Verdeal Transmontana Olives
The sturdy, late-ripening olive of Trás-os-Montes: a green, peppery oil that keeps well.
The Verdeal Transmontana is a robust, late-ripening olive of Trás-os-Montes, in north-eastern Portugal. Like the Spanish Verdial, it stays green well into winter, and it gives a green, fruity, peppery oil with good bitterness and keeping power. It also makes a firm green table olive. With the Cobrançosa and Madural, it is a backbone of the protected oils of the Portuguese north-east.
- Origin
- Trás-os-Montes · Portugal
- Type
- Oil & table
- Colour
- Green (late-ripening)
- Flavour (oil)
- Green, fruity, peppery
- Polyphenols
- Good — keeps well
- Companions
- Cobrançosa, Madural
- Best for
- Robust northern Portuguese oil
The green olive of the north-east
Trás-os-Montes is high, cold and serious about its oil, and the Verdeal Transmontana is one of its key varieties — late to ripen, staying green on the tree, and pressing into a green, fruity, peppery oil with real backbone and good shelf life. It is traditionally blended with the robust Cobrançosa and the rounder Madural to build the region’s DOP oils.
Don’t confuse it with Spain’s Verdial — they share the “green one” idea and the late harvest, but they are distinct varieties on either side of the border. A named Trás-os-Montes DOP oil is a robust, characterful introduction to northern Portugal.