The Best Spanish Olive Oil

This past Summer I spent a little over 2 weeks in Spain.  I visited Madrid, Pamplona, Zaragoza, San Sebastian, Barcelona, among others.  Near Barcelona, we visited this little town called Villafranca del Penedés.  It was a must we visited this town, as my friend Walter’s family is originally from there.  The proof – there was a street named after him… it was amazing.

But what I never thought I would find in Villafranca was one of the best extra virgin olive oils I have ever tasted.  As part of a tour to Villafranca and Montserrat, we visited the Bodegas Torres.  I was afraid this was going to be one of those tourist traps… but the local winery, well known for their Sangre de Toro wine and one of my dad’s favorite red wines, as a real surprising treat.   Besides the winery, Bodegas Torres has a gastronomy division named Torre Real which, among other things, makes olive oil made from Arbequina olives.  According to information I have read since then… Arbequina olives are the “crème de la crème” as Spanish olives is concerned.

I brought back a bottle of this wonderful olive oil… and now, no other olive oil stands next to it.  I ration it so that I can enjoy it as long as I can…

To me, it’s the perfect olive oil to dress a salad, to dip great crusty bread or to drizzle over a soup or pasta as a finishing touch.  And the most amazing thing – this olive oil only cost me 5 Euros.  Not bad for such high quality.  They also make white and red wine vinegars.  I have not tried the vinegar yet – I have like 7 open vinegar bottles, so I would like to decrease that inventory before I open a new now.

I good friend from high school lives in Barcelona now and I have asked her to please bring me 3-4 bottles of the Arbequina olive oil when she comes to Puerto Rico in the next few weeks.  If you have access to this wonderful product, I urge you to try it.

Do you have any favorite olive oil?? Tell me all about it.

Tags: olive oil, spanish