Arbequina is the softest of the Spanish varieties and normally the poorest in polyphenols; a typical bottle lands between 100 and 250 mg/kg. This one is over 500. The mechanism is not magic — picked green in October at the phenolic peak, in the cooler air of the Sierra de Cazorla, under the cold press within four hours — but the result is genuinely unusual: Arbequina fruit with a real oleocanthal finish.
Tasting notes
Median of the panel, IOC scale 0–10
Fruity
green apple, banana, cut grass
Bitter
mild, well behind the fruit
Pungent
a clear tickle, not a burn
Green apple and banana on the nose with cut grass behind, more concentrated than the variety usually manages. Silky on entry — Arbequina's characteristic soft, almost buttery texture is intact — then a distinct peppery tickle at the back of the throat that no ordinary Arbequina delivers. Bitterness stays mild throughout and never competes with the fruit. The balance is unusual and the reason the oil exists: the sensory profile of a delicate oil with the phenolic behaviour of a robust one.
The facts
Cultivar
100% Arbequina
Harvest
October 2025, picked green
Polyphenols
500+ mg/kg (producer lab report, 2025/26)
Free acidity
0.10%
Extraction
Cold, within 4 hours of picking
Grove
Sierra de Cazorla, Jaén
Awards
Where it's from
The Sierra de Cazorla is the mountainous east of Jaén — higher, cooler and later than the Guadalquivir plain. Slower ripening is part of why an Arbequina grown here can hold this much phenolic content.
What has been measured on this oil, and who measured it
Total polyphenols
500+ mg/kg
No measured figure published
The EU 432/2012 antioxidant claim starts at 250 mg/kgSource: producer lab report, 2025/26
Free acidity
0.1%
Extra virgin is capped at 0.80% — lower means fresher fruit
Pairs well with
Raw fish and carpaccioSteamed vegetablesFresh cheesesGreen saladsMayonnaise
Reviews
1 expert
P
Tasting panel · bestoliveoils.euPanel note · September 2026
Panel pick★★★★★Rated 4.6 out of 5
This answers the question we are asked more than any other: is there a high-polyphenol oil that does not taste like punishment? Yes, and this is it. Understand what you are buying, though — the price matches a top Picual because Arbequina yields less of everything, phenolics included, so reaching 500 mg/kg with this variety is expensive work rather than a marketing decision. One caution from the sommelier's side: Arbequina oxidises faster than Picual whatever its phenolic count, so treat this as a twelve-month bottle, not a three-year one. Superb over raw fish, where a Picual would flatten the dish.
