A Family Tradition of Uncompromising Quality

For Generations, the name Vea has stood for the very highest standards of quality in the cultivation of olives and the pressing of fine extra-virgin olive oils.

Senor Avelino Vea, who now runs this family firm, has maintained and raised those standards.  He has introduced the latest production techniques.  But he has also rigorously preserved the traditional methods of cultivation and blending, and the traditional family insistence that only that only the very finest oils shall bear the Vea name.

As a direct result, oils from the Vea olive groves are winning popularity among the world's most discerning chefs and restaurateurs, who value them for their fine and subtle flavours, their consistency, and their superb presentation.

Many factors combine to determine the character and quality of an alive oil: the species of olives, the soil and climate in which the trees are grown, the care in harvesting, the skill of the pressing, the art of the blending.  But above all these is the integrity of the maker and his refusal to compromise his standards, or to allow any practices that might diminish the purity and quality of the finished product.

In the Via family that integrity is inflexible.  And it affects every step in the process of creating and marketing their exceptionally fine olive oils.

CULTIVATION.  The Vea estates are situated in the Lerida province of Catalonia, Spain.

The conditions here are ideal for the cultivation of the Arbequina olive - the only variety which the family grows.

The warm summers are followed by winters cold enough to destroy most of the pests which can afflict olive trees.  Unusually these days, no pesticides are used.  Only the age-old technique of planting almond trees amongst the olives is applied to limit and control the proliferation of harmful insects during the growing season.  Similarly, no chemical or artificial fertilizers are fed to the trees. 

Only occasional applications of natural manure and of 'virgin' earth, which is brought from high in the hills and packed around the base of the trees, are necessary to maintain the fertility of the groves.

Cultivation - which is supervised by Senor Vea's father - is thus totally 'organic', and ever-increasing areas of the Vea estates are certified organic through a rigorous and costly system of control and regular inspection by accredited authorities.

During the growing season, the trees - and there are nearly 10,000 of them altogether, some over 500 years old - are watched over constantly.  When ripe, the olives are harvested by hand to avoid bruising.  This practice is also rare these days; mechanical shaking into nets is becoming increasingly common.  But that technique can bruise the fruit and degrade the quality of oil, so Senor Vea will not allow it.

PRESSING:  Once gathered, the olives are inspected.  Leaves and stems are removed.  Within 24 hours of harvesting, the fruit must be washed, dried, and crushed to a batter-like pulp.  The pulp is churned very slowly in temperature-controlled cylinders and is then separated by mechanical decantation into oil, water and pulp.

In this part of the production process, Vea use modern computer-controlled technology and gleaming stainless steel vessels rather that the traditional system of presses and mats.  The new techniques allow much closer temperature control and far higher standards of hygiene which protect the oil from degradation and contamination. 

The pulp that is left is sold on to refineries, who use heat and extractants to produce 'refined' olive oil though this is of inferior quality.

Only first cold pressings of extra-virgin olive oil are produced by Vea and all pressing, filtration and bottling takes place on his own farm and under his own eye.

BLENDING:  As olives ripen, they turn from green through shades of brown and purple to the eventual black of the fully-ripened fruit.  At each stage, they produce oils of different characteristics, from the green color and strong fruity flavor of 'early harvest' oil to the light golden color and sweet delicate taste which comes from the black, fully-ripe olives.

The pickers, as they work through the groves, gather all the olives from every tree.  As the harvest progresses, the proportion of green to riper olives gradually reduces.  Oils made from olives picked at different stages therefore have varying characteristics according to the proportions of green and riper olives.  To produce oils of consistent color and flavor, which meet the specifications of buyers and the taste of consumers, pressing from different stages of the harvest are blended together.

The different pressings are stored in the underground tanks, lined with ceramic tiles for easy cleaning, which are known as 'coops'.  Many growers these days use tanks at surface level.  But these expose the old to temperature changes, and can affect its quality, so they are not used here.

All the blending is performed by Senor Vea himself.  Every day during the production season, he works in his tasting room sampling the oils stored in the different coops and specifying the proportions in which they are to be combined.  His skill as a blender is renowned; and the success of his company is largely founded on that skill.

His blends oils not only for his own brands, but also for other marketing companies and importers wishing to offer an olive oil of defined characteristics, or to continue an 'own label' brand which has proved popular with their customers.

In such cases, Senor Vea will sometimes buy in virgin and refined oils of sufficiently high quality from surrounding farms and cooperatives in order to produce the blends which his customers require in the specified quantities.

THE HIGHEST STANDARDS:  Oils from the house of Vea are thus produced to standards unsurpassed - and rarely even equaled - by any other producer anywhere in the world.

The care in cultivation and pressing is matched by high skill in blending and by the most rigorous standards of cleanliness and precision during production and bottling.

At a special presentation to EEC ministers and dignitaries in Madrid in June 1989, at the end of Spain's Presidency of the EEC, each delegate received a gift package containing just three of Spain's very finest products: one bottle of a Reserve Rioja, one of a very select Sherry, and one quarter-liter of Vea's Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  This was indeed a convincing tribute to the supreme qualities of flavor, aroma, purity, authenticity and color which distinguish all the olive oils produced by the Vea family business.

• Senor Jose Vea checks the progress of a young olive tree

• Three generations of olive-growers; son, father and grandfather.

• Each picking yields olives at every stage of ripeness.

• Olives must be pressed within 24 hours of harvesting

• The computer-controlled decantation vessels.

• Filters bring the oil to brilliant clarity.

• Senor Jose Vea has a lifetime of experience in the cultivation of olive trees.

• Senor Avelino Vea at work in his tasting room.

• The special decanter presented to EEC Ministers and dignitaries.

• An olive grove on one of the Vea estates.

• The 14th century tower of the ruined castle of Sarroca de Lerida which still stands sentinel at the entrance to the village.