Monovarietals are the olive oils made from a single variety of olives. Usually they are harvested and their oil is extracted from the mill individually.
Each variety has its own flavor and aroma, which will be fundamental in the preparation of the blends.
The blends are made with the mixture of these monovarietal oils according to the profile that the producers want to give to the batch: more bitter, more spicy, balanced, etc. They will take into account the individual characteristics of each monovarietal to produce the blend with the desired profile.
Here are three examples of olives:
– Cobrançosa: its olive oil has a light fruitiness with green herbs notes. It has a slightly bitter and spicy flavor (when harvested green) or sweet and mild (when harvested ripe).
– Verdeal: the resulting oil is very fine, with a strong, persistent fruitiness, with leaf green and a very bitter and spicy flavor.
– Madural: olive oil also bitter and spicy, with a fruity with notes of green leaves.
These three varieties are present in Casa de Santo Amaro olive oils. What differs them are the proportions of each one in each batch. The Grande Escolha is made with Madural and Verdeal, the Praemium with Verdeal and Cobrançosa, and the Prestige with the three: Madural, Verdeal and Cobrançosa. Thus, three different olive oils are made, with different profiles, aromas and flavors despite having a common origin.
Find out our olive oils here.