"the finest selection of olives from the richest groves go into our Virgin Olive Oil"
Welcome to our olive grove
In the heart of Andalusia, Spain, in the beautiful province of Jaén, our ancestors have been cultivating high quality olives from ancient olive trees for generations.
These special olives are harvested in our country house El Cerrillo at the end of every Autumn in the tradional way of hand picking. The fruit is transported to a local mill in the town of Santa Ana.
The olives are graded and sorted, then the whole olive is crushed using a tradional granite stone mill into a luxurious paste, this is chilled to below 26°C (78,8°F) and then oil is separated. This limits exposure to the air and reduces oxydation, leaving us a pure oil with optimal quality taste and longer shelf life, which also guarantees the ancient medicinal properties of our beautiful oil.
Origin
Good extra virgin olive oil should be grown, pressed and bottled in a single country.
When you read “Product of ...” does not necessarily indicate that the olives are grown or pressed in "that country", only that it was packaged there.
Cold-Pressed
This indicates that no heat was used to extract the oil from the olives. Adding heat to the olives allows producers to extract more oil from the olives, but simultaneously destroys the delicate flavors and aromas so prized in a good extra virgin olive oil.
(It should be noted that “cold pressed” means at a temperature that not exceed 26°C (78,8°F) not actually “cold”)
Age
A good bottle of extra virgin olive oil should have a “pressing” date or sell-by date (usually one year after it is pressed) on the label, so you will know the age of the product.
If you store it properly, away from light and heat (never on the back of the stove!) a good bottle of olive oil will not go rancid during its time in your kitchen. The golden rule is to buy what you consume in a month to maintain it fresh.
Colour
Despite our natural inclination to associate a rich, deep color with better flavour and quality, the actual color of olive oil is not an accurate judge of its quality. In fact, extra virgin olive oils can range in color from deep grassy green to bright, yellowy gold. This variance is due only to the level of chlorophyll in the olives when they are pressed.