Despite a very difficult year in central and northern Italy, with many olive orchards producing no fruit at all, we’re proud to have managed a small production of our oil.

2023 was a bad year for weather: heavy spring showers washed the flowers off the trees in most of the region. In Spain too, oil production was badly affected for the second year running. You soon learn that everything depends on weather for your harvest, and that it’s not just about not getting enough water: too much rain is also bad (or, the wrong kind of rain at the wrong time.) Conversely, not enough snow in the winter is also a problem: the olive fly can overwhelm the trees if it’s not controlled by a sharp cold spell. In large numbers, they can swarm the trees, and lay eggs in the fruit in early summer.

So - it’s a small miracle whenever there’s a harvest, however small, and we’re grateful we managed this in 2023. And, thanks to a single grove sheltered by the worst of the rain, we do have a limited run of bottles - only 140 litres in total - and we are excited to share them with fans of good olive oil.

Looking to the future, we have many young trees waiting to mature and - weather permitting - should be slowly increasing our production, as we continue to learn more about farming this addictive fruit, and the glorious oil it produces. We hope you will enjoy this oil. Lots of our work goes into producing it (every time I spill a little oil at home, I know exactly what effort it took to get those few drops) but I know it’s worth it when it tastes so good.

Jonny & Sharona