Olive blend: Ogliarola Garganica, Peranzana, Cellina
In Puglia – where our “farming friends”(1) have equipped themselves with irrigation systems – warm winds during the flowering period partially impeded fruit set, and therefore the quantity of olives that developed; the problem of drought during the summer, however, was mitigated thanks to the water supplied to the trees. The boughs of the trees were nevertheless laden, albeit a little less than usual, with high quality fruit. The olives reflect the character and nuances typical of the challenging, calcareous soil, in which only very hardy and resistant trees such as these are able to express their qualities to the full. The oil has they typical character of Ogliarola Garganica olives, delicate but at the same time well structured and balanced.
Tasting: dark green, almost bluish in colour, reminiscent of the leaves of the area’s olive trees, tending occasionally towards light brown/chestnut. It’s an oil in which the typical character of ripe olives stands out; almondy aromas, with hints of walnuts and pine nuts, as well as notes of roasted hazelnuts and yellow apples, concluding with a spicy/peppery touch. The aroma and flavour are in harmony with one another; it’s a mellow oil, very pleasant in the mouth, with slight sensations of bitterness and pungency.
(1) The Fattoria, aided by the Famiglia Lo Franco Foundation, for over 12 years now, as we have already said, has been working to convert to Organic-Biodynamic agriculture the land (and naturally its owners!) near to that cultivated by La Vialla, in Tuscany, Lazio and Puglia; it is one of the Foundation’s main aims. From the collaboration with our “farming friends” we have chosen and “christened” two olive oils, l’Etruscòlo and la Murice, which aren’t grown at the Fattoria but are followed by its agronomists and by the Viallini, from the field to the olive mill, and checked with the same scrupulous analyses.