Besides our production of Terre di Trente wine we have hundreds of olive trees from which we make a limited production of ‘stone crushed’ extra virgin olive oil.

First Run/Cold Pressed Olive Oil

The olives are carefully hand picked, washed and then crushed between two 2 ton revolving granite stones circular plates (pietra graniti) for one hour. This produces a mush, which is then spread on layers of cyclical plates and subjected to pressures, which force the oil to drip off. The pressure is applied slowly until it reaches the pressure of 400kg  per square centimetre. It is this crucial step in the process that rise to the term ‘cold-pressed’ extra virgin and ‘first-run’.

The difference in 'first Press' olive oil

The main difference in 'first run' or 'cold pressed' oils is in the processing. Most other oils including those labeled extra virgin are processed through centrifugial extraction, which heats up the oil and unfortunately it loses most of its characteristics.  The second important difference is that the olives are pressed within 24 hours of picking. This insures low acidity levels of less that 0.8% which technically qualifies it as 'extra virgin'.

It takes 8 to 10 kg of olives to produce 1 liter of extra virgin olive oil. The amount depends on the type of olives and at which period you harvest.