Extra virgin olive oil from restored groves above Florence
Exceptional oil is envisioned, then made.
Made in harmony with nature, to last, to nourish and to bring pleasure to the table.
We decide what the oil should be, then let the season guide us there. So each year's oil is a little different, and never less. That is the art of it.
The 2026 harvest is underway. Guard or gift a tree by December 31 for this year's oil.
Curated by Fil Bucchino, international olive oil expert and panel taster
Three oils from one harvest
Members are served first.
One Grove Reserve
The oil of our Guardians: two 500 ml bottles every harvest, drawn from the grove where their tree stands.
The story of One Grove Reserve
Founder's Reserve
The oil that started it all. Fil's selection from the early harvest since 2009, under a new label each year.
The 2026 release is open
Community Reserve
From the trees we keep in our care rather than assign. It protects Guardians in a lean year and is shared with the whole membership.
Discover Community Reserve
Every member, Root and Guardian alike, receives Founder's Reserve and Community Reserve first, at member prices with shipping included.
How the oil is made
Every choice moves toward the oil we envisioned.
When each grove is harvested.
When its own fruit is ready, never by the calendar. In 2025, Balatro began on October 8 and La Torre finished on November 6.
What changes at the mill.
Crusher knives and discs, speeds and malaxation times are set by the day's olives, every day, to reach the oil we envisioned.
Oxygen and temperature, controlled.
From the mill to the bottle, the oil is protected from oxygen and kept cool. Olives are milled within hours of leaving the trees, in a nitrogen-sealed mill held below 22°C (72°F). The oil then rests under nitrogen in stainless steel tanks at 17°C (63°F) and is bottled only when shipments are prepared.
Every tree, every week.
We walk the groves weekly to check the health of each tree. When the olive fly is active, that includes 100 olives from 100 trees in every grove, checked under a microscope.
What we give up.
Trees are pruned when they need it, and a tree pruned for its health gives little to nothing that year. At the mill, any extraction below our standard is set aside; in 2025 that included the first 20 liters of every extraction, to avoid cross contamination. That oil goes to kitchens and the community, never into our bottles. We accept the loss every time.
Who counts what lives in the grove.
Not us. For three years, LIFE Olivares Vivos+, a European project, has measured the biodiversity in our groves. In 2025 it counted 49 bird, 25 spider, 18 ant, 12 bat and 8 pollinator species.
The last season on record
Less fruit. Nearly twice the oil in every olive.
Guard or gift a tree now and your oil comes from the 2026 harvest, underway as you read this. This is the story of the one before it.
2025 asked a lot of the groves: spring rains not seen since the 1950s, a heatwave that dropped fruit, and an intense olive fly attack across the region. Then the harvest turned cool and overcast. Days of 17 to 20°C built oil in the fruit, while nights of 5 to 8°C kept it firm and supported its aromas and phenolic development. Every grove gave less fruit, yet yields nearly doubled, back to about a liter a tree.
Measured
Nature sets the limits. We set the standard.
We're professional and panel tasters ourselves, and we still send every harvest blind to certified panels for their verdict. Medium high to intense, and always in balance: fruitiness, bitterness and pungency, none overpowering the others. The laboratory confirms the rest, averaged across eleven harvests, 2015 to 2025.
Peroxides.
The freshness number almost nobody talks about. Ours average under a third of what the international standard allows.
Polyphenols.
About twice the level the EU sets for its health claim.
Monounsaturated fats.
The good fats olive oil is prized for. The international standard asks for at least 55% oleic acid; ours sit over 70%.
Pesticides.
None detected in any harvest, tested for hundreds of them every year.
In their words
What happens when the bottles arrive.
Belong to a grove.
Every Guardian is connected to a real tree in one of our restored groves, assigned after you join, wherever one is available. Each harvest, two bottles drawn from that grove come to you, with Fil's tasting notes.
The 2026 harvest is underway. Guard or gift a tree by December 31 for this year's oil.