The second best olive oil in the world is made in Andalucía: 'We examine the olives every 24 hours'

The best olive oil in Spain and the second best in the world is made in Andalucía. To be more precise, in Baeza, in the province of Jaén, where a cooperative, Campos de Biatia, has created a limited edition extra virgin olive oil under the name La Dama Íbera. This high quality oil has recently been recognised for its incredible characteristics in the prestigious Evooleum Guide 2024.

The guide recognises the 100 best extra virgin olive oils from all over the world after a tasting carried out by a panel of international experts. These judges named La Dama Íbera oil as the best in Spain and the second best in the world.

"It was a big surprise for us. We are a small cooperative and we were competing against many big names," Juan Rascón, manager of the Baeza cooperative, told Granada newspaper IDEAL.

When they entered the competition, they hoped for a good result, but they didn't expect to get so high. "When we saw our bottle on the podium it was hard for us to take in, we couldn't believe it."

And once the news broke, they haven't stopped receiving calls, requests for interviews and requests from customers to try their limited edition oil.

"We are experiencing a tsunami right now. This has helped us to increase sales and to make our way into the main gourmet shops in Spain," said the manager of Campos de Biatia.

The quality of their oil is explained by their production process, which begins during the summer months with the selection of which fields to use. They only select, after monitoring and comparing, those that have a specific profile to produce their oil. "We select the sites and, as the fruit grows, we start to carry out analyses in the laboratory," Juan explained.

In order to achieve the intense, fruity flavour of their extra virgin olive oil, it is necessary to know how the olives are ripening. They start harvesting in the first fortnight of October, but they don't do it just any old way: "We analyse the olives every 24 hours to know the exact moment to harvest them. We pick them almost at night and we press them first thing in the morning because the temperature is very important."

The limited edition La Dama Íbera was launched on the market with 8,000 half-litre bottles at a price of 20 euros. And although it is still possible to buy it through its website and various gourmet shops, there are fewer and fewer bottles left.

"It's getting harder and harder [to find] because we're down to the last units; there are only 2,000 bottles left," said Juan, who advises anyone who wants to try it to "hurry up" before it runs out for good.