This Sunday 13th May I’m going to London Olive Oil Competition to collect an award on behalf of Mas Auro, one of the extra virgin olive oil farmers you can purchase from Spanish Gastro Larder whose blend, Gironis, received a gold award for this harvest 2017/2018
Mas Auro is based in the village of Esponella in Girona belonging to the region of Catalonia, north east of Spain
The family takes care of the olive cultivar and mill which is located next to their Mas ( home )
They grow several varieties, Argudell which is typical of Girona area and is grown in Provence in France, Arbequina (spread all over Spain and abroad), Koreneiki (originally from Greece) and Frantoio (very typical of Italy) and blends with Arbequina and Argudell.
I visited them last summer and they explained me with lots of details how much care they take during all the phases of the growing and harvesting process. The quality of the fruit is of outmost importance to obtain a good extra virgin olive oil as well as choosing the right technique to wash, crash, get into malaxer machine, centrifugate and filter the oil.
From a clean olive plantation which respects nature and a clean mill set up, all the production process is supervised by this family and an external agricultural team which recommends best time to harvest the olives to elaborate a premium olive oil.
Their blend has been awarded with a silver medal in a tough competition with many other producers which sent samples to taste by a professional panel test team which came from different countries and gather for a weekend to assess the quality of each oil and award each category : health, taste, packaging
Mas Auro already received an award last year and on this occasion it’s been a silver award.
Its categorized as medium fruitiness, bitterness and pungency, Hope you buy and enjoy it!