Venta del Baron Olive Oil

 

 

 

Seventy years ago Mateo Muela Velasco, the founder of our company, decided that the future of olive oil lay in upholding tradition and traditional production methods rather than in mass production. With this wise decision he became the first person to show that taking care over the quality could lead to better results in the olive oil sector.

In 1942, he set up his own family business. Originally concentrating on buying and selling olive oil, a few years later he started to produce extra virgin olive oil at a mill, using the traditional system of cold-pressing. This was an exciting project, ahead of its time, which meant this entrepreneur and visionary from Granada placing his confidence in extra virgin olive oil. This trend, not widespread at the time, lay the foundations for the present-day olive oil sector.

In 1958, he expanded his project, incorporating a second mill for oil extraction, under an innovative pressing system that he himself developed. Using this method he started to produce a unique olive oil which, over time, has become one of the best olive oils in the world and a benchmark within the Spanish market.

With the death of the founder in 1975, the second generation of the family took up the reins. This was when the company was established under the name “Hermanos Muela”. At this time the company had four mills creating 2,500 indirect jobs for farmers in the area.

In 1984 the company started to bottle its own oil under the “Mueloliva” brand. One of the fundamental premises of the Muela family throughout the company’s lifetime has been to believe in innovation and the use of new technologies, which also sit happily alongside the traditional skills throughout the whole production process.

In this way, in 1991 the company became the first packager to include the production of packaging and, has invested gradually over time to provide the mills with state of the art facilities and equipment.

In 1998, the third generation of the family joined the management of “Hermanos Muela”. Their objectives were focused on adding value to the product through design and innovation. Three years after joining the company team, they succeeded in improving the visual image of the product. The extra virgin olive oil with Designation of Origin, “Venta del Barón” was honoured as the second best olive oil in the world, with a prize awarded by the International Olive Council.

In 2002 new brands like “Minerva” and “Alianza” were added to the project; the business was restructured, and the “Córdoba” brand was relaunched in the Arabic market.

 

 

 

In 2010 building started on our new facilities, whose building was based on environmentally sustainable criteria and procedures. It would be in these facilities, opened in October 2011, that the company MUELOLIVA would achieve, the fruit of accumulated expertise, the best awards for “Venta del Barón”; among these awards stands out that awarded four times by the Ministry of Agriculture, for the best virgin olive oil in Spain in the category of fruity, bitter, green oils; also the prize awarded by the International Olive Council (IOC), three times, in the category intense, fruity oils; and the prestigious World’s Best Olive Oil, as the best olive oil in the world for the last four years: this positions Venta del Barón among the 8 best Extra Virgin Olive Oils in the World, with more than 100 prizes in 16 different countries.