Francesco and Giuditta our producers tell us it has been an unusually rainy harvest season in Umbria this year. This has made the picking and pressing of the olives take a lot longer than usual as they had to wait for some dry days to complete the task and the olives to ripen properly. Wet conditions make for plump olives but with less ratio of oil. It must have been frustrating for all the locals as well as they have to line up at the mill in order to get their olives pressed. Giuditta told me they were staying open 24 hours each day to get the job done. If the olives are wet they will develop mold and rot not producing a good oil. Who said farming was easy.
Originally we had hoped to get the new fresh 2014 oil here before Christmas. That plan went sideways when the weather failed to co-operate.
The good news is that in spite of the weather, our team in Umbria made bottling and shipping our oil a priority. They managed to put together our order in record time. I’m pleased to say that the Amelia Oil is on it’s way via ship to Canada as we speak with an estimated arrival of early January 2014.
Everything else this year went well during the growing season with adequate rain and no excessive dry spells. According to Francesco the Amelia Oil for 2014 will have a fresh green grassy taste that was perhaps lacking in the 2013 oil. He feels it is a more balanced oil in bitterness. It has a medium – intense fruitiness.
If you want to taste Amelia Oil at it’s peak flavor be sure a order some as soon as it arrives. I’ll be posting an arrival date on this site as well as on our Facebook page as soon as I can confirm.