We are in the middle of December bridge and the parking lot of the cooperative El Alcazar, better known by the commercial name of Olibaeza, is packed to the brim. People buy oil by the bucketload. There are people who take up to 20 liters. Everything that fits in the trunk.
It is a stamp that, they tell us in the cooperative, is repeated every year around these dates, but it is by far the year that they are selling the most oil. And it is only a few months ago that his oil premium, of early harvest, received the award for the best oil in the world in the prestigious Evoleum Guide.
In the store, located in the same oil mill, everyone asks the same thing: “Is this the one with the prize too?” The bottle with which the contest was won has run out, and, given the general shortage of glass, the cooperative has been forced to sell the oil in a bag in the box of two litres, much cheaper -and ideal for conserving the oil-, but not as glamorous.
“As that bottle came out in the press, people want that bottle, because it is thought that premium it’s in that bottle, but all the early oil we make is the same”, he confirms to Direct to the Palate the manager of the cooperative, Francis Aldarias.
Less oil, better quality
It is the first time that a cooperative has won the first prize in the ranking of the Evolution Guide, an event that, despite having only been running for six years, has become one of the most important references in the sector.
For Aldarias, it was a matter of time before a cooperative, and more specifically a cooperative from Jaén, won the first prize: “The cooperatives already make very good oils. Coming out in the top 1 is something exceptional, but they are all improving and betting on quality. In Baeza there are three cooperatives and all three have good oil”.
From time to time the small landlords of olive groves, which are the ones that make up the cooperatives, have realized that the only way to get a better price for the oil is to bet on quality.
Traditionally, the farmer wanted pick the olive later, when performance was higher. But now it seems clear that, if the olive is good, it should be harvested as soon as possible, even if less is produced, since it can be sold at a much higher price. It is the now well-known “early harvest”, a practice that was residual until just a few years ago.
“These oils did not exist, because the farmer wanted to get the maximum possible oil, and the maximum possible oil is produced in November or December, when the olives are completely black”, explains Aldarias. “What’s the matter? That in October the yield is 10%, then in December it has 23%”.
In October the yield of the olive is 10%, then in December it has 23%
Just six years ago, in 2016, eight years after moving to new facilities, the El Alcazar cooperative decided to make a early Harvest Oil, after most of its 1,263 members became convinced that this was the way to go.
“Young people have changed the mentality and it is clear that we must produce quality to differentiate ourselves and it is the only thing that will add value to our product”, explains the manager. “Because if we only make lampante oil… That is priced out, it goes to the refinery and the refinery will set the price for you. If you have a quality product, you set the price. And the consumer is going to pay for it if he recognizes that it is good”.
Aldarias assures that, despite the price increases that have put many crops in check, the early harvest oil makes the olive grove profitable. Unlike other types of oil, its price has not fallen. And it is becoming more and more appreciated.
How are early harvest oils different?
But what exactly is an early harvest oil? And what must an oil have so that a panel of 26 tasters consider him “the best in the world”?
In Olibaeza only the traditional olive grove is worked, most of which are centenary
This type of oil, explains Aldarias, begins to be harvested at the end of September, beginning of October, in a campaign that It only lasts about two weeks.
“The olive is totally green”, explains the manager. It is when the oil catch aromas of the field, aromas that nature has, that when it is already black, mature, it no longer has them”.
But not just any olive. In Olibaeza, only the traditional olive grove, for the most part centenary, with trees that, according to the manager, even reach 500 years. But of the 584,000 olive trees that the cooperative has, only a handful end up producing the oil premium. And these are selected year after year at the foot of the field.
“We make a rigorous selection of all the trees,” explains the manager. “We have field technicians who continuously visit the evolution of the olive throughout the year and we choose the best ones. Only 50 of the 1,200 members participate in the early harvest. They are paid more, of course, with the yield they have, if you didn’t pay them more, they wouldn’t be compensated. The olive tree, the land and the evolution that the fruit has had in that year: if you have watered it, how has it been treated…”
Only 0.5% of the oil produced by the cooperative is early harvest
Once the campaign begins, the olives with which the oil is going to be extracted premium are treated with special care. “Farmers have to pick the olives early, come before 12 o’clock in the morning, because can’t give you the heat”explains Aldarias. “Here in the oil mill what we have to do is take care that this process does not break down. It works cold and there is one more selection inside the mill. The tasters are constantly on foot from the centrifuge, and divert the oil to one tank or another, to make the selection”.
Of the 10 million liters of extra virgin olive oil produced by the cooperative per campaign, only around 50,000 liters are premium oil, considered this year as “best in the world”. It is 0.5% of production. This is packaged in separate deposits, sealed before a notary public to participate in the contests.
Early harvest oil is important to value an oil that, for the most part, still selling in bulk. “Our packaging is 15% or 20% of the production, the rest goes in bulk, and we sell it to Italy, Spain, to refineries…” acknowledges the manager. “The extra virgin can end up being sold under another brand and the lampante is refined and they already sell it as they want.”
Shall we continue with the matter of selling our best oil to Italy? “It is that the Italians have been marketing since the Romans, and They’ve been ahead of us for a long time.” Aldarias humbly acknowledges. “We are practically starting now and it is very difficult. In the end, it takes the chestnuts out of the fire a bit.”
A commitment to the culture of oil
For cooperative members, Aldarias insists, it is decisive to encourage a change in oil culture, so that the consumer knows how to differentiate superior quality juices and has different oils at home for different uses. For a few years now, guided tours have been offered to the general public, as part of this strategy to promote the oil.
It goes without saying that it is not acceptable to use this oil premium for cooking, since almost all its properties would be lost. But even if it is more expensive, its aroma intensity, elevates any toast or salad to another dimension.
After walking around the mill, Aldarias invites us to participate in a oil tasting. The first thing, he explains, is to know that the oil is only valued olfactory and gustatory, never visually. “You can have a precious green oil and smell it and touch it,” he says. That is why oil tastings are usually done in translucent, blue or red glasses, which do not allow the color to mislead us.
The first warning that we are dealing with a good oil is that it has a intense aroma perceived from a distance. Oil tastings usually begin by placing the glass about a meter from the nose, to know from what moment, raising the glass, the aromas are perceived. This oil smells like miles.
Then you have to try it, and here you will have to adjust the valuation to each variety. “You have to look for aromas and memories,” explains the manager. “There is a predominant one in picual oils, tomato. Also fresh artichoke. This one smells like grass, like we’re mowing the lawn. It has some aroma of green almond. Aromatic herbs. They are very complex aromas”.
A complexity resulting from enormous work that, yes, has its reward.
Direct to the Palate | Olive oil, the definitive guide: which varieties are suitable for each dish (and when to use sunflower)
Direct to the Palate | Why you shouldn’t buy olive oil in bulk (and how best to store it)