The Council and Parliament Regulation (EC) No 1151/2012 defines Designations of Origin as “a name that identifies a product that originates in a specific place, a region or, exceptionally, a country; the quality or characteristics of which are fundamentally or exclusively due to a particular geographic setting, with the natural and human factors inherent to it, and which production phases take place entirely in a defined geographic area.”
Apart from meeting these requirements, the oils produced under a designation of origin must offer a certain prestige in the market and meet the rigorous specifications established by the Regulatory Board in its Terms and Conditions. Among other aspects, this document determines the protected geographic area, the olive varietal or varietals accepted and the procedures to follow during the elaboration process.
In reality, these oils represent the thorough selection that successive generations of farmers have made from the olive trees that best adapt to their geographic context and which produce the best oils.
We should not forget the fact that, apart from fitting with the official definition, the oils produced under the designations of origin must be certified in accordance with the international standards, which unequivocally guarantee their origin, quality and the peculiarities that differentiate them from the rest.
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