Three varieties of native olive trees, Argudell, Corivell and Verdal (also known as Llei de Cadaqués) define the PDO Oli de l’Empordà. The cultivation of olive tree goes back more than two thousand years. This is demonstrated by some remains that date back to the Bronze Age, but it was not until the sixth century BC, since Greek colonisation, that the current landscape of olive groves in the Alt Empordà region was established, like a mirror of the expanses of olive trees under Mount Parnassus.
Although no single olive tree is known to be much more than a thousand years old, this land can boast ancient and centuries-old olive trees. The oil from ancient olive trees is no better or worse than others, but it does contain the weight of history as an added extra: olive trees that have witnessed great events, tragic battles, treacherous invasions.
Although the PDO Oli de l’Empordà, created in 2008, enshrines a very renowned territory – the counties of Alt and Baix Empordà, three municipalities in Pla de l’Estany and five in Gironès – counties such as Selva and Garrotxa still have many olive groves, some of which have been restored and brought back into production.
Beyond the scope of the PDO, there has been experimentation with fashionable varieties and new regions. The regulatory council also allows olive oils that do not contain more than 50% of the Arbequina variety, which has also adapted extraordinarily well to the territory, to be labelled as PDO Oli de l’Empordà. Today the olive groves produce crops of the highest environmental quality, since, among other things, they provide the benefit of serving as firebreaks in times like the current one, when there is a high risk of fire due to climate change.
Oils from Girona with the 2023-2024 Girona Excel·lent seal
Oli Fontclara – extra-virgin Argudell olive oil
Oli Fontclara is a Baix Empordà company whose hallmarks are sustainability and innovation. Currently, they cultivate 60 hectares of olive groves, with around 8,000 trees, many over one hundred years old, of the native Empordà Argudell variety. This organic Argudell extra-virgin olive oil is intense, green and fruity, with an aroma of the Mediterranean landscape of the Empordanet area, notably the green of the tree leaves and the mastic tree. It has a piquant flavour with an aftertaste of artichoke, green apple, walnuts and tender acorns.
Company: Zanotelli SL
Oli Serraferran
Fina Sala follows the centuries-old tradition of producing oil in Ventalló, an historic olive-growing town in the Girona region. Serraferran is made predominantly with fruit from one hundred-year-old and even thousand-year-old olive groves of the Argudell variety, and with Arbequina olives. The Argudell gives the oil character and personality, highlighting the flavour with a bitter touch and a deep aromatic complexity, with nuances of apple, walnuts, almonds, artichoke and tomato. The Arbequina brings freshness, secondary herbaceous aromas, such as green grass, banana, almond and walnuts, and nuances of almond, as well as underpinning the balance between bitterness, piquancy, astringency and sweetness.
Company: Oli de Ventalló, SL
Mas Auró Arbequina Premium ECO
This 100% single variety extra-virgin olive oil from the early harvest of Arbequina olives is green and fruity, with marked green notes on the nose and a medium polyphenol content. On the palate it leaves a piquant sensation. Over time, it becomes more rounded with reminiscences of green apple and banana, and on the palate it is softer and leaves a sweeter taste. The main secondary aromas are of green olive, artichoke, liquorice, green apple, almond and freshly cut meadow grass. Mas Auró is a family business dedicated exclusively to tending olive trees and producing virgin olive oil, with an olive press in Esponellà, in Pla de l’Estany.
Company: Auró Agrícola, SL
Olivina
Mas l’Arbreda is a farm in the Llémena valley, in the volcanic area of the county of Gironès, managed sustainably with native Catalan cattle breeds, most of which are in danger of extinction. At Mas l’Arbreda they aim to make products with everything the farm can produce. Currently they have a cheese factory, an organic allotment, beehives for honey, an area of truffle trees and an olive grove, all on volcanic soils. With the olive harvest they make Olivina, a virgin olive oil that is the result of a blend of different varieties.
Company: L’Arbreda, SL
