
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.
This season has been highly influenced by extreme climatic conditions that affected fruit set and so volumes are significantly down. As reported in the Olive Oil Times, production in Italy is -57% in 2019.
A cold winter followed by almost non-existent, wet spring hit the groves in central and northern Italy in particular and many growers haven’t even harvested a single olive. At Frantoio Riva on the shores of Lake Garda, poor things are -90% down vs their annual average and Paolo Cassini in Liguria also has a significantly reduced crop. Central Italy has seen isolated areas of absolutely no olives, for example in the Chianti area of Tuscany where additionally the dreaded olive fly was prevalent in September and October due to high humidity.
Where the flowering season was undisturbed and the autumn humidity hasn’t been too prominent, the olives have happily thrived in 2019 and so whilst this harvest is small, happily the oils we are offering have the intensity, poise and quality that we crave. This is where it really pays to taste: you need to be sure of the provenance in a year such as 2019 and owning both groves and mill is an additional guarantee of quality and authenticity.
We are so proud of the work that our incredible collection of frantoi have delivered this year and would like to give a particular nod to the wonderful Gregori brothers in Le Marche and the Librandi family in Calabria who have totally transformed their press in the last 12 months. We hope you will notice an even higher quality from them both this year.
Your oils will be dispatched in early December to arrive in time for Christmas.