The EU registers ‘Villuercas Ibores Jara Oil’ as a Protected Designation of Origin

Thus, a “complex process” that began in July 2021, when the promoting Group submitted the registration application, has been completed “with complete success.” After the initial evaluation of the file, the General Directorate of Agriculture and Livestock of the Board published the application, adopted its favorable decision and, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, transferred to the European Commission, in February 2022, all the relevant documentation.

A few months later, the General Directorate of Agriculture and Livestock granted Transitory National Protection to the DOP and, somewhat later, the Board approved the Regulations and Statutes of the DOP. In this way, once this legal structure was formed, its Regulatory Council could be established in December 2022, whose headquarters are located in Castañar de Ibor (Cáceres).

With the recent decision of the European Commission, Extremadura now has a total of sixteen figures of differentiated quality fully recognized by the European Union (twelve designations of origin and four protected geographical indications).

Specifically, ‘Aceite Villuercas Ibores Jara’ thus joins two other famous Extremaduran DOP oils, such as ‘Gata-Hurdes’ and ‘Aceite Monterrubio’, the Board recalled in a press release.

The product covered by the new PDO is extra virgin olive oil obtained from the fruit of the olive tree, through mechanical procedures or other physical means that do not alter the oil, preserving the flavor, aroma and characteristics of the fruit from which it comes.

It can be monovarietal or multivarietal, coming exclusively or mostly (= 75%) from the following plant varieties: cornicabra, manzanilla cacereña and/or picual. Consequently, in percentages always lower than 25 percent, three other varieties can be used, such as Verdial from Badajoz, Arbequina and/or Morisca.

It should be noted that the oil protected by the PDO must meet certain sensory and physical-chemical requirements. Among the former, a sensory profile of at least three descriptors stands out, highlighting the aromas of olive, herbs, olive leaf, apple and tomatoes; Likewise, its fruitiness has an intensity with values ​​Mf = 2.0, while the median bitterness and spiciness will be greater than 1.5 and less than 4.5.

Among the physical-chemical requirements, the content of monounsaturated fatty acids equal to or greater than 75 percent and polyunsaturated fatty acids less than 11 percent stands out due to its uniqueness.

Furthermore, both the cultivation of the olive tree and the preparation and packaging of the final product must be carried out within the delimited geographical area. This area extends through the southeast of the province of Cáceres, in particular through the regions of Las Villuercas, Los Ibores and La Jara, with a total of 19 municipalities: Aldeacentenera, Alía, Berzocana, Cabañas del Castillo, Campillo de Deleitosa, Cañamero , Carrascalejo, Castañar de Ibor, Deleitosa, Fresnedoso de Ibor, Garvín, Guadalupe, Logrosán, Navalvillar de Ibor, Navezuelas, Peraleda de San Román, Robledollano, Valdelacasa de Tajo and Villar del Pedroso.

In short, in the coming months the first ‘Aceite Villuercas Ibores Jara’ products will be able to be put on the market entirely covered by DOP labels and with the corresponding symbol of the European Union. Likewise, they can now be marketed outside of Spain, since the temporary national protection that existed until now did not allow this last possibility.

Despite being still in the beginning, during the last olive season, three oil mills were registered in the Regulatory Council’s records, of which one of them has already certified a product covered by the PDO ‘Aceite Villuercas Ibores Jara’.