Harvesting the olives

After the Winter, flowers blossom in Spring and the first fruits appear between half-May and half-June.

Constant care is brought to the trees during the production and maturation of what will become the precious olive, saturated with oil, with its subte and delicate taste. As nature is a non-ending movement, olive changes from an instant to another, thanks to the natural circle of the seasons. The producer must choose the right time to harvest the fruit.

Its taste qualities; and other criteria, will help him make a choice. The oil appears in the olives in August. The fruit grows until the beginning of November. The olive tree is in vegetative rest: olives are ripening, the surface of the fruit goes from green to red-purple and the quality and et quantity of oil in the olive matures.

This is when the harvest of olives begin. Olives can be harvested from the end of October to avoid the first frost. Olives harvested early develop herbaceous aroma, the oil is hot, intense and their yield is lower. It is the famous “green fruity”, whose intensity is very looked after by olive oil lovers.

A few weeks later, the oil will be sweeter, will develop fresh or dry fruits aroma, and its yield will be higher. At the Domaine des Opies olives are harvested by hand, in the respect of the tree and its precious production. Thanks to a mechanical comb, the olives will be shaken, so they fall down the tree in a net put at the foot of the tree. They are then put in cases and brought directly to the mill to lessen the tome of oxidisation. They will be pressed the same day, to keep their taste and nutritional qualities.