Extra virgin olive oil at Villa le Barone

 Olive harvest at Villa le Barone  Chianti
Olive harvest at Villa le Barone Chianti

2015 has been a wonderful olive harvest at Villa le Barone, with a high quality production of our own extra virgin olive oil, first pressure!

What a treat is a little bit of olive oil on a slice of toasted Tuscan bread, or a simple recipe of Mediterranean cooking prepared with this exquisite natural product, known for its flavor but also for its health benefits! Villa le Barone’s guests will enjoy it in 2016!

After having seen tractors on the roads of Chianti and Tuscany pulling carts overflowing with grapes, it is now carts with boxes full of olives that can be seen hauling their loads to the olive oil mill. This year, after a very bad one in 2014, the harvest is superb, the olives are beautiful and the oil is of excellent quality, with a beautiful green color and a subtle aroma.

Villa le Barone produces its own oil: the olives have been picked up on the tree, by hand or, sometimes, with the help of a small device called a “comb buzzer”.
The olives have been immediately taken to the ‘Frantoio’ (oil mill) in Panzano, just below Villa le Barone, which has resumed its activity after a sleep of several months. Each of the boxes has been labeled with the name of Villa le Barone so as to identify the oil produced with our olives to be given back to us a few hours later.

Panzano in Chianti: Extra virgin olive oil production
Panzano in Chianti: Extra virgin olive oil production

 

As for wine, there are different types of olive oils, each of which with a subtle difference of flavor, depending on the olive trees species and the soil on which they are growing. As for wine, olive oil tastings are also organized.

Olive oil is in the genes of Tuscan people and there is always a festive activity going on at the olive mill. Producing olive oil is really at the heart of Italian traditions! The olives are washed, then are crushed, separated from their stone, kneaded and the pulp obtained is then centrifuged to separate the water from the oil, which comes out ready for consumption. Nowadays automated equipment is used, but the process is identical to the one in use since the Etruscans! These traditional techniques allow to obtain a high quality product, extra virgin olive oil, first pressure, DOP (“Denominazione di Origine Protetta ). Furthermore, at Villa le Barone, our oil has the eco-label “Agriqualità” because we do not use pesticides!

It is this delicate oil, with fruity aromas, that we use lavishly at Villa le Barone, Chianti and that guests will be able to enjoy in 2016. A little oil on a small slice of bread, what a treat! A “bruschetta” prepared with tasty tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil, what a delight!