But it is not enough being (or saying to be…) Organic and DOP to automatically having a quality product: the production chain is long and oil is easy to deteriorate if it is not handled with care.
Yet, in terms of quality, the label “first cold press“ is no longer sufficient guarantee , given that nowadays all mills have powerful presses to extract all the oil contained in the paste at the very first press.
Indeed, quality criterias for Extra Virgin olive oil are much more subtle: from the moment the olive leaves the tree the process must be quick to obtain an oil with high grade of quality.
After the harvest, olives are sent to the mill where they are pressed within 24 hours from their arrival in order to avoid any start of fermentation process which would lead to increase on acidity: the health condition of the olives is indeed the very best guarantee ever for best quality of olive oil.
Carefully washed, sent to the grinders by a conveyor belt and crushed, olives are reduced to a thick paste of pits and pulp which is then sent into a tub called a gramolatrice (practically a mixer), where it is stirred by several rotating paddles; the stirring breaks up the water-oil emulsion derived from the grinding process, and thus forms droplets of oil that can be more easily extracted from the paste during the subsequent pressing…
After an hour it is then pressed in a machine with an endless screw: the oil slowly flows out mixed with vegetal water contained in olives, then goes into a centrifuge which finally separates them.
It is the pure juice of olives, oil obtained from the first cold press….No aid from warm water during the process, which helps separating oil from water but increases acidity and, most important, no aid from chemical products.
After production, oil is stocked into our cellars where it can rest until march/april and refine its fragrant and strong taste typical of freshly produced olive oil into a more delicate but always persisting taste with a touch of almond and artichoke.
Bottling is then done, and bottles stored in fresh and dark until delivery.
