LOCATION AND CLIMATE

 

As you might expect, olives grown in cooler areas where there is more moisture (rainfall and dew) exhibit leaner, more restrained characteristics.  This doesn’t however mean that great oil can now be made in Iceland – you need a minimum amount of sunshine to make your Extra Virgin Olive Oil taste remarkable, similarly to tomatoes or stone fruit.

Olive trees are sensitive to winter freeze (the Casaliva cultivar is more resistant to cold, hence being grown in the Garda region).  It is also easier to farm organically where the climate is more stable and less chemical sprays are required to keep the trees healthy.

OLIVE MATURITY

 

Here’s the thing – all olives are green.  When they become fully mature, they turn black.
Olive maturity at the time of harvest is a major factor in flavour and quality: olives harvested earlier (green olives) feature more bitter, grassy characteristics, with lower yields and with the highest anti-oxidant content.  The oil is a much more intense green colour and has a longer shelf-life.  In terms of production, milling can take longer with green olives (a longer malaxation - the action of slowly churning milled olives to release droplets of oil - is needed and can be more complicated) but the results are far superior!  Don’t choose olive oil from over mature fruit: it lacks all the potential goodness and flavour.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL IN GROVE AND MILL

 

People who care passionately about what they make and follow it personally every day have the capacity to create products with far higher quality, with integrity, and that taste of where they come from.  They are also able to do this by caring for the environment they inhabit.

FRANTOIO DI RIVA BOX

This box contains 6 bottles of extra virgin olive oil made exclusively by Frantoio di Riva from groves on the banks of lake Garda.

Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO green label x 3 bottles (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO organic white label x 1 bottle (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, 46°PARALLELO blue label x 1 bottle (50cl)
Frantoio di Riva, ULIVA Garda Trentino DOP x 1 bottle (50cl)

Frantoi - tasting evoo
May 26, 2020

How to taste

Small dark glasses are typically used to taste olive oil because colour is a minor factor in judging quality and style. The glass is warmed in the hands ideally to around 28°C (the temperature at which the oil’s aromatic substances become volatile) and then you take in the full aromas firstly just by smelling. You then take a small amount in to your mouth and perform a kind of slurping or sharp intake of air known as strippaggio which allows an oxygen exchange, similar to wine tasting, that allows full appreciation of the taste, texture and complexity.READ MORE

May 12, 2020

Glossary of Olive Oil Terminology

Many people refer to Olive Oil simply as that and fair enough, we are not pretentious in any way about this.  However, there is some important terminology that helps you navigate the decision making process, so here is a summary of what you need to look out for.

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Frantoi - Frantoio
March 5, 2020

What is an olive?

The olive is a fruit, or more precisely a ‘drupe’, which indicates a large stone inside like a peach or cherry. Packed full of the compound oleuropein it is intensely bitter, has an extremely low sugar content and a very high oil content varying on the time of harvest and cultivar.

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November 22, 2019

The 2019 Season

Most of the 2019 Season has now been pressed and we’ve managed to taste extensively to be able to give you an overview of this tiny, high quality vintage.

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