The Guardians of the North: The Ancient Olive Trees of Trás-os-Montes
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The Guardians of the North: The Ancient Olive Trees of Trás-os-Montes

There are trees in this land that have witnessed more generations than we can count. Trees that were here when the Romans arrived, that survived barbarian invasions, the Moors, the Black Death, wars, and droughts. Trees that fed the great-grandparents of our great-grandparents and that today, centuries later, continue to provide the liquid gold that defines who we are.


These silent guardians are not in museums or history books. They are here. In Northern Portugal. In Vila Nova de Foz Côa, Torre de Moncorvo, Mogadouro, Mirandela, Bragança, among other municipalities. Rooted in the schist of the Terra Quente region, with trunks twisted by time and branches still stretching to the sky.


On World Olive Tree Day, we don't just celebrate a tree. We celebrate living witnesses of our history. We celebrate the Guardians of the North.


Côa Valley: Where Olive Trees Tell Centuries-Old Stories


Oliveira centenária

In the heart of the Alto Douro, in a land known worldwide for its Paleolithic rock engravings, lies another treasure.


The OLIVECOA project, led by the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança with the Mountain Research Centre (CIMO), identified and studied 150 centenary olive trees in the Côa Valley region. These are not ordinary olive trees. They are trees that have survived centuries, witnessed the passage of entire civilizations, and still produce olives that are unique in the world.  (https://olivecoa.pt/) 


Unlike other regions where centuries-old olive trees have been uprooted to make way for intensive olive groves, here, in this land of schist and scorching sun, the old guardians have resisted. And they guard secrets.


Each olive tree was studied in detail – biometrics of the trunk and crown, characteristics of the leaves, fruits, and pits. Then, the olives from each tree were harvested separately and transformed into olive oil to study what made them special.


The result was extraordinary.


The olive oils produced by these centuries-old olive trees have unique organoleptic profiles, with notes of pineapple, cherry, and plum – characteristics that do not exist in olive oils from other regions or from younger olive trees.


Each centuries-old olive tree, with its roots sunk for centuries in the same soil, adapted to the same microclimate, produces an olive oil with an unrepeatable signature. It is terroir in its purest state. It is history in a bottle.


The Hot Land: Where the North Makes Golden Olive Oil


Trás-os-Montes, especially the so-called "Terra Quente" (Hot Land), is the second largest olive oil producing region in Portugal, after Alentejo. But we are not defined by quantity. We are defined by our identity.



Olival

This region of Trás-os-Montes is a land made of mountains and schist plateaus, rugged but breathtakingly beautiful. A land where the Douro River meanders through deep valleys, where almond trees blanket the terraces in white and pink in spring, and where olive trees – ah, the olive trees! – reign supreme.


Here, the traditional varieties of Trás-os-Montes have names that sound like poetry: Verdeal Transmontana, Cobrançosa, Madural, Santulhana, Cordovil, Galega, Redondal. Varieties that have existed for centuries, perfectly adapted to this unique "terroir" of schist, cold winters and scorching summer sun.


The Trás-os-Montes DOP olive oil is balanced, with the aroma and flavor of fresh fruit, sometimes almondy, with notable sensations of sweetness, greenness, bitterness and spiciness.


It is an olive oil that speaks of the land from which it comes..


The Olive Trees That Science Saved


But it's not all good news.


For decades, under pressure to modernize, thousands of centuries-old olive trees were uprooted in Portugal. Considered "unproductive," "difficult to harvest," and "outdated," they were replaced by intensive, fast-producing olive groves.

Homem cuida oliveira

What was lost wasn't just trees. Ancestral varieties were lost, unique genetic biodiversity, traditional knowledge accumulated over generations, and an irreplaceable historical and cultural connection.


Fortunately, science has given value to what many considered dispensable.


The University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD) has developed a patented method for dating centuries-old olive trees, even when the trunk is hollow – something that no other institution in the world could do with such precision. (https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/pais/1094665/investigadores-dataram-oliveira-com-3350-anos-como-a-mais-velha-do-pais) 

Thanks to this method, today we know how many centuries old the trees that were at risk of disappearing are. And when it is scientifically proven that an olive tree is 800, 1000, or even 1500 years old, it becomes much more difficult to justify its uprooting.


A Year of Work, Centuries of Gratitude


As we've shared in other articles on our blog, an olive tree isn't just a plant that exists. It needs care throughout the year (https://www.azeiteanorte.pt/post/oliveira-um-ano-de-trabalho).


From pruning in the harsh winters of Trás-os-Montes to harvesting in the golden autumn. From maintaining stony soils to fertilizing in spring. From phytosanitary treatments to irrigation – because, yes, even though they are rainfed plants, in years of extreme drought even the old guardians need water.


Now imagine multiplying that care over centuries. Over millennia.


The centuries-old olive trees of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro are the fruit of the work of hundreds of generations of farmers. Each pruning, each harvest, each gesture of care perpetuated these trees and allowed them to reach us.


Our ancestors didn't just prune for the following year's harvest. They pruned thinking of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. They planted olive trees knowing that only their descendants would taste their oil.


That's what it means to think long-term. Very long-term.


What a Centenary Olive Tree Teaches Us


In a world obsessed with immediate results, with quarterly metrics, with quick returns, the centuries-old olive trees of Trás-os-Montes teach us something else.


They teach us patience. A young olive tree takes 7 to 10 years to produce fruit. A centuries-old tree waited decades to reach full maturity.


They teach us resilience. They survived droughts that killed entire plantations, winters that cracked trunks, pests, diseases, wars. And they remain standing.


They teach us generosity. They bear fruit every year, even in the worst. They nourish generation after generation without asking for anything in return.


They teach us rootedness. Their roots go so deep that they touch layers of soil that other plants never reach. That is why they survive where others die.


And they teach us constant adaptation. Olive trees are in permanent rejuvenation. As the old part dies, they produce new shoots, regenerating new tissues. It's an almost endless process. That's why an olive tree, if well cared for, can live practically forever.


Olive Tourism: Getting to Know the Guardians Live



Olival centenário

The OLIVECOA project wasn't limited to science. It also created new itineraries so people can walk among these centuries-old trees and understand what they mean.


Olive tourism in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro isn't "just another tourist product." It's a pilgrimage to our roots.


It's walking through olive groves planted by our great-great-grandparents. It's touching trunks that hold more stories than any book. It's tasting olive oil produced by trees that nourished generations before us.


It's understanding, viscerally and undeniably, that we are just another link in a chain that began centuries ago. And that we have the responsibility to ensure that this chain doesn't break in our hands.


Visit the centuries-old olive groves of the Côa Valley. Get to know the farms in the region. Talk to the producers who still care for these trees as if they were family – because, in a way, they are. Taste the olive oil that has the flavor of pineapple, cherry, and plum.


Experience the liquid history of Trás-os-Montes.


The Guardians Continue


Today, November 26th, olive trees are celebrated worldwide.


But here, in Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, we celebrate something deeper.


We celebrate trees that have survived empires, wars, pandemics, and climate change. Trees that continue to produce, generation after generation, the liquid gold that defines us.


We celebrate the farmers who, against all economic pressures, against all temptations to "modernize," chose to keep the old guardians standing.


We celebrate a region where time still runs differently. Where you think in centuries, not quarters. Where you plant for your grandchildren, not for immediate profit.


We celebrate the Guardians of the North.


And as long as they stand, with their deep roots in the Trás-os-Montes schist and their branches stretching to the sky, we will know that something remains. Something that resists. Something that connects us to the past and projects us into the future.


Happy World Olive Tree Day!



Olival transmontano

May we all learn from these centuries-old guardians the art of putting down deep roots, of constantly regenerating ourselves, of bearing fruit generously, and of traversing the centuries with dignity and grace.


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