Hi everyone! Wow! Most of the family has left and I have a few minutes to write about our experience.

All I can say is INCREDIBLE. The personnel at VALDERRAMA were wonderful! José Marin, the manager of the almazara, gave us the tour (in Spanish, I translated for the family) and then in the end surprised us with an olive oil tasting in their restaurant that they are just about to open to the public. Not only did we have the chance to sample various oils, but the two chefs also prepared various tapas for us using the oils produced at the almazara. The two chefs had recently arrived in Spain from Argentina via New York and Florida where they had been working in restaurants before being "discovered" by the owner of the almazara. They were able to speak English to my family as was the owner of the almazara who also came out to greet us.

We were the only ones taking the tour (8 adults and 3 children). They usually only accomdate large groups, but I suppose since it was Christmastime the demand was low and they thought "why not" when I called. It was mostly wheelchair accessible (my mom has limited mobility).

What I found most interesting was that they don't bottle/package any oils until they have an order for it. Until then, the oils remain in the huge vats out of direct light. They don't sit on some shelf until storage.

We also discovered that the process for making the olive oil was almost identical to that of making white wine.

Wonderful wonderful experience. I highly recommend this type of tour for someone looking to do something a little different. The almazara is not accessible via public transportation so a rented vehicle would be necessary. It is about 45 minutes outside of Madrid in the province of Toledo.

At the end of the tour, which took about an hour, we had the opportunity to buy oils directly from the almazara. While there wasn't a huge discount in price compared to what you would pay in a store in Madrid (I have only seen this oil in the gourment shop at the Corte Inglés) it is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying it in the USA. (see Amazon.com prices and Latienda.com\'s prices ). We bought the 2-liter box that you see on Latienda's site for 14€.

If you don't have the time to get to the almazara to do the tour, you can get the oil at the Corte Inglés for about the same price.

If you have any specific questions about our experience fire away, I would be more than happy to answer them!