2025 Harvest Notes
San Donato
A single-varietal Frantoio released only in the seasons that earn it.
What is in this bottle was made with intention, from a grove we have tended for more than a decade, in a season that asked a great deal of the land and gave back something worth holding. It is a single-varietal Frantoio, released only when the season supports a complete and balanced expression. 2025 was that season. We are not working toward a formula. We are working toward the best the grove has to offer, and not every year earns this.
The Season
Winter into Spring
The coldest December since 2017 reset the vegetative cycle across the groves. Heavy spring rainfall replenished soil moisture in these non-irrigated hillsides, but slowed pollination and early fruit set.
Summer
June and July brought heat that stressed the trees and reduced fruit counts. Rain followed, easing drought pressure but increasing exposure to fungal risk. This was a season that asked us to stay close.
Autumn
Day and night temperatures swung nearly 20 degrees during harvest weeks, dropping close to five degrees overnight. That variation is what drives phenolic development and preserves aromatic structure. We harvested under cool, overcast skies: the conditions that allow for careful, controlled extraction. Yield came in at 15.96%, nearly double the previous season's average despite reduced fruit counts.
The Oil
San Donato is 100% Frantoio. Most years it contributes to the field blend alongside the other cultivars in the grove. When the season gives Frantoio the conditions to fully ripen and express itself, we release it on its own. 2025 was that season, and the oil is the clearer for it.
The aromatics are driven by artichoke and green almond, with a distinctly vegetal and balsamic depth. On the palate, bitterness arrives as layered bitter greens, harmonious and sustained, carried through by a long black pepper finish. The structure is firm and composed. This is an oil that holds its own alongside food with presence: grilled and roasted meats, lamb, robust vegetable preparations. It works equally well with grilled white meats, shrimp, and a hearty soup.
The Care
Harvest ran October 27 to 28. Olives were milled within hours of leaving the trees, in a nitrogen-sealed mill with temperatures held below 22 degrees. The oil was double-filtered, laboratory tested, and stored in stainless steel tanks under nitrogen at 17 degrees.
Through the season, olive fly pressure was monitored weekly by hand across every subsection of the grove. No practices were used to stimulate growth or increase yield. Pruned material returned to the grove floor. The grove set the pace. We followed it.
2025
The Record
San Donato
100% Frantoio
Fruitiness
6.6/10
Bitterness
6.2/10
Pepperiness
6.4/10
Polyphenols
538 mg/kg
Free Fatty Acids
0.24%
Peroxides
7.4
Monounsaturated FA
>75%
Pesticide Residues
Not detected