The olicepa
We tell you the story of this family business. Olicepa is a Portuguese company dedicated to the production and marketing of branded wine Vale Joaninho and brand olive oil Lagar do Almocreve. It is located in Paúla, in the municipality of Alenquer (Greater Lisbon / West), in the foothills of the Serra do Montejunto.
It was founded in 1998 by Artur Nobre (pictured, right), currently leading this project with his son Miguel Nobre (pictured, left).
The family legacy that gave rise to Olicepa dates back to the 19th century. XIX and has a very rich history. Read on ...!
The history of Olicepa
Vale Joaninho wine and Lagar do Almocreve olive oil have been produced by our own family for over four generations. What is the history of this family business?
Artur d´Oliveira Nobre (the last Almocreve of a generation) had the idea of founding, in 1945, the Adega where we still produce our wine today. In 1963, it was his son José Claudino Nobre's turn to found the mill where we make our oil. Artur Nobre, son of José Claudino, continued the project he now manages together with his son Miguel Nobre.
In honor of our ancestors, we named our olive oil brand Lagar do Almocreve. Vale Joaninho wine took its name from the property where we have part of our vines, at the foot of the Serra do Montejunto.
The Almocreve was an iconic figure from the Portuguese past. His job was to drive pack animals with goods from one land to another in Portugal. Almocreves have been part of national daily life since the Middle Ages until very recent times - mid 20th century. The most well-known figure in Portugal is that of “Malhadinhas”, romanticized by Aquilino Ribeiro.
In a time of limited communications, Almocreves were important agents of distribution, logistics and supply, as well as intermediaries of intercommunity communication. Some of the most important supply routes were those that carried fish from the coast to the interior and grain from the interior to the coast. Most of the time, the goods they were transporting were not their property although some, as in the case of our grandfather, had chosen to settle and establish on their own after a challenging and trials-filled life.
Our family is referred to in the book “O Concelho de Alenquer 2: subsidies for an Art and Ethnography script”, by Melo, Guapo & Martins (1991). The “Sofias do Lugar de Paúla” were our ancestors and the “recovera galeras” were cars of 2-3, 4 or 6 beasts of cargo, with two axles. Our grandfather's disclosure leaflet, pictured on the right, attests to his profession.
“Still remember (…) Sofias' recoving galleys from the“ lugar de Paúla ”, in their weekly trips and freights to Lisbon, with a mandatory stop at the Camilos Inn on Rua do Amparo (Melo, Guapo & Martins, 1991, p. 154 ) ”.
Today we have modernized facilities and we are proud to say that we have the only continuous oil mill in the district of Lisbon.
The production of excellence is the central concern of Olicepa, which in 1998 began the modernization of its facilities and in 2006 began the installation of a mill of continuous line, where the compact unit Alfa Oliver 500 acquired from Alfa Laval was inserted.
After proceeding to the reception of the olives, their washing follows, just before being crushed to be transformed into olive oil. This oil extraction unit has a two-stage processing system, without the need to produce red water. It thus becomes an ecological extraction system. The version installed at Olicepa allows a transformation of 500 kg of olives per hour.
At Olicepa, we take inspiration from the knowledge of our ancestors, but improve our work and our procedures with an eye on the future.
The most important gestures continue to be personalized and manual - like when we prepare orders for each customer. We personally supervise each order, filling, packaging and shipping. And to receive the joy of our customers when they try our products, of course! This is all part of the history of this family business.