📜 Azeite de Trás-os-Montes

Azeite de Trás-os-Montes is an EU protected designation of origin (PDO) for olive oil from the mountainous north-east of Portugal. The name was registered in 1996; the applicant was an olive growers' association from Mirandela. A single document setting out its current rules was drawn up only in 2024.

The area comprises the municipalities of Mirandela, Vila Flor, Alfândega da Fé, Macedo de Cavaleiros, Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Carrazeda de Ansiães, Valpaços, Murça, Moncorvo and parts of Bragança, Vimioso and Mogadouro. Altitudes range from 400 to 1,300 m, though most groves lie below 700 m. The climate is Mediterranean with a continental influence: winter nights can bring frost, and the soils are schist.

The oil is made mainly from four varieties, Verdeal Transmontana, Madural, Cobrançosa and Cordovil; there are no minimum shares. The harvest date is set each year by the producer group: picking begins when the skin is already black but the flesh is still green or purple, and ends on the 55th day. Fallen fruit is not accepted, and the paste may not be heated above 27 °C. Both extra virgin (acidity up to 0.8%) and virgin (up to 1.5%) are allowed under the name. The colour is greenish yellow, the aroma of fresh fruit, sometimes almond; the taste has sweet, astringent, bitter and pungent notes.

Verdeal Transmontana is picked before the hard frosts, most often in the last two weeks of December, when many fruits are still green. So the young oil is greenish from chlorophyll and turns golden over time. Around 1549 the chronicler João de Barros wrote that olives had been planted in Mirandela only recently, yet there was already plenty of oil.

Why it matters to you. The oil is bottled only within the area, in containers of up to 5 l. The label shows “Azeite de Trás-os-Montes – Denominação de Origem Protegida” or “DOP”, the EU symbol and the logo. Check the category: under this name you can find more than just extra virgin.