El Almazara: un templo para el aceite de oliva en Ronda

From the road, amidst an olive grove, a metallic cube emerges like a mirage. It resembles an archaeological artifact from the future: a Kubrickian monolith that challenges the viewer with a steel horn protruding from one side and an eye that is, in reality, the representation of an olive. Although one might think it's a monster, and monsters don't have hearts, stories have shown that each one beats within. This one pumps extra virgin olive oil from the Serranía de Ronda with every systole and diastole. This is LA Almazara de LA Organic, where architecture, art, agriculture, and gastronomy intertwine.

Pedro Gómez de Baeza returned to Ronda with his first bonus as an investment banker in New York. He returned not out of nostalgia, but because of his roots: his father had been a soldier stationed in the town in Málaga province, and he had never truly left that landscape. He bought an estate, La Amarilla, where cloistered nuns had produced olive oil for generations. There, amidst inherited memories and ancient olive trees, the seed of LA Organic began to germinate. What in 2004 were a few bottles of oil he gave to friends became one of the most exported brands of high-quality organic olive oil. Twenty years later, that seed has blossomed into a monumental work. Sadly, Pedro died on the day the building's completion certificate was signed.

Starck, the vision and the form

Turning the countryside into a business is commonplace, but here something changed everything: vision. Scattered across the land, sculptures, also by Philippe Starck, appear like discoveries amidst the landscape: a large mirror that transforms you into both actor and spectator in a dreamlike setting; a room without walls or a roof that floats above a lake, connecting you with the natural world; a half-human figure with a stream of water cascading over its head, representing the idea of ​​a Mediterranean tribe, or awakening. Everything is grand. Brutalist.

These are fragments of a personal iconography that rewrites the landscape as if it were a dream. LA Almazara is not just an olive oil mill; it's a manifesto in Corten steel designed by Starck himself, who not only lent his signature but also became a shareholder in the project. "If Frank Gehry transformed La Rioja with wine, you could do the same with olive oil in Ronda," they told him, challenging him. And he did. "We wanted to create a destination, not a factory," explains Santiago Muguiro, Pedro's spiritual nephew and current project director, "something that would change the way people approach olive oil."

Inspired by the Marqués de Riscal model in Rioja, a project in which his family is involved and which revitalized wine tourism in Spain, they set out to build the world's first signature olive oil mill. The building, which took a decade to complete due to bureaucratic hurdles and its own technical complexity, "and the first design Starck proposed was a 40-meter cone excavated in the earth", opened its doors in October 2024. The reception was so enthusiastic that the inauguration ended with neighbors jumping over the fences to witness the opening.

A successful business

The project is situated on 26 hectares on the outskirts of Ronda and has been conceived as a holistic experience. The complex also includes a 19th-century farmhouse, renovated as exclusive accommodation for those wishing to extend their experience beyond a simple visit. Restored by Starck's team in collaboration with Stefano Robotti, this space offers five bedrooms decorated with understated elegance and fine materials. A 150 m² terrace and a saltwater pool open onto the landscape of the Serranía de Ronda mountain range.

The oil, of course, is at the heart of it all. LA Organic's oil has an acidity level of around 0.2%, well below the 0.8% permitted for extra virgin olive oil. "Some are already proposing a new category: super extra virgin," they remark during the tour. They produce around 500,000 bottles a year, divided into three ranges: Crianza, Original, and Gold. Their "Casa de Familia" range, made exclusively with olives from their Ronda estate, LA Amarilla, is only available at the mill and is unfiltered. Most of their production, however, is done in collaboration with Pepe Cano (Canoliva) in Baena (Córdoba), which allows them to maintain volume without compromising traceability.

For Muguiro, extra virgin olive oil is in a good place: “It’s going through the same thing that happened to wine 30 years ago: before, you knew if it was white or red; now we talk about varieties, about regions. The same thing is starting to happen with olive oil. When LA Organic started, we were selling 50,000 euros a year. Now we’re close to two million. But organic olive oil is incredibly tough. Sometimes I say it’s the worst business in the world.”

Although LA Almazara was born from Pedro Gómez de Baeza's personal initiative, the project wouldn't have been possible without a network of partners who contribute both capital and technical and cultural expertise. Among the investors, in addition to Starck himself, is the renowned winemaker Michel Rolland, brought on board thanks to the mediation of Rafael Ansón, who supported the project from its inception. The Villarmir family, some Americans, and investment funds like GDS, of which Pedro was a part, complete the shareholders. Muguiro worked with him in banking, “but one day, knowing that he had launched LA Organic, I told him that numbers bored me to tears, that I was leaving the bank the next day, and that I had heard about the olive oil. I pitched it to him, and he took the idea.”

A project that doesn't stop

Time magazine has already included LA Almazara on its list of the best places in the world to visit in 2025. However, they are already planning their next steps. There are plans to launch their own wine, with a small production of pinot noir and petit verdot by 2028, and also to consolidate the restaurant with an offering open to the average visitor: “We don’t want a Michelin-starred restaurant. We want a classic, product-driven restaurant. A place where you can eat well without pretension.”

Perhaps, as Buñuel said, “mystery is the key element of every work of art.” Perhaps here the mystery lies in that strange shape that watches over the valley. Inside, the oil flows like a slow river. Or a dream.