Information and Olive Oil Insights

The olive oil is classified depending on the acidity. You need a laboratory analysis and a tasting done by a professional (like a sommelier for wines) to certify the highest quality that is the Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). To achieve this distinction, you need low acidity (under 0.8% of oleic acid) and a specific flavour to palate and smell. Virgin olive oil ranges between (0.8 - 0.2%).

When people talk about phenols and oleocanthal, they're talking about some of the key compounds that make exceptional extra virgin olive oil stand out.

Phenols are naturally occurring compounds found in extra virgin olive oil and are closely linked to quality, freshness, and many of the oil's recognised health benefits. They act as powerful antioxidants, helping to protect the body's cells from oxidative stress. They also contribute significantly to an olive oil's flavour, aroma, stability, and overall character.

Phenolic levels are influenced by a range of factors, including olive variety, climate, harvest timing, and the care taken during production. Early-harvest oils typically contain higher concentrations of phenols, which is one reason they often display a more vibrant, robust flavour profile.

One of the most notable phenolic compounds is oleocanthal, responsible for the distinctive peppery sensation often felt at the back of the throat when tasting high-quality extra virgin olive oil. This characteristic "peppery kick" is widely regarded as an indicator of freshness and high phenolic content. So distinctive is the sensation that experienced producers and tasters frequently use it as a quick sign of quality.

Together, phenols — and oleocanthal in particular — help distinguish an exceptional extra virgin olive oil from an ordinary one. They contribute not only to nutritional value but also to the complexity, balance, and sensory experience that define truly premium olive oil.

When people talk about “early harvest” olive oil, they’re usually referring to oils made from olives picked at the start of the season — often around November. These oils tend to be more vibrant, more aromatic, and naturally higher in compounds like phenols.

But “early” isn’t really a fixed date. It changes depending on the olive variety, the microclimate, the altitude, and how the season has unfolded. What’s early in one grove might be mid-season in another.

In the end, it all comes down to the trees. Harvesting happens when the olives are at the right moment of ripeness and quality — not just because the calendar says so.

For farmers, that’s where things get tricky. Picking earlier can mean more intensity, freshness, and character, but also lower yields and less oil. Waiting a bit longer can increase quantity, but you risk losing some of that vibrancy. It’s a constant balancing act each year, and no two harvests are ever quite the same.

To produce 1 litre of olive oil you need to mill 4 to 5kg of olives. But for higher quaiity olive oil (EVOO) you might need to pick between 8 to 10kg of olives. (Remember the last question? -That's why)

And just to let you know, whilst 1litre of water weights 1kg, 1 litre of olive oil weights around 900 grams.

There are  over 1000 recognised of olive varieties, also called cultivars which have developed over period of around 6000 years,  which results in distinct characteristics, oil yield, taste, and fruit size. 

Olive oil made from a single variety is called a monovarietal, or monocultivar olive oil. Blends are crafted using oils from two or more cultivars to achieve consistency at the expense of character. 

Single-estate olive oil is crucial for quality, flavor, and transparency because it  offers producers control over the growing, harvesting, and  pressing, resulting in unique, authentic tastes reflecting specific  terroir (soil, climate) and ensuring freshness.

For more information you can visit Olive Oil Times

Our Hojiblanca olive trees are the reason for the high quality and fantastic taste of our olive oil. They are predominantly between 100 and 200 years old and possibly older in some instances and represent four generations of careful management by our family.

Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents all walked through the same trees and for that reason they are firmly part of the Cortijo Coracho family.

We have trees with two, three and even some with four legs (trunks) which are fantastically gnarled and twisted. They are planted in the traditional way, with wide spaces between the rows which in the past would have been used to grow crops and graze animals. This wide spacing provides excellent air flow and allows the trees to grow and spread naturally.

The trees are rain fed, which can reduce oil yield but, that along with the age of the trees, provides oil with a fantastic taste which reflects the soil and climate of our farm.

Our olive trees were planted generations ago and have been cared for by our family ever since. Today, maintaining a farm like ours is becoming increasingly difficult.

The trees are large, widely spaced and naturally rain-fed. Their size and traditional planting make mechanical harvesting difficult, so much of the work still has to be done by hand. With labour becoming more expensive and harder to find, the cost of maintaining these old groves continues to rise.

For many farmers, the practical solution is to remove the old trees and replace them with younger, higher-density plantations designed for modern machinery and irrigation. They are easier to harvest, more efficient and, economically, often make more sense.

This is why traditional olive groves are disappearing.

But when an old tree is removed, we lose more than its olives.

These trees have been part of our family for generations. Their trunks, branches and surrounding land have become habitats for birds, insects and other wildlife. They are part of our landscape, our heritage and our family's story.

We know that farming has to be economically sustainable. But we believe there should still be a place for these older, traditional groves.

So we are choosing to keep them.

It is harder. It is more labour-intensive. It produces on a smaller scale.

But once these trees are gone, they cannot be replaced in our lifetime.

Our goal is simple: to preserve what our family has cared for over generations, and to pass it on to the next.

Quite a few people have asked what cortijo means, as they have never heard that word before. A cortijo is a traditional farm house in Andalucia and other counties in the South of Spain. Typically they are link ed to olive oil production, cereal and cattle. Some cortijos have a mill to produce olive oil. The mill is called molino or almazara. In Italy, the word used is frantoio. Some cortijos like ours are arranged around a central courtyard and may have a tower which were used keep a watch on the land or for storage.