oil press

Our Olive Harvest is nearly finished. One more old Verdale heavy with fruit waits for the pick.

There are still some cherry pink Manzanillo and sleek black plump Kalamatas hanging on for pickling.

Oil harvest is a gentle time. Making fresh bread is essential, dipping into the fresh pressed pungent oil while it is still warm from the oven. Every drop of this season's press is mouthwateringly delicious, we drink it.

We'd like to congratulate ourselves on good farming, picking the fruit at the right time and getting it to the press gently and quickly, for pressing in our well maintained Olio Mio with precision learnt through years of patience and practice. However the truth is that this delicious drop of oil is more about the growing season. The one element we play no part in.

The timing has a major influence on the style and quality of oil, so just prior to harvest we spend a lot of time in the grove plucking the fruit from each tree, gently crushing the fruit in our hands to release the juice, inhale the deep olive aroma and rub the oil into our skin, this to check flavour ripeness and oil content. The window for perfect ripeness is down to a few weeks in the year. The oil flavour of any variety can be completely changed by harvesting green through to fully ripe producing distinctly different styles. When all things are equal there are strong genetic varietal characteristics.

As with all farming we are at the mercy of wind, rain and sun.

Having successfully tended the grove to provide a crop we handle with care, press to perfection and then it is all about storage. Keeping the precious extra virgin oil away from oxygen, heat and light.