Where do we press it?
Young groves, centuries-old olive trees, and select Nocellara and Biancolilla olives, yielding the finest oils.
How do we press it?
The essence of centuries of experience, handed down and passed on to our producers: olive trees tended with respect and love.
Our bottles
Our olive oil Recipe
Care and Harvest
We harvest our olives by hand, using plastic combs to preserve the quality andintegrity of both the olives and the trees. The first measure of a fine Olive Oil is the care devoted to the groves and the soil: we till the topsoil 3–4 times a year and clean and prune the trees using techniques handed down from our fathers—never using herbicides, and giving the branches just the right supply of sap and nutrients. Our respect for the land guides every step of the harvest.
We transport the olives in well-ventilated containers and move them quickly into storage, avoiding piling and preventing fermentation processes that could compromise the Oil's quality.
A well-tended olive tree is a healthy olive tree, and every step of cultivation and harvesting is carried out with care and attention to the plant.
It's these details that make us the finest producers of the Sicani Mountains.
Crushing
We maintain the highest quality standards by always picking our olives straight from the tree—but a fine Olive Oil comes from clean olives. Leaf removal and washing are our first priorities: soil, leaves, and dust are removed through simple yet essential water baths.
Within 24 hours of harvest, the olives are crushed in a continuous-cycle mill at a constant temperature of 77–79°F (25–26°C), taking particular care to preserve the olives' organoleptic properties and produce a premium Oil.
The quality of Colle San Vitale Olive Oil begins with these preliminary steps.
Extraction
The olive paste from crushing then moves to malaxation, a step needed to separate the water from the oil by breaking the emulsions and reducing the paste's viscosity.
It's a crucial and extremely delicate process: temperatures that are too high increase extraction yield but degrade the Oil's character, making it taste overly bitter. Malaxation times that run too long, in turn, strip the Oil of its phenolic compounds and reduce its yield.
Our machinery guarantees the excellence of our Oil down to these very details, adapting the malaxation process and timing to each olive variety. We never exceed 81°F (27°C) or 50 minutes before moving on to the actual extraction by separation, yielding a natural product rich in antioxidants.
Only after all these steps do we separate the oil must from the pomace, to deliver the premium Oil that reaches your table.
Storage
We immediately collect a series of samples for laboratory analysis to verify nutritional values, then move on to storage. Storing the Oil, strictly in stainless steel containers, is an extremely delicate matter, because during both settling and racking, many external factors can alter the product.
We eliminate every source of odor, pleasant or unpleasant, carry out all racking and sediment-removal operations swiftly, and minimize the oxidative changes that cannot be avoided altogether.
That's why we shield the Oil from light, air, and uncontrolled temperatures, keeping it in storage between 54°F and 72°F (12–22°C).
We let our products settle naturally for three months before bottling.
Bottling
All the previous stages culminate in the essential operation of bottling. Using low-speed stainless steel pumps, we minimize contact with air and prevent the Oil's acidity level from changing significantly during the process.
Our experience, tradition, and quality go hand in hand with state-of-the-art machinery. A blower removes any residue from the bottles, then the filler and capper complete the bottling process.
Then comes our favorite part: applying the Colle San Vitale label, the symbol of the quality and passion behind our recipe.