“We just saw various molds for making cheese during our visit to the factory. You don’t fit any mold, Peio!”. The praise conveyed by Imanol Pradales, president of the Basque government, to Peio Etxeleku, CEO of Agour, is perhaps the best compliment that could be given to him.
Of course, the group whose name means “hello” in Basque, are cheese producers, of which there are about forty, including the famous Ossau-Iraty, which was named the best cheese in the world last year. But this diversification, which began immediately after the founding of the cheese factory by Jean Etxeleku and five partners in 1981 through the manufacture of metal frames for sheep pens, was continuously strengthened by his son.
