Today, our project is highly successful thanks to Manuel Nieto Aguilera, an untiring fighter and a man with a passion for the field and his olive trees. With his efforts, sacrifice, and perseverance, he laid the foundations of this great family business. Manuel Nieto Aguilera was named co-founder of this now more than 50 year-old company posthumously.

Manuel Nieto Aguilar was born in 1944 as the youngest of seven brothers. He had a great love for the world of olive groves and was passionate about the countryside. In his younger years, he began acquiring swaths of olive groves that are today the foundation of this business endeavour, extending out over more than 100 hectares at 500 meters above sea level, backing up to the Sierra Morena, and the banks of the Guadalquivir River in the municipal district of Andújar, Jaén. The Santa María de Cepeda Alta Estate, Agudillos Estate, and all of our lands are uniquely favourable to our oil extraction processes thanks to the intense aromatics and taste of our high-quality olives, and the climate conditions and high organic value of our locations.

By the 16th century, the towns of Arjona and Andújar were already producing 60% of the Kingdom of Jaén’s oil, and continue to operate in the region today.

As such, olive oil is an essential part of our Province’s economic and social structure. Its relevance can be seen both in the high percentage of cultivated land dedicated to olive groves (more than 77 %), as well as its subsequent impact on agricultural production, and its relevance within the industrial sector’s framework. Specifically, in the manufacturing industries sector, there are some 55 local olive oil mills in operation.

Agricultural management
The professional agricultural management carried out by Manuel Nieto in search of the highest quality fruit means that we are rooted in the base principle of our oil extraction process.
Proper pruning management to provide the fruit with sunlight, and a well-organised processing calendar means the fruit arrives perfectly healthy, without any type of infestation or disease. Together with this, risk management providing exactly the right quantity of water necessary means our fruit holds the proper amount of moisture, without excess water.
This means that a higher polyphenol content is preserved during the extraction process because these water-soluble compounds are not washed or wiped away. Harvest time is determined following criteria that favours the search for the highest quality over quantity. We analyse and monitor the ripening process to select the moment in which the most aromatically potent and complex oils will be produced.
Once this moment is determined, we organise collection so that the olives are harvested as quickly as possible with minimal damage to the fruit before being taken immediately to the mill for pressing.

Production management
We employ a quality manager who establishes a work protocol for pressed batches and supervises to ensure each standard is met.
For this reason, olives are pressed immediately upon being received. Work is carried out at room temperature using short pressing times, without applying heat to the olive paste. The goal is to avoid oxidation, maintain the highest level of volatile components, and avoid losing polyphenols (natural EVOO antioxidants).
Lastly, in the final phase of the extraction process, a minimum quantity of water is applied by passing through the vertical centrifuge in order to avoid “washing" the oil.
Once extracted, the oil is moved to a temperature controlled bodega for filtering and storage in stainless steel and nitrogen tanks for better conservation, as nitrogen maintains a reducing atmosphere instead of an oxidising one, thus avoiding the negative consequences of the latter.
As producers, we have total control over the entire production chain’s traceability, since all of our olives come from our estates.