A Symbolic Gift to The City on The Anniversary of Anykščių Vynas
MV GROUP Production, a Lithuanian company group, is in a festive mood: two of the group’s factories – Anykščių Vynas and Stumbras – are celebrating their anniversaries this year. The special celebrations have prompted to pay attention to the factories’ hometowns: for example, employees of Anykščių Vynas are planning to plant apple trees in Anykščiai on the occasion of the factory’s 95th birthday, symbolically decorating Obelų (Apple tree) Street.
Anykščiai will receive a special gift from Anykščių vynas at the end of September, during the Apple Festival. In total, the factory is going to present the city with more than 50 different types of apple trees, which will be planted in Obelų Street by a team of Anykščių Vynas employees.
The Mayor of Anykščiai Sigučius Obelevičius was entrusted with the task of accepting Anykščiai Vynas’s gift. According to him, such a gift is highly symbolic for the city.
“Planting trees on the occasion of the company’s anniversary and the Apple Festival is not only a beautiful gift to the city, but also a meaningful act, which contributes to the fact that the apple trees in Anykščiai will blossom and bear fruit in Obelų Street too, where, strange as it may seem, there were no apple trees. The apple tree has always been considered a sacred tree. As a symbol of fertility, it was an integral part of rue garden, so it was as much a duty to plant it outside the house as an oak tree, which is why it has been popular in Lithuania throughout history. In our times, the garden has changed a little, many people see it as a fruit bearer, but can there be anything more beautiful than a thriving garden? So, thanking MV GROUP Production, one of the largest producers of beverages in the Baltic States, with one of the four branches of the company located in Anykščiai, for this beautiful gift to our city, I would like to wish not only the gardens, but also the company to blossom and beautiful new forms of cooperation” says Obelevičius.
Liubovė Rebiatnikova, the production manager of Anykščių Vynas, points out that the factory has been operating for almost a century and is inseparable from the town of Anykščiai. That is why, on the occasion of the anniversary, the first thing they want to do is to look back to their own land and its inhabitants.
“Anykščiai is a town whose people not only support and encourage our activities, but also nurture the Anykščių Vynas winery and create our products. By presenting this gift, we will not only make the city look even more welcoming, but we will also be continuing a tradition – after all, Balys Karazija, who once founded Anykščių Vynas, also made sure that gardens in the whole region of Anykščiai started to turn green” says Rebiatnikova.
It is also symbolic that the Anykščių Vynas factory produces natural apple wine and apple juice, for which farmers bring fresh apples from all over Lithuania every autumn. In order to take care of the surrounding environment, the apples in the factory are fully used, leaving no waste.
“Green manufacturing is a global trend that we are following. We use the apples we buy, figuratively speaking, right up to the seeds – the fruit juice is used for the production of different beverages and concentrates, while the remaining pomace is dried and sold to producers of pectin, used in the food and pharmaceutical industries” says the production manager of Anykščių Vynas, adding that modern technologies introduced at the factory help to ensure a waste-free production process.
The 95th birthday of Anykščių Vynas is not the only anniversary marked this year by MV GROUP Production. The 115th anniversary of the Stumbras beverage factory in Kaunas is also celebrated this year.
MV GROUP decided to celebrate the two simultaneous anniversaries with their colleagues too – back in the summer, it implemented the first-ever step challenge, during which the employees of the Group’s companies chose to walk more often, protecting the country’s nature.
About Anykčių Vynas
The Anykščių Vynas factory, managed by MV GROUP Production AB, is one of the oldest wine producers in Lithuania. Currently, the plant employs almost 100 people. Anykščių Vynas is best known for its natural fruit and berry wine Voruta, some of whose branded products are recognized as Lithuanian national heritage. In addition to wine, the factory also produces cider, juices and trauktinė. Juice concentrates and dried apple pomace produced by Anykščių vyno are successfully exported. Last year, the factory bought 16 000 tons of apples and 708 tons of other fruits and berries from Lithuania and neighboring countries.