The perfect blend – our 3 olive varieties
At OLI DE SANTANYI, we use three typical Mallorcan varieties, Arbequina, Picual, and Empeltre, to produce our organic olive oil. The small but exquisite Arbequina, about the size of a hazelnut, yields an intensely fruity oil with notes of green almonds, green tomatoes, fresh artichokes, and a delicate bitterness. The Picual variety impresses with its high polyphenol content and high proportion of natural antioxidants, which give the oil excellent shelf life. The taste is very aromatic, with a hint of pepper and a higher content of bitter compounds.
Empeltre oil is slightly fruity and sweet, with a mild pungency and bitterness. The taste is reminiscent of green apple. This variety produces a mild oil that blends perfectly with the other varieties. The carefully selected batches are blended by our oleologist to create a fine blend, i.e., the different positive characteristics of the various varieties are combined to produce an olive oil of great complexity. This requires a great deal of experience to achieve the desired harmony and balance.
Amild, single-variety olive oil has a short shelf life and ages very quickly due to its low antioxidant content. An oil with a long shelf life, on the other hand, is particularly pungent and bitter. We want a balanced, complex oil with excellent stability. Our goal is to improve and maintain consistent quality, regardless of the vintage, similar to sherry wines. The effort required to achieve this is considerable. Every year, our oleologist evaluates the individual varieties using chemical and gustatory analyses. Based on this, the ratio of the varieties to each other is determined in order to guarantee the flavor intensity of our OLI DE SANTANYI.
At Oli de Santanyi, we will always produce pure olive oil. We will not offer any blends or herbal oils. We do not follow trends and will only produce our oil in our own oil mill.
