Between the green mountainous landscapes of the Pyrenees and the Segrià plain, there is a place where olive trees have grown for so long that they are now part of the recognizable landscape. We enter the extensive region of La Noguera through the Meià valley, located at the foot of the Montsec de Rúbies, one of the three massifs that make up the mass of stone that is the Montsec mountain range. A place as beautiful as it is difficult to live, the winters are freezing, the rain is irregular and the summers are so scorching that the asphalt on the roads melts from the heat. Even so, there are still those who strive for a future.
We travel along the road and a cloud of dust rises under the wheels of a tractor working in the field, on one side, a pig farm, on the other, a solitary house. A detour marks the path to the small town of Boada, no one lives here permanently, but the town is not abandoned, far from it, Miquel Paris Terre, son of the town, has dedicated his time and effort to repairing part of the heritage of the town and, now, there are some neighbors who come and go throughout the year, but no one is permanent. His son, Arnau Paris, known for being the winner of Masterchef 9, shares this passion for the territory to which he has felt linked since childhood.
He remembers when there was no electricity or water in the town, and he remembers seeing his father turning off the diesel engine that provided light, at night, until the next day, electricity would not arrive until 1993, it was one of the last towns rural areas without electricity, he also remembers when he went with his grandmother to look for water to drink from the natural source, “everything happens very quickly, but before this was something natural,” he tells us.
The town begins to depopulate after the Civil War, the aviation and artillery left their mark for eight months, the town is very destroyed. Even so, his grandparents stayed until the sixties, then they decided to find a life in Barcelona, ??taking their father and uncle with them. When the children grew up, they decided to create a lighting company, it went well, that is when their father began a personal project to recover the town, in addition to investing in the rehabilitation of the buildings, he undertook some initiatives such as an oil mill, his objective: “the intention is to energize the territory more than to achieve wealth.”
Was the oil mill in your family?
No way, there was no mill here, the mill is newly created, it is pyrolysis and with Italian machinery. 15 years ago we had a more romantic idea, we wanted to go for a stone mill but in the end, if you want to work in the Champions League of oils, an organic extra virgin olive oil like ours, you need machinery that allows you to do it.
And why a mill?
Look, we are experts in turning hobbies into headaches, everything starts as a hobby. Our house is in the town and this was the old shed where the work tools were kept, and behind it there was a corral with animals.
When did they decide to build the mill?
My grandparents retired and decided to spend long periods of time in the town. That’s when my father, who is still closely linked to the town, decided to keep the land alive in terms of crops and orchards. At first we recovered some old vineyards that belonged to me. Grandpa, I planted more vines, we bought a press and made the first wine, not very good by the way, but it’s all learning. We did the harvest with our feet and then we evolved. And the same thing happens with oil, I remember as a child picking the olives and pressing them. Until there comes a time when there is a paradigm shift and we begin to plant olive trees, finally, we decide to scale it to another level and modern machinery is purchased with the aim of achieving the highest level. With the addition that we planted a native variety here, the verdiell, which we like a lot, but once planted, we realize why it was stopped being cultivated, and it is a matter of performance.
What does it mean?
With the arbequina, approximately 23 liters of oil are obtained for every 100kg of olives, with the verdiell only 17 liters are produced, and it has the same work, with a larger pit, it does not generate as much fat matter, therefore the final result is lower , but we still like the product and believe in the project.
And works?
Today we have been lucky enough to be suppliers to some Michelin-starred restaurants in Barcelona and to be able to export to Central Europe, and that is because people value the product.
What is verdiell oil like?
It is an oil, at the tasting level, that is longer, the taste in the mouth lasts longer, on the other hand, the flavor of arbequina is more ephemeral. In fact, our oil is used to enhance the taste of Arbequina when blends are made. It is a longer oil in the mouth, with a spicy touch, reminiscent of green tomato, artichoke, a little banana, it has green, fruity notes, when you drink it you don’t have the sensation of oil but as the seconds pass the flavor It develops on the palate.
How many olive trees do they have?
We have about 100 hectares. of olive trees distributed between Boada, Camarasa and Cubells. What we did at the beginning, while they were not productive, we opted to recover crops from third parties, people who abandoned the farms, we updated them in exchange for a percentage of oil. You give me your farm, I won’t pay you, but we plowed it, fertilized it, collected it, and at the end of the year we gave them oil. A kind of exchange.
When does the production process begin?
The process begins throughout the year. When the fruit is given to you by the earth, the process is annual, in summer we do not touch the olive trees, in September the pruning returns, but there is work all year round, fertilizing, plowing, passing the chopper… the flowering is in spring and it is harvested. in November, we start in October because we make green oils, they are very fashionable, and that implies that we have to harvest before the olives ripen, and that implies yield as well, if we talk about green oils, the percentage drops to 9 liters. It is a matter of fashion and taste, and that is paid for.
Is it first pressed oil?
Well, when you talk about virgin oil, they are all first pressed, that means that there is only a mechanical extraction, when it loses this category of virgin it is because there has been a chemical extraction, nothing natural, it becomes refined, in reality it is of a perversion of the market that sells as olive oil those oils that cannot be categorized as virgin along with other waste from producers that are subjected to various processes to extract that part of the oil that is mixed with extra virgin olive oil to make it suitable for human consumption. Very dodgy.
Is it the fine print that no one reads?
Yes, they don’t explain everything to you. The fact that it is virgin guarantees that the extraction is only mechanical. You have to read the label.
Can you explain to me about graduation?
I don’t want to be mistaken, the graduation when it is virgin is below 2 degrees and extra virgin is less than 0.8, I think we are at 0.2. If an olive is very ripe, picked from the ground or chopped, then it will ferment, and as a consequence it will have high acidity. That is why it is important that they do not ferment and we try to ensure that no more than eight hours pass from the time they are collected to the time they are processed, and we use ventilated boxes that are not crowded in bags, because they could begin to rot and this would reduce the quality of the oil.
How do you taste an oil?
An oil to taste would be convenient to use in an opaque glass glass, covered with a small saucer, you have to warm the glass with your hand, uncover it and then smell it, so it gives the first note on the nose, then taste it. That would be the correct way to taste. If you make it with bread, the bread flavor dominates. Although I don’t recommend that you eat it by the spoonful.
They have made a significant investment, does this have a future?
No, no, whatever. This investment is part of a project rather than a project itself.
And make wine?
Anyway, they are not profitable projects, we could not live on them separately. We are finding the formula to connect everything we have done on our own, we were producers of oil, wine, we have rural tourism, we do nightly dinners, and now, under the umbrella of Vansa, it is a project of organic agriculture, wine tourism and gastronomic with a sense from beginning to end, within a unique territory and environment. It is something that makes sense and that differentiates us because we can explain what we sell. There are many organic producers in cool surroundings, it is comparable, but in Vansa, if you come on a Saturday afternoon we welcome you with a glass of wine made by us, you stay for dinner, try the products, you sleep here, you get up and have breakfast With us, you see what we do and what is around us, that is no longer replicable. It is a project very driven by emotion, and we transmit it on a sensory level with the dishes we cook.
It’s good that there are people who want to do things in the field.
For some we are crazy and for others we are geniuses. If you do numbers it’s a disaster. We are lucky that we do not make a living from this, it is unsustainable, I live it as a project, it is a personal business. When you have made the investment, as is our case, and you can make it profitable with the services, that is when it makes sense and you can invoice.
Isn’t it easy to leave everything and live in a town?
I don’t live here, half a person lives here a year, who is my father, I have tried for seasons of my life to live in the town, before Masterchef, you have a very beautiful setting but it is difficult, there are many dead hours, you leave the house and there is no one, I like it but I’m a city rat. And although I like the hustle and bustle, it also saturates me in the end, and conversely, a lot of time here bores me. I don’t understand the town without the city and vice versa.
Do you think people return to town in search of a new life?
This thing about people returning to the fields is more fallacy than reality, there are four of us who take the path in reverse, but it is like everything, it is very idealized, in the end the work in the fields is hard. You have to be prepared, it’s nice, but the reality is different. When you want to change your paradigm a lot first, it is better to try it, take a bath in reality that allows you to make an informed decision.
Do you have new projects?
Many ideas, but then you have to be consistent. Focus on what is really worth it. Now I discard many ideas, we have come far, and it is time to give visibility to my father’s dream, I would like more things to happen, elevate the gastronomic theme and link it with the territory, with music, food trucks, company team buildings… In our case everything is with private investment, and now is the time to stop and see what future projects are financeable.
