Argentina's 'La Reconquista' Conquers New York

Summary

Olivares La Reconquista, an Italian-Argentine olive oil com­pany located in San Roman, Argentina, was recently declared one of the World’s Best Olive Oils at the 2017 New York International Olive Oil Competition and received the title of Best in Class. The com­pa­ny’s unique olive oil is pro­duced using tra­di­tional cul­tural tech­niques passed down through gen­er­a­tions, with a focus on care­fully man­ag­ing the pro­duc­tion stages from har­vest­ing to cold-press­ing, result­ing in a well-bal­anced and top-qual­ity prod­uct.

Tucked away in San Roman, a rural region of Argentina’s Buenos Aires Province, is Olivares La Reconquista, an Italian-Argentine olive oil com­pany that’s mak­ing a name for itself within the world of liq­uid gold.

The judg­ing panel at the 2017 New York International Olive Oil Competition declared the com­pany to be one of the World’s Best Olive Oils this year. It was also con­ferred the title Best in Class.

Fresh off the heels of the pres­ti­gious inter­na­tional award, Pietro Buldorini, founder and man­ag­ing direc­tor of Olivares La Reconquista, spoke with Olive Oil Times. He said what makes his olive oil unique is the cru­cial pro­duc­tion stages of his olives, all care­fully man­aged from har­vest­ing to cold-press­ing of each drip of oil.

“We use only the fruits we pro­duce and despite the inten­sive plan­ta­tion we prac­tice man­ual facil­i­tated har­vest accord­ing to tra­di­tion, with mod­ern tools,” Buldorini said. He also empha­sized that their mill inside the olive grove func­tions as a mod­ern plant ​“where olives are taken to be trans­formed into EVOO.”

Buldorini also took the time to explain that the Argentine cli­mate gives a par­tic­u­lar char­ac­ter to the soil. Consequently, he noted, ​“the vir­gin­ity of the unex­ploited soil, the close­ness to the ocean and the moun­tains, the sur­round­ing pas­tures, the extra clean air and the absence of par­a­sites, such as the olive oil fly con­tribute to pro­duc­ing a good and safe extra vir­gin olive oil.”

Pesticides are not used in their olive oil pro­duc­tion process.

When asked how he felt about win­ning the 2017 Best In Class at the world’s most pres­ti­gious olive oil com­pe­ti­tion, Buldorini responded that it was the first time they had par­tic­i­pated in a com­pe­ti­tion since open­ing the busi­ness.

“In the past years, we con­cen­trated on chem­i­cal analy­sis and panel tests of sam­ples we took to Italy where the knowl­edge ofex­tra vir­gin olive oil is deep and the atten­tion to it is very high,” Buldorini con­fessed. Only after the favor­able test results were received did he feel con­fi­dent in enter­ing such a high-sta­tus com­pe­ti­tion.

“Emotionally, the Best in Class Award was a mix­ture of joy and sat­is­fac­tion and the reward we were look­ing for our efforts,” he con­cluded.

Coinciding with itsex­tra vir­gin olive oil pro­duc­tion in Argentina has been the estab­lish­ment of an import/export com­pany called Marche Olii Alimentari International. Based in Italy, the com­pany man­ages the expor­ta­tion, small and bulk orders, of Olivares La Reconquista into for­eign mar­kets. It also ful­fills the company’s pack­ag­ing and label needs.

Cherished for its well-bal­anced, har­mo­nious fla­vor, Olivares La Reconquista is pro­duced from Frantoio olives. Since 2012, the com­pany, with assis­tance from tech­ni­cians from Toscana Enologica Mori, has installed a mod­ern work­ing plant for the defo­li­a­tion and wash­ing of freshly col­lected olives. After har­vest, the olives are placed in well-ven­ti­lated boxes and pressed intoex­tra vir­gin olive oil within 24-hours.

Add the tra­di­tional cul­tural tech­niques passed down from gen­er­a­tion to gen­er­a­tion and what you get is a savory, top-qual­ity win­ner, that meets the gas­tro­nomic demands and caprice of its con­sumers.

• The Best Olive Oils Yearly Index


• Olivares La Reconquista