The harvest campaign took place in San Martino d'Agri (Basilicata, Italy) between November 4th and 10th.
In the surrounding area the olives are usually harvested between November and January.
An early harvest results in a higher quality extra virgin olive oil but reduced in quantity; on the contrary, postponing the harvest maximizes the quantity but at cost of the quality.
At Lucaniae.com we prefer to focus on the quality of the product. We consume our EVO ourselves in the family and we care about having the best possible product.
This year several improvements in our production process:
- The rotating pressing mill (made by stone) has been replaced by a modern mechanical and sealed press: even though this looks less romantic, this helps reducing the exposure to air of the early press product, therefore reducing oxidation and providing an even higher quality end product
- We have shipped the produced oil in one large batch to our store in the Netherlands. This avoids further resupply shipments during the year until the next harvest. Shipments processes cannot be fully controlled and the logistics environment may affect the quality of the product. Shipping in November guarantees that the new oil is not exposed to higher temperatures, which are known to degrade the quality of the oil and accelerate oxidation phenomena.
- We have added a small trailer to our mini tractor: it helps us carrying hundreds of Kg of olives on the steep hill.
Handled and stored in the correct way will allow to preserve the qualities and properties of this oil up to 18 months.
