Quaryat Dillar's Blog
Tras varias generaciones dedicadas a la agricultura y el sector olivarero, la familia Velasco Gil fundó en 2009 una almazara en Dílar, un pueblo granadino de Sierra Nevada.
Some visits are forgotten the moment you walk out the door. Others change, just a little, the way you see things. Since we started offering olive oil tours in Sierra Nevada at our mill Quaryat Dillar, what has surprised us most is not what we tell people, but what they take away with them.
We are not just talking about a bottle of olive oil. We are talking about understanding where what you eat actually comes from.
When we welcome visitors to our olive grove, the first thing we do is point upwards. Towards the Sierra Nevada Natural and National Park, just 12 kilometres from Granada. It is not a pretty backdrop: it is the reason we are here, and the reason our oil is what it is.
All that snow you see in winter comes down as water when spring arrives. That water feeds the rivers, the irrigation channels and the aquifers, eventually reaching the olive trees. And from those olive trees comes the oil. It is a cycle so ancient that we sometimes forget how fragile it is.
When you explain it out in the field, pointing to the snow-capped peaks and the irrigation systems that connect them to the olive trees, people understand it in a way that no text on a label ever could.
One of the things visitors value most is seeing exactly how the oil is made. The process is clean, fast and fully traceable. And that is not an accident: it is a decision we made from the very beginning.
In fact, in some cases the time between tree and mill is literally two or three hours. That makes a difference in the extra virgin olive oil, and also in what we have to say: we have nothing to hide because there is nothing to hide.
Moreover, by-products are not wasted either. Olive pomace is transformed into biomass that generates electricity. Leaves go to feed a local shepherd’s goat herd — that kind of simple, word-of-mouth agreement, no paperwork involved, is exactly what we love. Meanwhile, the olive pit fuels the biomass boiler that heats the mill in winter and the water is recycled back into the grove. That is how we close the circle.
The olive oil tour experience always ends at the table. Organic bread from Pan de Mi Pueblo, the artisan bakery in Dílar, and our Quaryat oils to taste. Arbequina, Picual, Blend, Organic, and our lemon oil (cold-pressed with fresh lemon peel) — each with its own character, each with its own story.
That moment is, curiously, where the most questions come up. About the early harvest, about why green oil leaves a peppery kick in the throat, about whether the olive trees they have just seen are fifty years old or a hundred. We are not a restaurant or a museum. We are a family-run mill that works every day of the year and, when we have visitors, we simply show them what we do.
As a result, every person who joins our oleotourism in Sierra Nevada understands a little better what it means to produce responsibly within a protected environment. Our mill sits inside the Sierra Nevada Natural Park, on the doorstep of Granada, and that is not a marketing label: it is a daily responsibility.
No insecticides or herbicides in the grove, aromatic species are planted to encourage biodiversity, and the water from production process is fully recycled. We respect the environment because we are part of it, and that commitment is not just ours: it is backed by Europarc and we hold accreditation under the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism, which recognises Sierra Nevada as a responsible tourism destination and the businesses that work within its values.
For that reason, we do it because we believe that if you take care of the land, the land takes care of you. And also because if we do not — we who are here every single day — who will?
If you are curious to come and see it for yourself, visits are available all year round and can be tailored to your group. You can write to us at info@quaryatdillar.com or call us on +34 958 512 673. We would love to welcome you.
