Denomination of Origin as a Symbol of Quality

The process of identifying a specific geographical area in which certain natural elements are known to consistently co-exist began in France in 1919 with appellation d'origine legislation that was designed to avoid fraudulent claims of production in a fertile region. In Europe, it has long been believed that soil content and composition confer certain flavors to the fruits produced because of the way in which the various minerals, clays, limestone and soil nutrients interact.

Other natural elements, such as climate, altitude and sunshine, that are known to converge in a specific area, denote value to a product that has been grown within a certain legally recognized boundary. The French quality control system formed the prototype of modern European Union laws that include the classification Denomination d'Origine Controlee to guarantee to the consumer the origin of the product that, in turn, confers the corresponding degree of product quality. The fact that our extra virgin olive oils are single estate oils offers consumers protection from the risk that a European Union oil with an identified denomination of origin would be mixed with inferior oils from other EU regions or countries outside the EU and sold as an oil of specific EU origin on the product label. This is currently happening with some other unscrupulous producers.

Our olive oils come from the highlands or the cooler parts of their respective regions. The best oils are from the coolest parts of the climatic olive range, where the trees have to struggle to produce the crop. The reason is that the cooler temperatures prevent the olives from suffering temperature shock after they are harvested, and this temperature disparity and resulting shock tend to make the oil heavier. In very hot areas, when the olives ripen, the climatic temperatures to which the picked olives are subjected during storage and pressing result in heavy-tasting oils.

Summer rain or irrigation mismanagement can adversely impact the quality and quantity of the produce. Excess water at this time of year can cause the leaching of important nutrients at a critical time when the fruits are being formed. Oil experts attribute a significant part of the oil quality to the types, quantities and proportions of the soil nutrients to which the olive trees were exposed during the growing season. Oil experts tell us that one variety of olive could taste totally different if grown in different soils under the same climatic conditions (very much like grapes and wines).