Goodbye to a long and diminished campaign in the Rioja olive grove

A few days ago olive growers have collected blankets, sticks, fans, electric harvesters and even grape harvesters for intensive plantations. Now the task is cooked from the inside. The oil mills throughout the region turn their gears to perfection to grind for another year the thousands of kilos of olives that will be bottled under the La Rioja Oil Protected Designation of Origin. Although this 2021 campaign will produce a few liters less than the last year. A more reduced harvest was already approaching due to the fact that the olive tree is a seasonal crop and because already in 2020 it gave us "a harvest", but the truth is that the rains at the beginning of December cut short many work days in the olive groves and caused that some did not even set foot on their muddy farms to collect little fruit. Added to this is the rainfall in June at the time of flowering and the drought that characterized the rest of the agricultural year.All this has caused production to be notably reduced, in some areas by up to half compared to the previous year. Julio Fernández, manager of Almazara Hejul, started the season on November 5 and this Wednesday he received the last trailer loaded with olives in Galilee: "It has been a very long campaign because other years we just harvested the olives at the end of December, and It has also been more scarce, I would almost say that 50 percent less, with about 870,000 kilos ground and 180,000 liters extracted ». In this olive press, they bet on the little ripe fruit in search of those greener, fruitier aromas and with a certain spiciness, "because that is where the properties of the oil are found, even though the fat yield is lower, and that is where the great quality rests". It took his father a campaign to understand this. «We spent several days without speaking to each other when he saw that he was starting to pick the olives in November. That year they gave me the award for the best olive oil in Borjas Blancas (Lérida) and after that they never questioned me again. I don't want to sell only five-liter bottles; these are for people who come daily. I want to get very good oils and sell them in bottles at good prices, and that is only done by leaving the town and looking for your public in other regions and countries”, remarks this producer.

The Hejul Oil Mill turns 18 in 2022 and almost two decades later, Julio takes stock of the path traveled in a sector that in recent years seems to have re-emerged as if it were a plant that blooms in spring: «More and more is being talked about of EVOO, of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and the social culture around the properties that this food offers is improving because people are beginning to be aware of the fruit that we have in these lands. But certainly much remains to be done. The key right now is marketing. It is no longer useful to buy the olives and sell the oil to the people around you, now you have to go out and fight to prove, among so many other products, that yours is better. And that also entails work and time, because going to fairs is not synonymous with spending two days on vacation in another country». That is the key on which the entire business is based. «The international market will be very demanding, but you have to be there because nobody is going to come to your house to buy your product. And the same thing happens with the online market, in which we have been immersed for just three months and we already have very positive sensations. It is clear that no matter how good you produce, if you don't go out and sell it and sell it well, you have nothing to do. And if you add to that the promotional work with tastings, visits to the press, collaborations with other companies and training talks, you have the perfect combination. But, of course, the renewal according to current times, as in any business, is basic, "he stresses.