The Fab Four - Welsh products to be awarded coveted Protected Geographical Indicator (PGI) status
- Welsh Gov
- Jun 12
- 8 min read
Updated: Jun 16
A gin produced by a tiny distillery in the Dyfi Valley in Mid Wales, Native and Rock Oysters farmed in the Cleddau Estuary in Pembrokeshire and Welsh Heather Honey gathered by bees from heather blossom on mountain moorland, are the latest Welsh products to be awarded coveted Protected Geographical Indicator (PGI) status.
The ‘fab four’ have bolstered the nation’s burgeoning reputation for food and drink and reinforced Wales’ reputation of continuing to punch above its weight, whilst breaking new ground.
For these latest awards, following celebrated Welsh achievements of the past, include two notable firsts. The Dyfi Distillery’s Dovey Native Botanical Gin is the first gin in the UK to achieve PGI status – an accomplishment emulated by Welsh Heather Honey, the first UK honey to do so.
These accolades show how the rich landscape and stunning geographical features of Wales continue to produce such unique and outstanding products. This, coupled with its natural beauty, the minerals that litter its soil, heavy rainfall and a long coastline, combine to make our produce so special – and PGI status reinforces and protects that precious link between food and drink and where it comes from.
Fay Francis GI consultant for Mentera Wales who helps deliver the Welsh Government GI contract says ‘Our current Welsh GI family of 24 products is a far cry from when the Welsh GI contract started in 2009 when Wales only had two products in PGI Welsh Beef and PGI Welsh Lamb.
Since 2013 the vast majority of new UK products to attain UK GI status have been Welsh. The Welsh Government Welsh GI contract helps to identify products that would meet the criteria, as well as helping producers throughout the whole application process,” Fay explains. “Producers have a lot on their plates, and appreciate that there is help on hand to guide them through what can sometimes be quite a long process’.
PGI status not only ensures the product’s name is legally protected but also affords protection for the producer by ensuring against cheap imitations and identifying quality, provenance and traceability.
Fay says it is not simply a matter of the product being made in Wales.” she explains. “GIs are a form of intellectual property protection used to identify products whose qualities, characteristics and reputation are linked to the place where they have been produced or the method by which they have been produced.”
Run by brothers Danny and Pete Cameron, the Dyfi Distillery produces a range of gins, but only one – Pollination – meets the strict criteria enabling it to be called a Dovey Native Botanical Gin PGI.
“The Dyfi Valley was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as a world biosphere reserve and has a diversity of native flowers, fruits and wild herbs which are truly special,” says Pete, the master distiller. “We wanted to capture our surroundings in a bottle.”
This is where brother Danny, a master blender whose knowledge and experience of wines and spirits earned him a knighthood while working in Portugal, comes in. All Dovey Native Botanical Gin is produced from a minimum of 17 native botanicals foraged by Pete in a sustainable manner from within the world biosphere reserve.
The flavour compounds extracted by Danny during distillation provide a complex blend of notable characteristics both to the aroma and overall flavour profile. “Pollination Gin took us three years of trials before we found the unique blend of locally foraged botanicals which not only taste fantastic together but also hold a mirror up to our remarkable landscape,” he relates.
It has already won several prestigious awards and is a favourite at many Michelin-starred restaurants, fine wine and spirit merchants, as well as being available via the Dyfi Distillery itself or its online store. “Achieving the first UK GI for gin was never a marketing idea as we’re a genuinely artisan distillery,” reflects Danny, “but will help explain that this gin can be produced at world-class level combined with genuinely regional characteristics.”
Welsh Heather Honey has also joined the burgeoning family of food and drink products from Wales – now numbering 24 – that, by virtue of their unique characteristics and location, are deemed worthy of the GI stamp. The application was made to the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs by members of the Food & Drink Wales Honey Cluster.
It is part of the Welsh Government’s programme which gathers together food and drink businesses, suppliers, academia and government with the prime mission of helping businesses collaborate to achieve accelerated growth.
Welsh Heather Honey is unadulterated 100 per cent natural honey produced by the Western Honey Bee, foraging and collecting nectar from the heather moorlands in Wales. Most can be sourced from either Ling Heather or Bell Heather, although the former is the most prolific.
Welsh Heather Honey is additive-free and can be sourced from a single apiary or more than one. To produce the honey all bee hives (or apiaries) must be located in Wales and the nectar foraged from Welsh heather moorlands.
Other operations such as extraction and packing which do not alter the honey’s characteristics may take place at suitable (food-registered) premises located within or outside Wales, so long as the honey source is wholly traceable to the geographical area of origin.
North Wales-based Alex Ellis, of Border Honey, says: “This will help producers by demonstrating that Welsh Heather Honey is a special and unique product that can only be produced in Wales. Consumers can have confidence that when they choose Welsh Heather Honey they are getting the real thing.”
Those views are echoed by Gruffydd Rees, of Carmarthenshire-based Gwenyn Gruffydd Ltd, who says: “I’m delighted that Welsh Heather Honey’s precise origin and characteristics have been acknowledged. The UK GI application process is long, and it is wonderful that Wales is the first UK nation to have a honey receive PGI status.”
Dawn Wainwright, of Wainright’s Bee Farm in Aberystwyth, who describes Welsh Heather Honey as ‘the queen of honeys’ to connoisseurs, says heather blossoms in abundance across the Welsh mountain uplands during late summer. “The bees gather a small harvest of distinctive aromatic honey from the Ling Heather flowers with unique characteristics,” she explains. “The chemistry of the nectar gives the honey a protein content which produces a thixotropic or gel-like texture with crunchy crystals suspended throughout.
Being very slow to set, Welsh Heather Honey is difficult to extract, so the honey is often presented as cut comb in honey. Reddish-orange to dark amber in appearance and often containing suspended air bubbles, Welsh Heather Honey’s flavour is described as ‘intense sweetness with a touch of bitterness’ and ‘butter-filled toffee’ or ‘sweet burnt caramel’ with an aroma of heather.
Welsh Heath Honey is unpasteurised to ensure all the enzymes resulting from the natural origin of the honey – and, therefore, its characteristics - are retained, and only minimal filtration is allowed.
The length of the production season is short, weather-dependent and can vary significantly. It is usually produced between July and September so the window for obtaining the honey can sometimes last only a matter of days, which makes Welsh Heather Honey a rare and premium product.
Down in the far south-west, Dr Andy Woolmer says PGI recognition identifies the successful partnership between Tethys Oysters, his company which farms in Angle Bay at the mouth of the Cleddau in Pembrokeshire, and Jake Davies, of Atlantic Edge Shellfish, a local shellfish processor and distributor.
“PGI is the absolute best fit for us,” he says. “Other PGIs cover quite wide areas, but what we’re producing down here in Pembrokeshire is really unique. You can pinpoint the origin of a plate of oysters just by the way they taste.”
Andy launched the farm in 2018 and was developing the business when Covid hit. “The mutual society we were going to sell the oysters through lost premises they had earmarked so I had to develop my own unit and despatch centre,” he recalls. “It became too much. I developed health problems and Jake came in to help me.
“Now I can concentrate on growing the oysters, while Jake purifies, sell and markets them. We’re delighted to gain this mark of excellence. It’s a nod to both the unique flavour of our oysters and the sustainable way in which we farm them.”
Available all year-round Pembrokeshire Rock Oysters are prized for their delicate clean brine, cucumber freshness and subtle citrus notes, while Pembrokeshire Native Oysters, harvested between September and April, are known for their meaty texture, umami depth and vibrant marine overtones.
Pembrokeshire Rock Oysters are farmed, grown and harvested in the Daugleddau estuary from seed and part-grown oysters supplied by bio-secure commercial hatcheries and producers. The specific marine environment has nutrient-rich Atlantic waters mixing with freshwater flowing down from the Preseli Mountains through salt marshes and seagrass beds.
This imparts a distinct set of characteristics to the oysters which are the main commercial species found in Europe and are a faster growing oyster compared to native oysters, reaching a minimum marketable size of 75g in two to three years.
Pembrokeshire Native Oysters are also farmed, grown and harvested in the Daugleddau estuary from seed and part-grown oysters supplied by bio-secure commercial hatcheries and producers. They are a slow-growing native oyster which take up to five years to reach a minimum marketable size of 75g.
“PGI is a quality mark that sets us apart and will prove very important,” says Andy. “It helps protect that identity and will hopefully spur more chefs and foodies to delve into what makes Pembrokeshire oysters so special.”
Yet the journey towards winning PGI status took five years. “To be perfectly honest with you,” Andy reflects, “I just wouldn’t have been able to stick with it without that Welsh Government help.”
These latest Welsh successes follow the likes of Halen Môn / Anglesey Sea Salt, Traditional Welsh Caerphilly / Caerffili, Welsh Laverbread and Carmarthen Ham, all of whom have previously been awarded Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) or PGI status.
“Wales produces a spectacular variety of excellent food and drink,” says Fay Francis, who, whilst acknowledging that the road towards PGI recognition is long and winding, stresses that help is always on hand. “Producers generally have a telephone call with me first to go through the basic criteria and to explain the process of applying plus the pros and cons,” she explains.
“They would then have a site visit and start drafting the application which is the Product Specification. It is the product that gets the GI status, not the producer. The Product Specification has to go through the UKGI scrutiny panel and, if successful, undergoes a three-month consultation period where industry stakeholders can comment and/or object.”
The potential benefits indicate such a journey is worth it. Not only does such a coveted mark spell kudos and authenticity, but it also boosts customer confidence as well as a product’s appeal and marketability. So, if you feel your business has a Welsh product that has what it takes, the Welsh Government can provide expert advice and guidance on how to qualify and apply for a place in the culinary industry’s ‘Premier League’.
As far as producers are concerned, GI status can spell the difference between being also-rans and leaders of the pack. And from the point of view of consumers, GI tells them that the product they are buying oozes quality, provenance and heritage. So do check them out – you know you want to!
For information about applying for a UKGI or protected status please contact
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