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 29, 2021 In EVOO

Your Frantoi boxes are almost on their way

Your oils will be dispatched from Italy in the days ahead and as soon as they are on their way, you will hear from the courier with tracking details.

 

Your delivery is packaged in recycled paper and cardboard.  It was a challenge that we relished, working to find a box design that fitted numerous different bottle shapes whilst being protective enough to withstand international delivery. The sleeve around the oils is made from recycled olive leaves and inside your box you will find some information about extra virgin olive oil and details about your oils and how to enjoy them.

 

If the box is for you, we encourage you to crack in to it immediately!  Unlike fine wine, olive oil doesn’t improve with age.  It’s a freshly pressed juice with no added preservatives, so the sooner you start enjoying it the better.  Over the winter months, the oils have particularly high concentrations of polyphenols, so they are also remarkably good for you.

 

Each bottle in your selection is different, made by different hands, from different olive cultivars, grown on different terroir.  So it’s only natural that each oil will work with its own set of favourable ingredients.  We encourage you to take this journey with us, taste each oil, either from a small glass or on a piece of bread and please do come back to us if you have any queries at all or would like to know more.

 

Buona bruschetta!