Traditionally raised in a small area southeast of Barcelona, these chickens and capons are not only valued for their succulent meat but also for their good-sized eggs.

Pregler PDO is a fruit brandy or schnapps made from local apples and pears. It comes from the Osttirol region of Austria and is produced exclusively in distilleries in the ‘Lienz’ region. The schnapps is clear and colourless and has a sweet fruity flavour.

Vadehavsstude PGI is fresh beef meat specifically from the Wadden Sea islands in the Jutland region of Denmark. The meat come from young cattle from the Holstein breed, making it more tender, fragrant, and succulent than standard beef, with a slightly saltier flavour.

Westlandse druif PGI are grapes from the Westland region of South Holland in the Netherlands. A small oval-shaped fruit, the colour ranges from deep blue to a whitish green. They have a distinctive aroma and are renowned for their shapely clusters ; the flesh is juicy and firm, with a fresh, sweet taste.

Rodi Ermionis PDO is a variety of pomegranate from the Ermionida region in Greece. The fruit is round and the colour of the peel varies from pale yellow, pink to red. Inside, it has pink seeds that are soft and chewy. The fruit itself is sweet and juicy.