Although the unpredictability of the harvest and climatic swings no longer come as a surprise, our work remains the same. We derive our Reserve from the olive cultivars that best thrived in the season, all while supporting the community and safeguarding the land. We craft and deliver at peak freshness the season's best possible extra virgin olive oil on this side of the Atlantic.

The flowering stage was one of the best we’ve seen in years. Only around 1-2% of olive blossoms turn into fruit, and we expect to lose some newborn olives every season. Unfortunately, we experienced an elevated “cascola” (premature fruit drop) due to the extreme heat and drought, combined with the traditionally non-irrigated Tuscan groves.

On August 15th, I checked in to wish Andrea a happy birthday and to chat about the conditions. He was ecstatic about receiving the best present from Mother Nature - “gentle rainfall in the forecast.” We had been hoping for rain since April 26th, but the expected precipitation turned into a storm. We had 3 inches of rain in the span of 2 hours, high winds and hail with pellets nearing 4cm in diameter.

In the end, the trees in two of our groves (La Torricella and Balatro) lost about 70% of their olives, and what remained on the trees was damaged by the hail.

When striving to produce exceptional oils, the process can only begin from perfectly healthy olives harvested at the precise maturation stage. As such, we will let go of the production from these two groves.

This 62/34/4 blend of Frantoio, Moraiolo and Leccino was derived from two of our rejuvenated groves, “Vernalese” and “San Donato", between October 24 and 31, 2022

The healthy olives were harvested at the precise inner and outer “invaiatura” (maturation) stage, when temperatures were below 22°C. Within 4 hours, the olives were washed, dried, simultaneously crushed and cooled, skillfully malaxed, cooled further, and decanted under nitrogen, surgically separated, and immediately triple-filtered.

After rigorous sensory, chemical and residual testing, this limited lot was bottled under nitrogen and transported across the Atlantic on a single air shipment to mitigate against travel stress.

Fruitiness, bitterness, spice, and the absence of defects are the primary organoleptic attributes of extra virgin olive oil. Still, exceptional oils possess harmony, balance, sensory depth, complexity, enhanced health benefits, and longevity.

Our 2022 Reserve opens to the nose with notes of artichoke, fresh-cut grass, aromatic herbs, green almond and tomato vine. To the mouth, clean, fluid, with bitterness represented by arugula, radicchio, and retronasal fresh almond notes. It leaves us with a sustained and increasingly pleasant black pepper finish.

As per AG tradition, we honour each harvest with a new label.

This year, with a central stem standing unapologetically tall, we celebrate perseverance.

We have all been tested a lot in the past few years, but our commitment to producing and delivering a nourishing, delicious, dish-enhancing oil while safeguarding the land and the community prevails!