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)

November 14, 2018 In EVOO

Last chance to order your 2018 Extra Virgin Olive Oil for delivery this year.

The harvest season is still underway in Italy and the presses are running around the clock for these intense few weeks. We’re delighted to be offering the 2018 harvest to you for this limited window of time so that you can receive the very freshest oils with the highest polyphenolic concentration in time for Christmas.

Orders can be made on line here until 4th December only.

I’ve tasted as widely as possible during these early weeks to get a view of the quality from different regions. The general overview is that the year has given more delicate, mineral oils than in the past three years. The quantities in the deep-south have been hit the hardest due to difficulties during the growing season, particularly the incredibly cold winter. Volumes here are down as much as 50-60% this year. This is bad news for large volume producers, who will have to seek supply from elsewhere… watch out for a potential drop in quality at the entry level.

For us however, we work with family owned business that completely control every drop of their oil and this gives us confidence year after year that they will only release oils that are of the very highest quality, that are true representations of their origin and the year in which they were made.

I can already tell you that Olivastra Seggianese from Frantoio Franci in Southern Tuscany is not being produced this year, the grove just didn’t give the fruit needed. Neither will S’Ciappau Gran Cru be made by Paolo Cassini in Liguria, whose yield has been severely reduced by a series of challenging weather fronts.

Each box of Extra Virgin Olive Oil has been carefully selected to give you an overview of the year and of different regions. Some boxes will offer oils that are more robust, others that are more delicate and others that suit different seasonal ingredients. We are also able to make bespoke boxes to order.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil at this level makes a wonderful luxurious, useful and healthy gift either to yourself or to your nearest and dearest.