A swallow resting on a barn door inside a stone farmhouse

Founder’s Reserve

Limited Production. Singular Expression.

Founder’s Reserve bottle

Founder’s Reserve #16, Fall 2025.

Upcoming Release

Founder’s Reserve #17

Fall 2026 Olive Harvest

The first allocation of the 2026 Founder’s Reserve Extra Virgin Olive Oil will open for pre-order soon. Leave your email, and we’ll write to you when the next release opens.

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Read the 2025 harvest record
Founder's Reserve curation process

The Curation

Founder’s Reserve remains a small, seasonal selection drawn from the early harvest.

From the rejuvenated groves under care, olive oil expert Fil Bucchino selects specific parcels during the early harvest based on the fruit’s character and the conditions of the year.

The resulting oils are produced in limited quantities, reflecting a particular moment in the season and the groves that shaped it.

Members receive priority access to each release. If quantities remain, the oil is occasionally made available beyond the membership community.

Archive of Founder's Reserve bottles across the years

Origins

Founder’s Reserve dates back to 2009, when a small early-harvest olive oil called Adagio del Colle was shared via a simple email list among family and friends.

The intention was to recreate the experience of a single olive oil that revealed what extra virgin olive oil could be, an experience that would eventually set the course for what became Abandoned Grove.

Small quantities were produced each year and distributed quietly through that list. As word spread, the circle gradually expanded to include friends and friends of friends.

Over time, that small exchange of oil and ideas grew into the early community that helped bring Abandoned Grove to life.

On its tenth anniversary, the oil evolved into Family Reserve, reflecting the growing circle of people connected to the harvest.

In 2023, it was renamed Founder’s Reserve.

The name does not refer to a single individual. It honours the early supporters of the mission, the people who believed in the work before it had a name, and whose support helped it take root.

What began as a small exchange among friends remains a limited production shared with the community today.

Founder’s Reserve label detail

Founder’s Reserve #16, Fall 2025. Label by Steve Hagey.

The Founder’s Reserve Label

For over a decade we have marked each harvest with a distinctive label. The label for #17 will be revealed closer to the release.

Each year works within a limited colour palette. That constraint, like the harvest itself, is not a limitation but a framework. Nature sets the boundaries and we respond with care and creativity.

Designed each year by artist and longtime collaborator Steve Hagey, every edition is both a continuation and a reinvention.