Our Olive oil’s secret is knowing how to combine family olive-picking tradition and history with the latest production methods, maintaining the strictest control over the process from flower to final bottled product with the strictest essential criteria.
In 1986 Manuel Heredia, marquis of Prado inherits the premises, property of the family since the 14th century, becoming the current owner and taking over Suerte Alta.
The farm is located in Albendín, in the Córdoba province in Spain. It consists of 255 hectares of watered olive groves, with olive trees between 10 and 90 years old, of local and traditional varieties - Picudo, Hojiblanco, Picual and Pajarero – planted intermingled in order to favor pollination and in order to control different production between crops.
In 1996 we started the conversion of the farm to organic under the supervision of the C.A.A.E. (Organic Agriculture Committee of Andalucía) in order to guarantee the absence of any residue in the oil and to maintain the soil’s richness of life and nutrients.
In 2006 we built the new oil press in the center of the farm in order to close the production cycle within the premises and to manufacture an exclusive extra virgin olive oil which satisfies three characteristics: produced and bottled within the premises, organically produced and certified by Baena Designation of Origin (D.O.).
"Our olive oils, found in the most important markets, fairs and competitions, have been awarded numerous quality prizes that endorse this genuine natural olive juice"
The olive press designed by its owner, is a bioclimatic building with pergolas, vegetation screens and solar panels. Furthermore it is climate controlled with passive ventilation air chambers and a biomass furnace fuelled by olive pits which gives the building an energy balance of 0. The machine surfaces in contact with the olives are made of stainless steel and food-rubber.
The olives reach the mill, where the area of the estate they have come from is recorded, and are then transferred to 4 storage tanks and classified for milling. The milled olives are then transported to a horizontal malaxer from which the mass is sent to the decanter, a centrifugal extraction machine.
Thanks to this cold extraction the olive oil maintains all of its aromas, flavors and antioxidants. The oil is sent to a static decanting tank where water is eliminated by density difference, then it goes through a chain of mesh filters which blocks small suspended particles. It is finally stored in 14 tanks, each with a 28 T capacity, which are sealed and checked by Baena Designation of Origin (D.O.) staff.
The olive press designed by its owner, is a bioclimatic building with pergolas, vegetation screens and solar panels. Furthermore it is climate controlled with passive ventilation air chambers and a biomass furnace fuelled by olive pits which gives the building an energy balance of 0. The machine surfaces in contact with the olives are made of stainless steel and food-rubber.
The cellar is connected to the automatic linear packaging machinery with a capacity of eight hundred 500cc bottles/hour. Bottling takes place on request using bottles designed by Suerte Alta.
Cortijo de Suerte Alta is a member of the QvExtra! International Association. Our oils are bottled under the SIQEV seal of approval, with strict quality standards and our own self-regulation system – both at the point of origin and at the final point of sale – guaranteeing the high quality of our extra virgin olive oil for the consumer until the best-by date.