The quality of olive oil depends on a number of different variables. The most central one is, of course, the olives, as each variety produces an oil with a distinct flavour profile. In our olive fields, we cultivate five different varieties of olive trees, which all have the "PGI - Tuscany" certification.
It is then time for the harvest. It is carried out when the green olives start to darken and take on a lovely brownish-purple colour. Olive oils that have been harvested at the right time will be flavourful and have a slight spicy aftertaste, and can have a delicately bitter finish.
Once they have been harvested, the olives immediately begin to ferment, which will hinder their flavour profile. To eliminate this risk, we take our olives to the oil press after every day of harvest. This enables us to create a quality "extra-virgin" olive oil, as it will have very low levels of acidity (below 0.8%), which sets it apart from "virgin" olive oil. For comparison, non-virgin olive oils have acidity levels above 2%.
Finally, the olives are pressed. We obviously only use the "first cold pressed" method, which is the only way to produce olive oils with satisfying flavour profiles. In stores, it is not uncommon to find olive oils which have been pressed multiple times, have been heated during the process, or have even been refined through the addition of other kinds of oils.
We are very proud to press our olives at the local and cooperative oil press Aldobrandeschi, in Campagnatico, of which we are active members. Besides being located a few hundred meters away from our fields, which, by minimising transport time, allows us to produce a higher quality and more local olive oil, we have also chosen it for the quality of its pressing process and the expertise of its members.
All these steps in the production process allow us to bring you a very high quality extra-virgin olive oil, with a remarkable flavour profile and exceptional nutritional values.