First Day of Harvest Delivers Intense Flavours for Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Castillo De Canena

Castillo de Canena, the award winning producer of premium extra virgin olive oils, has released its trademark First Day of Harvest range for 2010, reflecting the olive varieties grown within the extensive olive groves within the castle’s grounds – Picual and Arberquino.

Capturing the very purest flavours of the olive crop, First Day of Harvest extra virgin olive oil is the result of last season’s very first milling, delivering intense flavours and an accentuated fragrance.

Castillo de Canena First Day of Harvest, Picual: The Picual oil is a golden green colour and its fragrance is a combination of artichokes, mint, basil and rosemary. Its bold taste coats the palate with flavours that continue the herb theme, with hints of citrus fruit and green tomatoes with a peppery finish.

Castillo de Canena Family Reserve, Arberquino: This 100% Arberquino extra virgin olive oil has distinctive fruity qualities that combine with finesse to create complex aromas and flavours. The initial fragrance is of green apples, lemon peel and herbs, with flavours of ripe banana, bitter almonds and a gentle note of spice.

The Vañó family has been making extra virgin olive oil for over two hundred years, and combines tradition and innovation in its quest to produce the very best artisan selection in the world. Castillo de Canena was the very first producer in the world to launch a First Day of Harvest press, and this is the fourth year that this special edition First Day of Harvest has been released. Designed to capture and celebrate the very purest flavours of the olive crop, each release is commemorated by a unique bottle label – designed annually by a different established name from Spain’s creative community.

This year, Castillo de Canena has brought together the extraordinarily intense, fruity and powerful tasting oil with the wonder of music, as the world renowned Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta has worked with the Vañó family to complete a beautiful identity for the First Day of Harvest bottles, which takes inspiration from Richard Strauss’s last four songs.

The early harvest captures the most intense flavours and fragrances but the oil content of the olives is comparatively low at just 11%. Olives that are harvested later in the season typically show an oil content of up to 23%, so more than double the quantity of fruit goes into a bottle of Castillo de Canena extra virgin olive oil.

The olives are collected by a combination of mechanised vibration and hand picking and, within three hours of being harvested, are transported to the nearby family mill. Within two hours of completing the harvest, the golden green olive oil begins to flow and its special tastes and aromas can be savoured for the first time. Only then can the celebrations begin.

Castillo de Canena has been producing fine extra virgin olive oil for over two centuries and was the first Spanish olive oil producer to receive the prestigious Coq d’Or status in 2006, selected by the French gourmet guide for the very best artisan food products in Europe.

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