Here in the Tikves region of Macedonia, we are known for
our grapes and products produced from grapes.
The cycle of the grape season begins and ends with two important events:
Sveti Trifun in early February and Tikveski Grozdober in early September. Similarly, the project design and management life-cycle
has its own important demarcation moments.
My counterpart from the Municipality of Kavadarci and I, along with the
team from Edessa, worked these long months on the Instrument for Pre-accession
Assistance (IPA) from the European Union Second Component Cross-Border
Cooperation (CBC) called “Kaimaktsalon”.
It is no coincidence that in Kavadarci, our project cycle matches that
of the annual life cycle of the grape vine.
Snow melting atop sleeping vines and the warming of the
earth below it marks the first cycle known as weeping. This begins when the sap from the vines begin
to concentrate where they had been pruned.
Likewise, in early spring, we and our CBC partners began to enliven our
ideas that would be mutually beneficial for both towns. We decided on a project which aims to
strengthen the regional economy through promotion of the common gastronomy
routes as potential for developing tourism.
effective and moved us past this stage in good cooperation.
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The maximum yield of the vineyard is set in the third
stage of early grape development and flowering.
During this stage, the flowers are pollinated and begin their maturation
process. Also, in the project life
cycle, the components of the project are set with the amount of funding being
allocated for each, and the planning stages begin.
Next, the grapes begin their maturation process in the
fourth stage called fruit set. The grape
flesh begins to thicken and any fruit that does not properly develop is
pruned. Equally, each side of the CBC
began to work feverishly on their own plans for dissemination of the
project. We agreed that there would be
four dissemination events two in each city, where the citizens are invited to
participate.
A critical time in the life cycle of the grape vineyard
is the fifth stage because it takes skill and experience from the grape growers
on how and when to prune the canopy and excess grape clusters. This stage is
known as veraison. In the veraison
period of the CBC project, our first kick-off meeting occurred in the city of
Edessa with the mayors from each town and project team. This meeting marked the official agreement of
the project schedule and all of its components.
The harvest time, and final stage, is strictly at the
discretion of the grape growers.
Oftentimes, it depends on growers preference of the varietal, sugar, and
acid levels of the grape. During the
wine festival “Tikveski Grozdober” in Kavadarci, held annually, our team kicked
off the dissemination event for “Kaimaktsalon” on 08 September 2012 from
17:00-18:00 in the House of Culture. The
event included the cross-border presentation of Kajmaktsalon: “From Water to
Wine, from Cherries to Grapes”.
Gastronomy experts from Edessa and Kavadarci provided discussion about
the common gastronomy in both cities.
This event was a huge success with attendees from delegations as far as
Turkey, Italy, and Slovakia. It was
covered by the local television stations in Kavadarci and the local
newspapers. Both cities’ project teams
were satisfied with the event, even sparking a new recipe made from jello,
wine, honey, and cherries.
In the following months, the vineyards are again laid to
rest until the grapes are active with another cycle. However, our team will be busy throughout the
year with future dissemination events and creating cross-border goodwill.
“Annual Life Cycle of
the Grape Vine” Calwineries, 23 September 2012, <www.calwineries.com>