Our History
At Almazara la Cañada, everything began with our mentor and teacher, Ulrike Marcik. She learned the craft of olive oil making directly from the locals in Andalusia, developed her own methods to stay truly organic and all natural, started her own mill and ran it with passion for decades, right up until the day she passed away.
Before she left us, Ulrike shared her knowledge and values with us – a young, international team of volunteers from all over Europe. When she died, we chose to continue her life’s work exactly as she lived it: organic, natural, pure.
We learned to care for our olive groves and trees from elderly Spanish workers with a lifetime of experience. Today, we do all the work ourselves:
• In September, we prepare the trees and the mill for harvest.
• From October through winter, we harvest and mill our olives fresh every single day, directly after picking.
• In spring, once the harvest is over, we clean and prune the trees.
• We bottle and label our oils by hand.
• In summer, we prepare for selling and shipping, and go on road trips to introduce our oils to new clients.
Our whole year – and our whole life – revolves around the olives, the trees and the oil. We never stop having ideas, trying new things, and improving our work.
We live in a special place where we truly live from what we produce: vegetables from the garden, farm animals, cheese, eggs, honey and, of course, olive oil. We are proud of this pure lifestyle and we want every product we make to carry that message.
One of our greatest joys is our line of aromatic infused oils. We infuse the olives directly in the mill, milling them together with fresh herbs or spices. We currently offer around 10 different infused oils, and we keep creating more. The herbs we use are grown here on our land, or gathered wild from our surrounding mountains. Every year we take the time to harvest and dry them so they are ready when milling begins.
These oils are made to be enjoyed fresh, without cooking – perfect for salads, sauces, dips, or simply used like a spice. If you don’t have fresh basil in your garden, a drizzle of our basil-infused oil will give your dish the aroma of freshly chopped basil. It’s almost magical how olive oil preserves the fresh taste of these herbs, so you can always have them ready in your kitchen.
We are also expanding our product range with new creations such as pickled olives, marmalades, soaps, and artworks made from olive wood or ceramics.
Stay connected with us on social media and through our website to see what we are working on next. We promise it will be worth your attention.
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About Our Olives
Our olives come from one of the oldest native varieties still in production, dating back to Roman times. It is called Lechín, a small olive with big flavor.
The harvest generally starts later than for other olive varieties. The oil content is higher while the water content is lower, making it possible to extract a high-quality, strong, and flavorful oil.
Our trees are over 100 years old, and many of them are more than 200 years old.
Our harvesting techniques are rooted in traditional methods. We gently brush the olives off the branches, avoiding the use of heavy machinery or shaking the trees, because we believe this can harm them. We want to preserve their health and well-being for as long as possible.
We start the harvest early every morning and work quickly to bring the olives to the mill by the afternoon or evening of the same day. Then the next day, it all starts again.
During harvest season, we spend our days in the olive groves. We eat lunch under the trees, rest in their shade, and sometimes even camp there for the night, staying closely connected to the land.
About Our Mill
Our mill is a 40+ year-old machine, originally imported from Italy. It works without heating the olives, producing true cold-pressed oil so the nutrients and beneficial ingredients stay intact.
Our olives enter the mill within hours of harvesting and are milled slowly and patiently, with constant testing and filtering along the way.
Every year, our grounds, trees, water, mill and olive oil are inspected and analyzed — always with stellar results.
We clean the mill thoroughly between every batch and take care of all maintenance ourselves. We know every little piece of this machine and every step of the process.
We’re so dedicated that we often spend the whole night milling after a long day of harvest, just to make sure the olives enter the mill fresh and the oil is pressed instantly.
Finally, we store our oil in stainless steel tanks, where it settles and clarifies over a few weeks before it’s ready for bottling, labeling and, eventually, your table.
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