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 8, 2017 In EVOO

Malaxing

Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the only cooking oil made without the use of chemicals or industrial refining. One of the great benefits is that it can simply by pressed and spun to extract fresh juice that is complete with all its natural and healthy characteristics.

Sounds easy, but it’s an art that benefits experience.  Once picked, the olive is susceptible to oxidation and therefore needs to be washed, pressed and transferred to a vat for malaxing as rapidly as possible.  The continuous fan screw (see image) coaxes out the droplets of oil from the cell membranes of the olives and this process is potentially more challenging in dry years such as 2017 where the pit to pulp ratio is higher and there is less pulp to work with.  The paste is then sent to a centrifuge that literally separates the oil from the skins, stones and flesh and then in to a smaller centrifuge to remove any water from the oil.  The result is concentrated, pure extra virgin olive oil that can be enjoyed immediately and in fact is better for you the sooner you consume it when the polyphenols are at their highest level.

We work with the very best producers of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in Italy. They fully manage all their olive groves, farm organically, harvest when the fruit is still green and full of the highest level of antioxidants and most importantly own their own mill, so they are in total control of the quality that is in the bottle.  These are commitments we feel sure you will appreciate when you taste the 2017 harvest.