OLIVE OIL | THE VALLEY OF THE WOLVES
OLIVE OIL NATURE’ S ELIXIR
AN HISTORIC OLIVE OIL IS REVITALISED IN THE MOST TRANQUIL OF LOCATIONS – THE VALLEY OF THE WOLVES
By Shirley Booth
In the fertile countryside around
Santarem, 70 kilometres north of Lisbon in the Ribatejo, lies the Quinta de Vale de Lobos, a 250-hectare farm now becoming famous for its estate-bottled olive oil.
Olive oil was first made here by Alexandre Herculano, the famous Portuguese poet, novelist and chronicler of Portuguese history, who made his home at Quinta de Vale de Lobos in 1867, where he remained for ten years until his death, and where he wrote many of his most famous works.
Like all writers, Herculano needed peace and quiet to do his best work, and this desire for solitude may also be why he never had children, although he did marry later in life. With no heirs, when he died Herculano’ s house passed to his close friend Paulino da Cunha e Silva, and eventually to da Cunha e Silva’ s great-grandson, the present owner, Joaquim Santos Lima.
The Santos Limas were dispossessed, as were many landowning families, and fled into exile after the 1974 revolution, and it was only ten years later that Joaquim Santos Lima was able to return to Portugal to reclaim his heritage – which included Quinta de Vale de Lobos. By then, years of neglect had taken their toll on the estate and the Quinta was run down and dilapidated. Joaquim and his young wife Veronica set out to restore the Quinta to its former glory.
Since 2004, when they started marketing their oil, the Santos Lima family have been breathing new life into the estate, whilst at the same time reviving the traditions of the past. For it was Alexandre Herculano himself that first gave the Quinta its reputation for fine olive oil.
Herculano had a passion for Portugal and for agriculture, and he started to cultivate olive trees at the Quinta when he set up residence there. The oil he produced, and named Herculano, was the first branded olive oil in Portugal, and it won many awards – just as the oil that Joaquim and Veronica are producing today has. In 2010 and 2011 Joaquim Santos Lima’ s oil won Gold in the UK‘ s prestigious Great Taste Awards, as well as Bronze in 2005 and awards in Germany, Italy and the USA.
I first met Veronica Santos Lima at a Food Fair in London, when she introduced me to her award-winning Olive Oil,‘ Vale de Lobos’ and told me about its history. Since that time, I have always wanted to visit Quinta Vale de Lobos and when I did, as soon as I stepped from the car I immediately felt the peace and contentment that had so pleased Herculano. The mild winter air smelt clean and fresh, as the sun tried to peek through the 200 year old cedar tree which shadows the doorway.
I also soon saw how Veronica and Joaquim make such a successful team. Veronica has a Masters in marketing from the US, and speaks fluent English. She’ s a sociable people person, who loves the city. Joaquim is happiest when he’ s with his olive trees. He knows all 150,000 trees, all 97 hectares of them, like a mother knows her babies.
38 | Summer 2012 | www. portugal-life. net |