To ensure our high quality standards are met we do the entire production process ourselves – from tree to bottle.
Olive Harvest
Our grove experiences the ideal Mediterranean climate and olives are grown using sustainable, certified organic farming practices. As well as the variety, the harvest timing is a critical factor in determining oil quality and flavour. If olives are too ripe, quality suffers and the oil does not have much flavour. If under-ripe, the flavour is too bitter. We carefully time our harvest to maximise quality and ensure beautifully balanced oil is produced.
Once picked from the tree the quality of the olive is deteriorating, so it is important that processing happens quickly, on farm. Our table olives are individually hand picked directly into brine to ensure the natural texture and flavour of the olive is preserved. We harvest our olives selected for oil production by shaking them from the tree directly into a catcher (olives never touch the ground), and then immediately take them to our on farm press (within as little as 30 minutes).
First Cold Pressing
We are proud to have our very own press on the grove, giving us complete control over extra virgin olive oil production. We were the first grove in Australia to install a modern Pieralisi processing plant, where all surfaces in contact with the oil are stainless steel. The process is simple: any leaves are removed from the olives with a blower, the olives are washed in rain water then pressed/crushed to form a paste. The aroma is amazing! The oil is then separated from the paste using a decanter. Freshly pressed oil has a cloudy appearance due to fine particles of olive suspended in the oil. Each season we bottle a limited release of this vibrant, cloudy oil straight off the press - Olio Nuovo (new oil). The balance of our oil is allowed to cold gravity settle in air-tight stainless steel tanks.
All of our oil is first cold pressed. No excessive heat, refining, filtering or secondary extraction occurs, ever - we only want the best quality olive oil. The pomace or 'waste' products are composted and put back onto the grove to improve the soil.
Bottling
It takes approximately 7kg of our olives to make 1 litre of oil, so every drop is precious! We lovingly hand bottle our products in small batches to guarantee freshness and send it direct to stores and kitchens around Australia on demand.
Oil is best fresh! Heat, light, oxygen and time degrade the quality of olive oil. Until ready to bottle our oil is stored in air-tight stainless steel tanks with a blanket of inert gas to prevent oxidisation. Our storage and bottling area is climate controlled to maintain a stable temperature, much like a wine cellar.
