El Campico Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Jan 2008 Harvest)

Tasting Notes
There was a flurry of excitement at Demijohn when our new organic single estate olive oil from Spain, called El Campico arrived at the end of last year.  ....moreThis oil is still extremely fresh having been harvested at the start of 2008.  To taste it has a trace of fruit and a little sweetness that one would expect with with a late harvested oil. It also has a pleasant amount of pepper that comes quite a long time after tasting. It is a surprisingly light and delicate oil, and certainly the most exciting organic olive oil we have tried to date. Getting the oil it to us is down mostly to the shear enthusiasm and determination of one man, Francesco Zamora, owner of this beautiful family estate which lies in the mountains about 2 hours due East of Malaga. He personally drove our first consignment the 1400km to get it to us quickly and in perfect condition. Luckily we had some whisky in the house to celebrate his arrival! The Zamora family have owned the land near the village of Cueva del Pajaro since the Franco revolution, but after finding a natural spring roughly 10 years ago in this beautiful but arid mountain region, it became suddenly possible to cultivate the olive tree. Not one to flinch at a challenge, they hand planted 10,000 Empeltre olive trees in 1999 and now have a young but magnificent organic olive grove. This first class oil is produced by hand picking the fruit and using a traditional animal powered mill as there is no electricity in the mountains! I think you can taste the effort that went in to producing this wonderful oil. ...less