Since the days of the Roman conquest, the people of Alfaro (then known as Graccurris) have been producing olive oil of exceptional quality. Nowadays, the Catalán family, who own and run the Organic Oil Mill of the Rioja, use practically the same methods as their Roman forebears to extract the oil from 7Kg. of top quality arbequina olives for every litre of their organic extra virgin olive oil.
The place we now know as Alfaro was founded on top of an existing city by Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in 179 B.C. Graccurris (Alfaro) occupied a strategic geographical and commercial position, and As and half-As coins, bearing a bust of the emperor on one side and the head of a winged bull on the other, were minted within its walls. Oil just like that made by Isul was used as a bartering commodity in those days.
We wanted this redesign to feature all these elements as a reminder of the long-standing local tradition of olive oil production which the Catalán family continue to carry on at their oil mill using the same methods as always.
