This week, the Almazara Artal stood with him Award from the Regulatory Council of the Lower Aragón Oil Denomination of Origin for the ‘Best Lower Aragón Oil 2021’. An award that, for this young oil mill, which barely has a year and a half of life, is “a great satisfaction”, since it was not only the first time that it was presented for this award, but it was also the first oil the process had been “entirely in charge of the company,” explains Arantxa Garín, oil mill master.
Although the oil mill began operating in November 2019, the owners already cultivated olive trees, both traditionally and extensively and super-extensively, in the area of the towns of Escatrón, Alborge and Sástago. The new facility has meant “one more step” and the possibility of “taking charge of the entire process, from the field to the table.”
All the oils produced by this mill are Extra Virgin, in a clear commitment to a product of the highest quality. In fact, the one that won the Lower Aragón Oil award is an oil “of early harvest, obtained from an olive in green and with a cold milling and in small quantities”, describes Garín, who, without revealing the secret of the success of his oil, points out the main key for the product to maintain all its qualities, cleanliness: “Everything has to be as in an operating room”, the master oil mill emphasizes.
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The harsh climate of Bajo Aragón and the quality of the types of olives grown there are the factors that give these oils their special flavor. Predominates graft variety, native to the area. It is a black olive with scent notes of nuts. All oil with this designation of origin must contain at least 80% of this very ours olive, but in Artal, in order to provide their oils with more aromas and textures, they also harvest arbequina, arbosana and fulle de sauce, which make it possible to produce high quality coupage oils.
Almazara Artal markets its oils under two brands that tell the history and idiosyncrasy of this company: the “most conventional” is ‘Marta’s Oil’, so named because it is the name of the only daughter of the owners; For its part, the Premium category oil is marketed under the brand name ‘Safeito’.
It received this name because Marta is a jotera and her favorite piece is the well-known jota en fabla ‘S’ha feito de nuey’, so they adapted the title to name their product. Likewise, the logo represents a pentagram, alluding to the jota, and an olive between waves that represent the meanders that the Ebro river makes in the area where the owners of the oil mill have planted their olive trees. Close this circle ‘La Abella Rondadora’, which is the honey that this company also sells.
And it is that, for the Artal, their oils “are the past of a land made with olive trees for centuries. They are present because of the daily work and perseverance that characterize us. And they are future because they are committed to sustainable development. They are much more than oils. They are much more than Denominations of Origin of Oil from Bajo Aragón. They are our oils. Our culture. Our way of seeing life. Our brand “, they assure from the company.
More than two million kilos
Almazara Artal makes its oils from the olives that each year produce the more than 350,000 trees planted in more than 500 hectares of surface. Last year, its production exceeded 400,000 liters of oil, for which more than two million kilos of olives were necessary.
The company employs about twenty people on a regular basis, which in the campaign can reach up to 30 workers. They seek to market their oils both in Spain and in any other market. “We want to sell bottled as much of our production as possible to avoid intermediaries and have full control of the production process, “says Garín.
Other winners
In addition to Almazara Artal, the Regulatory Council of Bajo Aragón recognized with the second prize of the contest Carlos Blanco, master oil mill of ‘apadrinaunolivo.org’, and with the third prize to Impelte oils from Bajo Martín and his master oil mill, Javier Sanchez.
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