About our Olive Oil
Our olive trees are mature, with some over 200 years old, they are high yielding and of a mix of varieties, which produces a more balanced high quality olive oil. The peppery taste is initially accompanied by a slight bitterness, resulting from the high polyphenol content, which imparts so many health benefits. The taste develops into a fruity and fresh palate leaving the mouth clean with no aftertaste.
The harvest is but one very crucial step in this process, usually in late October, but is dependent on a number of factors: the weather, seasonal variations, availability of the workforce needed to collect the harvest and mill availability, which all have to be coordinated. The harvest is only assisted by a few modern tools and using large nets the olives are gathered into pallets.
We work with local experts to harvest and process our olives and use only our own olives. Processing takes place at a certified mill, using state of the art German technology to extract the oil in a first cold pressing process. The waste products are re-cycled into fuel pellets and the oil is bottled after a settling period.
"The olive tree is surely the richest gift of Heaven". Thomas Jefferson
"Except for the vine, there is no plant which bears a fruit of as great importance, as the olive". Pliny the Elder
"Consume olive oil and apply it as an ointment, for it comes from a blessed tree". Prophet Muhammad
La Casa Cappellina olive trees
Laid out in South-West facing terraces that have ancient stones with holes cut into them, presumably for tying up livestock so that they could eat the grass, the olive trees are arranged in two fields. The lower ‘campo’ contains about 70 mature trees in an unfenced area open to ‘cinghiale’ (wild boar) and other animals, which rummage freely but do no harm to the trees.
There are a further 20 trees immediately around the house within a fenced area.
A further 70-80 more trees are located in an upper field, which has been allowed to become overgrown and will need to be pruned and the undergrowth managed before it can be harvested.
The aim is to fence the lower field so that the spring truffles below these trees can be harvested and the upper field brought into production again.
The following varieties are present in the fields:
Leccino
Morello
Bianco
This variety helps to produce an excellent quality oil.
More about the process
Working with the right mill or ‘Frantoio’ is essential and we are lucky to have found Tistarelli, who are a family owned mill near Siena, who serve a wide community of small olive producers across the Val di Chianna.
Our motivation comes from a passion to maintain a tradition and landscape, rather than a desire to gain material wealth.
The process is labour intensive and days are long in the harvest period, ending in late evening rushes to the olive mills in order to preserve freshness.
The ‘Frantoio’ or mill stays open until midnight to accommodate as many olive producers as possible.
We believe that it is vitally important to acknowledge all those who take part in and support this process and to thank them for their service.
By supporting our harvest and buying our olive oil you are helping to preserve this tradition and at the same time obtaining something that is more valuable than the mere cost.
It is incredibly rewarding to see the olives harvested and turned into the luminous green liquid that flows from the press after water has been extracted in a centrifugal process.
