The olive grove
With years made of many sunny days and very few rainy ones, Alentejo has always been one of the best suited regions to grow olive groves in Portugal. The olive tree is a defining feature of Mediterranean landscapes and olive oil has been a staple in Mediterranean peoples’ diet from time immemorial.
We know that the olive tree was first brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Phoenicians and the Greeks, and that its exploitation was highly developed by the Romans. In much more recent years, early in the 1990s, the World Health Organization recognized scientific studies that confirm health and well-being benefits of the Mediterranean diet, in which olive oil is the main fat.
It was in that context, and from familiarity with a culture that has been part of our landscapes for centuries, that in 1998 we decided to redevelop and enlarge the existing olive grove in RG Rovisco Garcia’s estates. To the 25 acres of traditional olive grove with the Galega variety we added another 173 acres of intensive olive grove. Picual, Arbequina and Maçanilha are the olive varieties growing in these lands that spread all the way to the shores of the Maranhão dam, within sight of Vila de Avis.
In 2019, thanks to the good results in more than a decade of production, a new investment was made on another 44 acres of olive grove planted as hedges, with the Arbequina variety, close to the stream that crosses the Monte Novo estate. Since then, Rovisco Garcia manages close to 250 acres of olive grove.
Produção Integrada
A Produção Integrada é um sistema agrícola de produção de produtos agrícolas e géneros alimentícios de qualidade, baseado em boas práticas agrícolas, com gestão racional dos recursos naturais e privilegiando a utilização dos mecanismos de regulação natural em substituição de factores de produção, contribuindo, deste modo, para uma agricultura sustentável.
A aplicação deste modo de produção traduz-se na produção de bens agrícolas de alta qualidade e reconhecidos por respeitarem as exigências das normas nacionais e internacionais relativas à qualidade do produto, segurança alimentar e rastreabilidade, associadas aos serviços ambientais que incorporam. Fonte: Direcção-Geral de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural (DGADR).
The olive oil
Laboratorial analysis reveal that olive oil is composed mainly of monounsaturated fat acids (70%), particularly oleic acid. Among its properties, it reduces bad cholesterol (LDL) and helps maintaining the levels of good cholesterol (HDL). It also contains vitamins E and A, as well as other phenolic compounds, that produce antioxidant effects.
Obtained exclusively from the olives of our groves, Rovisco Garcia’s olive oil is an extra virgin olive oil of superior quality, rich in nutrients, polyphenols, and vitamin E. Its scent, of green olive and grass, is altogether intense and fresh. Its low acidity is a result of the timely harvesting, in the exact and proper time, of healthy olives that are cold pressed the very day they are harvested.
Finally, to preserve all its original properties, Rovisco Garcia’s olive oil is bottled unfiltered.
