You may not have heard of this place, but you’ve probably tasted its produce

Odds are you haven’t heard of Jaen, but there’s a good chance you’ve tasted its most famous product: olive oil. With 66 million olive trees, Jaen is home to one of the largest man-made forests in the world, producing about 20 per cent of the world’s olive oil.

When you think of olive oil, chances are you picture the Tuscan countryside, a fact not lost on Tamara Tagua, my guide at Aoveland, an award-winning olive mill and tourist attraction in the Andalusian province, often dubbed the olive oil capital of the world.

Her theory? “Spain is the biggest producer of olive oil in the world, but the Italians – they’re better at marketing.”

Aoveland aims to change that. Located on the edge of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed town of Baeza, the facility is a modern olive mill that integrates cutting-edge technology into the oil-making process, while tapping into the region’s tourism potential with a state-of-the-art tasting room.

While I had never heard of Aoveland (or Jaen), it’s clear the mill has made an impact: many residents and guides recommend it, and are genuinely excited I’ve planned a visit. Tours include a walk through the mill and olive processing site, featuring large-scale art installations by contemporary artists José Ríos and Isabel Cabello and an immersive audio-visual presentation, before finishing up in “The Temple,” Aoveland’s custom-designed tasting room.

Most bewitching of all, however, are two special trees: a 600-year-old olive tree named Mauchi that stretches into the sky like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, and El Abuelo, a gnarled, knotted chunk of a tree, thought to be over 1200 years old.

The olive harvest begins during autumn, when farmers bring their olives to be processed in the state-of-the-art mill. As a general rule, the earlier the harvest, the smaller the yield – but the higher the oil quality. From there, they produce liquid gold: extra virgin olive oil.

In a region where olive oil has been harvested for thousands of years, it’s a delicate balance to mix modern ideas with the romantic ideals of olive oil production. Yet technology is driving the industry forward. According to Tagua, olive oil production has advanced “more in the last twenty years, than it has in the last two thousand”.

Visiting in early summer, I find the stainless-steel mill spotless and still awaiting the harvest. Above us, a cluster of dozens of bright-green cables runs into a climate-controlled, glass-walled room, filled with stacks of data banks, a place you could easily mistake for a space shuttle launch room.

Tagua calls them “the green veins” of the operation: they provide real-time data during each stage of the oil extraction process, monitoring temperature, flow and timing, allowing the technical team to make decisions tailored to each batch of olive and ultimately, produce the best quality oil.

From the mill, we pass the bottling plant and enter The Temple. Below is a small theatre; above, the tasting room, where rows of shiny metal vats store the freshly pressed oil. It’s a similar setup to a wine or whisky tasting: three small, tinted glasses are filled with the Arbequina, Hojiblanca and Picual olive oil varieties.

Taking Tagua’s lead, I hold the glass to my chest to warm the oil and release the aroma, and pay no attention to the colour of the oil in the glass, which is no indication of quality or taste.

The first olive oil has notes of apple and banana. The second is spicier, with a tomato-like flavour and hints of fresh-cut grass. The final one is my favourite: an organic olive oil with hints of green herbs and almonds that feels soft on the palate.

“Bio farmers are the romantic farmers,” Tagua says. “They think about the product, not the business.” In this case, it paid off: out of 326 olive oil producers in Jaen, this oil was one of just eight selected for the prestigious Jaen Seleccion in 2025, a list of the best extra virgin olive oils from the province in each harvest.

We head back up to the visitor centre, which sells bottles of the oil in every quantity imaginable, as well as ceramics by local artisans and products made with olive oil, from crisps to cookies and carved wooden bowls. But I can’t help but be beguiled by the neat rows of olive trees stretching towards the horizon.

“It’s stunning,” I tell Tagua.

“Yes,” she smiles. “This is what we live for … and what we live in.”

THE DETAILS

VISIT
Avoeland offers 90-minute guided tour and tasting in English, Monday to Friday, €20/€10 ($30/$15). At other times by appointment.

FLY
Singapore Airlines offer connections from Sydney and Melbourne to Madrid via Singapore Changi: singaporeair.com. Jaen can be reached by train (connecting in Cordoba) via Renfe: renfe.com. Aoveland is best reached by private transfer from Jaen or Baeza.