Our Olive Oil
Our crops grow in the Sierra de Ronda, also known as the Sierra de Cádiz.
There are many characteristics that determine the qualities of these type of crops, we can share the more important ones that are the responsible in obtaining the flavor and aroma of our 98Twelve extra virgin olive oil.
Trees are hundreds of years old, very inefficient in terms of their amount of fruit but it produces much better flavors and aromas in the fruit.
The type of cultivation developed is of Traditional Cultivation, it is cultivated with the use and traditions of a lifetime, water is not used, there is no irrigation. The conditions are dry, they depend only on rainwater and for this same reason the concentration of aroma and flavor is greater because since there is no irrigation, there is no dilution of those flavors and aromas.
Being a Mediterranean climate, the harvests are always different. The intensity in the flavors is much higher when the trees are grown on a mountain soil, shallow, with roots running near the surfaces.
The crops are located at a height of 700 meters above sea level where the altitude conditions offer a different climate and that climate also contribute to producing a more intense and aromatic oil.
Cold Extraction
Our elaboration process from the fruit to the oil is a pure mechanical process called cold extraction.
What is cold extraction and how is it done?
In the oil production system by cold extraction, only mechanical means are used without any chemical process. This is done to ensure that the olive is not contaminated once washed, the paste or the resulting oil. That is why we can say that the oil that respects this preparation is 100% natural olive juice, since the fruit has not been altered or contains any chemical ingredients.
In this process, it is essential to always maintain a low temperature. From harvesting the olives in the field to completing all the manufacturing steps to obtain the oil and being bottled. It should never exceed 27 degrees Celcius.
If we subjected the fruit to higher temperatures, we would obtain a greater amount of oil, since this reduces its viscosity, but it would also lose much of its properties, flavor and aromas by evaporating compounds key to its organoleptic qualities. Therefore, the mechanical cold extraction system is not the most cost-effective way to make oil, but it is the only one that guarantees an extra virgin olive oil of the highest quality without defects in terms of flavor and aromas.
On the other hand, a real EVOO with cold extraction must pass a series of strict physico-chemical and organoleptic analyses that assess its quality. Only oils that meet all these requirements deserve the name of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Sometimes there is talk of cold pressing as if it were a synonym for cold extraction. However, you should know that this is not the case, since the first is a system that is no longer used because it is no longer allowed for marketing for health reasons and was replaced by the cold extraction method that respects the highest hygiene standards.