Detlev Von Rosen, One of Portugal’s Most Celebrated Producers, Dies

Detlev Von Rosen, who produced one of the world's best olive oils on his farm in Algarve, Portugal, has died. He was 80 years old.

By Olive Oil Times Staff
Dec. 9, 2016 11:53 UTC
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Detlev Von Rosen, who pro­duced one of the world’s best olive oils on his farm in Algarve, Portugal, has died. He was 80 years old.

Von Rosen fled Germany with his fam­ily from Estonia to Sweden when the Russian army invaded, accord­ing to a neigh­bor, Arthur van Amerongen. In the late six­ties, Von Rosen moved to Algarve, the south­ern­most region of con­ti­nen­tal Portugal, where he started a nurs­ery before pro­duc­ing olive oil.

Oleologist Nicholas Coleman, who vis­ited Von Rosen recently said in his newslet­ter that Von Rosen began with oranges but became dis­mayed by the amount of water nec­es­sary for the crop.

Three Monterosa olive oils have been awarded at every New York International Olive Oil Competition since the event began in 2013, includ­ing the cov­eted Best in Class Award in 2014 for the Macanilha de Tavira.

Van Amerongen said in a blog post that Von Rosen was rumored to have taken his own life. I am sur­prised because he always made a very cheer­ful and lively impres­sion on me,” Van Amerongen wrote.

I’ve got a few Monterosa olive oil bot­tles,” Van Amerongen said, but I yank them open only on very spe­cial occa­sions. Then the guests can taste a few drops and I put the bot­tles back behind bars. After all, not all days are a feast.”


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