Brief history of one of Australia's oldest olive groves

Our grove is located at the foothills of the Grampians National Park in North West Victoria. Click here for a Google maps profile of our grove. The trees were planted in 1943 in pristine virgin soil by a company founded by Jacob Friedman, a local entrepreneur. During wartime it was feared supplies of olive oil from Europe would cease and there would be a shortage of local supply, particularly given many new Australians at that time were familiar with the benefits of fresh extra virgin olive oil. The original name of the grove was the Grampians Olive Plantation. It was subsequently renamed Toscana Olives around 1963 and we continue this name today.

We are proud to be 100% Australian family owned and operated, with three family members working in the business full time. We have over 100 years combined horticultural experience between family and staff. Over the years our grove has survived bushfires, drought, neglect and changes in family ownership to emerge as Australia's best producer of premium quality organic extra virgin olive oil. In 2001 the grove's original name was honoured with the launch of our Grampians Olive Estate brand, initially for the export market but this label has proved equally popular locally.

Today the Toscana Olive Plantation comprises 1,200 acres, 28,000 trees and is the largest family owned single estate certified organic olive grove in Australia.

 

Single estate grown and produced: growing, harvesting and pressing the olives

Organic farming, a unique mix of rare varieties, the right climate and the age of our trees is what creates the (unreplicable) quality and flavour of our oil. Our NASAA organic certification is your assurance that our farming practices are sustainable, olives our grown and processed the way nature intended and are free of toxic chemicals that could damage your health. We experience the ideal Mediterranean climate required for producing quality olive oil (hot dry summers, cool wet winters). Our trees are comprised of 27 traditional and now rare varieties including Verdale, Boquettier, Mission, Benito and some unnamed selections. Our trees are dryland planted (no irrigation) which results in a lower yield but olive oil more concentrated in flavour. The tree spacing is traditional 10m x 10m, rather than the super intensive trellis/hedge row plantings of some modern groves. Also compared to some varieties planted in young modern groves our mature trees produce oil with excellent flavour characteristics and quality, but lower yield. So our grove produces a relatively small amount (for the land area) of high quality premium extra virgin olive oil; ie quality over quantity. And that is our philosophy in everything we do.

 

We own a state of the art Pieralisi olive processing plant, on farm. This is what allows us to press the olives so quickly after harvest, which maximises antioxidants and flavour. As well as minimising the time from tree to press, this also allows us to control the whole process to ensure each batch of olives is given the attention required. We pick a mixture of green and ripening olives to achieve a perfectly balanced olive oil. This ensures the flavour characteristics of fruitiness, pungency, bitterness are balanced.

All olives are single estate organically grown on site and then cold pressed immediately after harvest to ensure maximum flavour, antioxidants and quality. No refining, filtering or secondary extraction occurs, ever - we only want the best quality olive oil. When it comes to your health, quality cannot be compromised. Don't you deserve the best?

 

Best practice handling and storage

Heat, light and air degrade the quality of olive oil. The moment an olive is picked from the tree its quality is deteriorating. That's why we cold press olives immediately (as little as 30 minutes) after they are harvested. The olives are cold pressed and oil transferred into air-tight stainless steel storage tanks, with a blanket of inert gas to prevent any residual oxygen reacting with the oil. All oil is stored in our insulated and temperature controlled warehouse on farm. To ensure quality is maintained, bottles are capped with a layer of inert gas to ensure no oxidisation occurs in the bottle before it gets to you.

 

Extra virgin olive oil standards

Each harvest our oil consistently meets and exceeds the extra virgin olive oil standards. Although it is not compulsory, each harvest we submit our oil for testing to the NSW Government DPI laboratory to ensure it meets the IOOC chemical and organoleptic standards for extra virgin olive oil. We have always done this. As we pay careful attention to our harvesting & handling methods and cold press our olives immediately once harvested, our premium oils have always exceeded these standards.

 

Unfiltered olive oil

To give you the best quality and flavour, we do not filter our olive oil. This is because filtering causes flavour loss. Instead, we allow our oil to cold gravity settle naturally in our stainless steel tanks. From here it is bottled and finds it way to your kitchen. Dr Dal Pero Bertini (formerly Assistant Professor, Institute of Rural Industries, Florence, Italy) states: "Filtering is unnecessary because, after a careful storage, the oil is completely free from dreg and impurities, and the fact that it is sometimes not perfectly bright and limpid should not cause alarm, being, on the contrary, a sign of quality of the product. By filtering, part of the oil is lost and the oil loses part of its characteristic flavour much appreciated by the consumer."

 

The best restaurants prefer Toscana's olive oil

Toscana is the extra virgin olive oil of choice at a selection of the most highly acclaimed restaurants and eateries in Australia, including:

 

• Royal Mail Hotel, Dunkeld;
• Café di Stasio, St. Kilda;
• Esposito, Carlton; and
• Albert Park Hotel, Melbourne.

 

Awards

Toscana Olives has received numerous awards since establishment in 1943. More recently, these include:

• Award for best olive oil, 2011 Nature & Health Natural Food Awards
• Silver medal, 2010 Royal Melbourne Show RASV Fine Food Awards
• Bronze medal, 2009 Royal Melbourne Show RASV Fine Food Awards
• Victorian Trophy, 2008 Royal Melbourne Show RASV Fine Food Awards (best in show)
• Champion Trophy, 2008 Royal Melbourne Show RASV Fine Food Awards (best in class - single estate grown)
• Gold Medal, 2008 Royal Melbourne Show RASV Fine Food Awards
• Silver medal, 2008 Royal Sydney Show

Gallery

Some photos of our picturesque olive grove, nestled up against the pristine Grampians National Park.
Click each thumbnail for a larger photo (opens in a new window).