Where does Naturvie Extra Virgin Olive Oil come from? As we have explained several times, Naturvie has the Finca «El Hoyo», located in Oliva de Mérida, in Badajoz of some 500 hectares in which more than 15 varieties of olive trees coexist. Land in which there is the possibility and option to observe live the work that dozens of people carry out day after day to get something as commercial and standardized as a bottle of Olive Oil.
Unfortunately, this work is not as well known as the product itself and from that problem Naturvie creates its Oleoturismo Days. With the sole purpose of inculcating young people and not so much how the process of production of Extra Virgin Olive Oil develops, as well as the value of the denomination Extra Virgin. If all this sounds like Chinese to you, perhaps you should pay more attention to what we can offer you.
In Naturvie we have cataloged the Days in three types of experiences, according to the means and the time that you have, you can access a more Basic plan or a more Complete one. Anyway, all of them have been created to provide some basic notions of the EVOO process, a system that although not known, is given, and much, in our region of Extremadura.
1. Basic Experience * It consists of 2 Hours in duration.
The first activity is a walk through the farm and the different olive varieties, stopping at one of them, the Cornezuelo, the century-old variety of the Finca. There we will stop to clarify some of the olive harvesting techniques, demonstrating the one that is used to make the Naturvie Oil, the manual, because it is the one that causes less damage to the branch of the tree.
Walk through Finca «El Hoyo»
Once the walk through the farm, we went to the route through the Almazara where is the machine that processes the olive to turn it into Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Naturvie has a very complete machinery through which you can review and explain each step that follows until the final product is made.
Once we have seen the purest field work, we move on to the Tasting part. At Naturvie we believe that you have to know the process but you also have to know how to distinguish a quality product from others, in this way we will know when the product deserves a high or low price.
In the tasting there are some basic notions of the correct way to examine an oil, as well as the most common aromas to distinguish at this time.
Tasting Extra Virgin Olive Oil
In the same way that most people know how to distinguish good from bad wine, one should know the positive and negative properties and values of Olive Oil, even with more effort, because it is a product that we consume every day and that can affect , if the quality is good, in a very positive way to our health.
After the walk through the Finca and the Almazara, the demonstration of Tasting, we offer a snack with the Naturvie Gourmet Products. and is that apart from the Extra Virgin Olive Oil, we sell several Delicatessen such as: the Sweet Fig Pate, Pedro Ximénez Vinegar, Salt Flakes with Paprika from La Vera … etc.
In spite of being the most basic and concise experience, at the end of all the points, thanks to the environment of the Finca, to the explanations of our guides and to the demonstration of the Tasting, a complete and very well defined outline of the process is provided. of creation of the EVOO. Even with concepts that we had not even heard of before and that are now completely clear.
2. Complete experience. * Coast of 4 hours duration.
The aforementioned activities are developed again in this day mode but pausing more in some processes and notions. In the same way, in the Tasting, in addition to having a longer duration, we proceed to taste one more type of Oil, learning to differentiate with more technique between different varieties of this product.
Since all the activities are somewhat more complete than in the basic experience, the moment of lunch was not going to be less. So that not only is there a tasting of Naturvie products, in this mode we proceed to elaborate with them recipes, such as a zucchini cream in the style «Sierra del Conde». Other products are also incorporated, which, being not from Naturvie, are typical of Extremadura, such as the Ibéricos selection.
Variety of Arbequina olive.
Likewise, although the Naturvie Shop is always enabled with exclusive prices for all those who want to take a souvenir of the Day, in the Complete Experience, it gives the users of the plan a 500ml bottle of Coupage Mil Flores.
3. Premium experience. * It consists of 6 hours of duration.
The most complete and different day to all, although it is recommended precisely for this to be done with a significant number of people (a minimum of 12 being recommended). The activities of the two previous plans are still being developed, although it could be said that they take a back seat thanks to the opportunity to elaborate our own oil that Naturvie offers.
Through this experience, we leave behind the explanations and demonstrations to get down to work and be for a day authentic olive growers harvesting the olive and elaborating it.
After the walk through the farm, macaco in hand and following the guidelines of a worker Naturvie, users collect olives manually until after picking up a minimum weight, visit the mill to make the most plausible test of the preparation of the oil . An oil that will then be bottled and labeled so that participants can use it in their respective homes.
Almazara Naturvie
Because of work and activity, it is more than necessary to make a meal, the menu being the same as the Complete Experience, which means that you can not only taste products made by Naturvie, also other typical of the area, forming a much more complete lunch.
As previously specified, the Extra Virgin Olive Oil that has been generated thanks to the olives collected by the users of this program is packaged and labeled but in the most characteristic bottle of the brand, the one that was designed by the acclaimed chef Martín Berasategui.
There are many schools, colleges and universities that are making use of these conferences, but we must also clarify that these plans have also been developed for a group of more brief people who wish to live an experience rich in knowledge and the most pleasant. The Naturvie farm will always be open to anyone who wants it, all you have to do is contact the staff in advance, in this way we will customize the experience to your number of participants and to the available dates.
* The photos shown in the entry have been captured in the Conferences held for the University of George Washington and the School of Hospitality and restoration of Jaráiz de la Vera.