Our Olive Oil

Our grove, being situated in the Wairau Valley, enjoys high sunshine hours with the cold autumn nights essential to produce the distinctive fruitier flavours of our oils.

Six main cultivars are grown on the grove:
Frantoio (Italy), Leccino (Italy), Koroneiki (Greece), Picual (Spain)
Barnea (Israel), Picholine (France)

Thankfully the harvest period for each cultivar is distinct and allows harvesting to be done over a one month period.

Given the inconsistency of the weather these days, having six cultivars allows us flexibility and ability to consistently produce well balanced oil. Appreciate that each season produces slightly different oil.

The 2400 trees are pruned to maintain open canopy and control yields which allows for even ripening and better quality fruit.

Initially our olives were hand harvested and pressed on a small Enorossi traditional mat press. As trees matured and yields increased we have moved to mechanical means: Pellenc Olivium for some trees and a tree shaker for others and pressed using a Pieralisi decanter. This allows a quicker harvest and ensures all olives are pressed within 24 hours. The small traditional press is still used for limited edition runs.

The oils are available as individual cultivars or as a Lusatori blend. Although all oils can stand alone as distinct flavours by blending some we can account for the yearly climate variances.