Hans-Peter Schwarz (Tübingen) was also elected to the board as deputy chairman and Manfred Nuber (Böblingen) as an assessor. This means that both traditional, larger companies and representatives of small or newly established wine press companies are represented on the board. With business promoter Alexander Fromm from the district of Göppingen, the board is supplemented by an advisory board member from the districts of Böblingen, Esslingen, Göppingen, Ludwigsburg, Rems-Murr and the state capital Stuttgart, which initiated and actively support this process. The foundation of the interest group was the result of a "Most-Marketing" funding project by the Verband Region Stuttgart, which the six districts mentioned had implemented over the last 18 months.
With the interest group founded in Ludwigsburg, a collective brand "Swabian Cider" is now to be developed, the agreed quality standards implemented and comprehensive marketing established. This will include campaigns to promote the Swabian cider culture as well as trade fair presentations, events with other partners and training opportunities for the association's own producers, for the catering trade or in the retail sector. The chairwoman of the new interest group, Karin Stolz from the "Boller Fruchtsäfte" winery in Bad Boll, said: "Swabian cider is a very tasty, fruity and tangy drink with a lot of potential that we want to promote together. I also see the establishment of the IG as an excellent opportunity for better networking between the many large and small wineries and smaller cider projects from all over Baden-Württemberg."
In addition to these activities with a strong focus on external marketing, it will also be necessary for the jointly agreed quality criteria to be consistently adhered to and creatively communicated. These include a product guarantee of at least 75% pome fruit (apple and pear) and 100% direct juice as well as a guarantee of origin from at least 90% orchard fruit or comparable extensive contract farming (such as Swabian meadow fruit). To ensure quality, the Baden-Württemberg quality mark (QZ BW) or comparable quality assurance systems must be guaranteed. The raw materials for the "Swabian Cider" should come from Baden-Württemberg or the neighboring Bavarian district of Swabia.
The first major task of the "IG Schwäbischer Cider" is to develop a brand for "Schwäbischer Cider" and a corresponding joint marketing campaign. The 21 founding members can now be joined by other interested producers or sponsors until the end of the year under the same conditions as the founding members. Interested parties can send an e-mail to a.fromm[at]lkgp (the coordinator of the project on the part of the districts and the state capital) to request documents for joining the "Swabian Cider" interest group.
"The course has now been set for a successful future for Swabian cider on the basis of inter-company joint marketing. This opens up interesting future prospects for the Swabian orchards and the producers of this typical regional specialty," emphasized Alexander Seiz from the Kohl & Partner agency in Stuttgart, which is supporting the project.
