We discovered the Mas d'en Josa estate in 1995 thanks to Xavier Farré. The rolling hills and stepped and stepped vallies, the Montsant mountains, oak forests and profusion of aromatic plants made it an ideal place for our venture to produce an organic olive oil of exceptional quality.
Preserving the beauty of the estate, its harmony and the biological diversity of its 20 hectars was priority. We slowly began planting to reach the 6,000 Arbequina olive trees we now have. We forsook facilitating farming tasks by not uniting plots, respecting the dry stone walls that were built on the estate by our prodecesors. Its highest evelation offers a views of the church and town of El Vilosell, located just over one kilometer away.
It was here that we embarked on our project, in between the provinces of Lleida and Tarragona, in the region known as "Les Garrigues." Both the "Mas d'en Josa" and the neighboring "Llobera" plot that falls east of the estate appear in Lleida's historical tax archives of 1726, but no mention is made of the kind of farming was carried out at the time.
Between 1995 and 2000, Miquel and I bought plot after plot of the Mas d'en Josa Estate. Today we wouldn't have such a magnificent olive oil without the efforts and advice of all of you who have been by our side all this time.
In the 19th and part of the 20th century, these lands where dedicated to growing wine and almonds. Right before we bought the estate there we no longer any vineyards and the owners grew barley. In 2002 we planted the first Arbequina olive trees that now occupy almost all of the estate that is not forest.
Our farming for olive oil is done in exclusively rain-fed conditions throughout the estate and its neighboring plots that guarantee the homogeneity and quality of our product.
Our oil is commercialized under the name "ECOIL DE JOSA."
Photographic essay of our olive groves
Ecoil and Olivar de Josa wouldn't exist today without Xavier Farré, Josep María Nogué, his son Jordi, José María Rico, my brother José Javier, my sister-in-law Claudia, my unconditional friends that join me every gathering and all those who confide and appreciate our olive oil. Thank you all!