“These trees so fresh, so full, so beautiful; when they display their fruit, green, golden and black, it is among the most agreeable sights one might ever see.”
Did you ever want to just drink olive oil?
We have a true abiding passion for fresh authentic extra virgin olive oil derived from old growth olive trees. Our olive oil odyssey has taken us from the tiny Maltese island of Gozo, where we first discovered that, in fact, we had never tasted true olive oil, to the adventures and intrigue of owning a farm of ancient olive trees in southeastern Sicily where we learned the art of making fine olive oil, to settling in the beautiful Alentejo region of Portugal, surrounded by expansive landscapes of rolling hills, cork oak forests, and ancient olive groves.
Our extra virgin olive oil derives from hand-picked estate grown olives of 50 to 300 year old heritage trees, Cordovil, Galega, and Verdeal olive trees, and has an acidity of .4%. It was awarded the 2012 National gold medal for P.D.O. (Protected Designation of Origin) of Moura, Portugal. We are excited to bring you this exquisite “juice of the olive fruit”.
This is why we love our olive oil:
First and foremost, we love the flavor! It is has a smooth buttery, fruity start, a desirable slight bitterness, which finishes with a spicy punch.
-Herdade dos Coteis is a family owned and operated estate, which has been in the family for generations.
-The estate is located in the renowned region of Moura, Portugal, one of 5 regions in Portugal with the DOP (Denominação de Origem Protegida) status. The oil from this region has been revered since Roman times. and was said to have been favored by Julius Caesar.
“Protected Designation of Origin” is the European recognition for an agricultural product or food whose entire production cycle, from raw material to finished product, is carried out in a given territory. The combination of natural factors (raw materials, environmental characteristics and location) and human (production and traditional craft), make the product unique and not reproducible elsewhere. The production rules are more strict to ensure the utmost quality.”
- The olives are pressed within hours of harvest. Their state of the art olive mill is located on the grounds of the estate, where Coteis has complete control of production from beginning to end, which is somewhat unique in Portugal. Most farmers and producers sell their olives to a cooperative to be milled, which means there is far less oversight as to the quality of the olives being pressed.
- First cold pressed, which means the olives are milled once and are not exposed to heat in the process.
- This caliber of extra virgin olive oil, produced from old growth trees, rarely leaves the region from which it is produced, primarily because there is just not enough to go around, and is reserved for local populations. Not to mention, old growth trees are very labor intensive to harvest.
There has been much written lately about the scandals and corruption associated with extra virgin olive oil, while at the same time a growing awareness of it’s essential goodness, and healthful benefits. We promise you the real deal!
