Aubocassa Oli de Mallorca had the honour of being served at the gala dinner celebrating the Nobel Prize giving ceremony in Stockholm a few days ago. The people of Manacor are very pleased. Because, even though the Aubocassa estate is situated just outside of Felanitx, the finca belongs to the municipality of Manacor. But whatever. The old property claims references dating back to the twelfth century, being described as a former Arab alquería (farmstead).

Aubocassa Oli is a Mallorcan Aceite de Oliva Virgen Extra of quite some distinction, and now with a noble Nobel recognition to boot.

The finca of Aubocassa in the eastern part of Mallorca, near where I live, did not have a history of growing olive trees, as far as I can make out. I do remember, though, that the property was sold some fifteen years ago, give or take. We all noticed that within a short time span, young olive trees of the arbequina type were planted there by the hundreds and thousands. In fact, it is said that about 8,000 of them were planted. Aubocassa’s owner, Agustín Santolaya, was just recently named Tafoner Major 2009 of Mallorca. It looks like this year is his year.

Just to be on the fair side: over the last ten years or so, there has been something of a renaissance of quality olive oils in Mallorca. It is really quite remarkable. When Aubocassa first came out, Mallorcan olive oils were few and far between. Now, however, we are spoilt for choice of Mallorcan virgin olive oil from Manacor, Sóller and Caimari, to name but a few. The Mallorcan Consell Regulador now applies a strict quality control and labels a number of olive oils with a denominació d’origen certification.

The photo (top) was taken near Felanitx, Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: December 13th, 2009. The time was 11:10:41. The photo (bottom) was taken in Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain. The date: September 21st, 2007. The time was 17:41:26.