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The Harvesting
 
The picking of the olives starts in mid October - usually!
The harvest of the olives is actually timed so it starts when
the olives are "just before ripe" - still firm and definitely not soft.
In accordance with the organic farming principles and to obtain a superior gourmet oil, all the olives are
harvested by hand.
Experienced hand pickers are employed
to harvest from the trees. Hand picking protects the olives from bruising, which triggers acidity, and it also protects the trees. Only
"almost ripe", undamaged olives are suitable for the very best oil. Split, very unripe or over-ripe olives reduce the fruitiness of the oil and contribute to its bitterness.
 At times a carpet of olives lie freshly fallen under the trees but they are left on the
ground. Olives should never be picked from the ground, as
microorganisms naturally present on the ground facilitate mould contamination.
 In some places, one can see permanent nets are hung under the trees, to pick up the
olives as they fall, however this is not a method endorsed at Villa Stabbia, as windfall
olives are usually overripe, bruised or attacked by the Olive Fly and can only be used for bulk oil.
Here
we temporarily place nets under the trees and the fruits are either picked by hand or "raked" of the branches
using a special olive rake.
 The Transport
The picked olives are temporarily stored in small crates with punctured sides (to
optimise the ventilation) - only half filling the crates to avoid any bruising of the olives from the weight of those above.
A couple of hours at the maximum after the olives are
picked, they are transported to Villa Stabbia's own ecological mill and
pressed immediately.
If the fruits were to be stored for the following day, they would start to undergo chemical modifications that increase the degree of the oil's
acidity and oxidation, hence to maintain an exceptionally high quality oil, the milling commences
as soon as possible after the olives have been picked.
The Milling
In the old old days Villa Stabbia was running a large olive mill, grinding olives not just for the farm itself but also for the whole county. The granite stones crushing
the olives were operated originally by manpower; then came a mule to help out. Oil and
vegetable water was extracted by pressure from the mash, which was packed into
large containers and had boiling water poured over it; the oil was then collected using gravity, since it floated.
Old people at Villa Stabbia still remember when a separator was introduced in the
50's, not all customers were initially happy about it, though quickly everybody
appreciated the great technological improvement.
In the early 70's the mill was dismantled partially due to high running cost but mainly due to a change in regulations for the residue disposal, as both
cake and vegetable water in such large quantities are polluting substances, harmful for the environment.
It was then gloomy days when taking the fruits to the local oil factory! The real difficulty was to avoid contamination of the
olives from Villa Stabbia with other fruits. Those were the days where the majority of the growers were
still hauling their warm, sometimes fermenting, sacks of olives to the local factory. Monitoring the hygienic conditions of the equipment used in the
traditional pressure method is very problematic. Unhealthy olives processed just before Villa Stabbia
cherished fruits could have a deleterious effect on the quality of the end result.
Today's knowledge on olive oil is of course much improved compared to 30 years ago, though it confirms as a fundamental certitude that the olives
condition are by far the most important factor in determining the quality
of the resulting extra virgin olive oil.
 Villa Stabbia, being an organic farm, has to be in
control of the whole process of making the olive oil; from fertilising and pruning the trees to
harvesting the fruits and extracting the oil - right down to the storage and the bottling of the oil. That is the reason why
Villa Stabbia is once again running an olive mill - this
time only for our own olive oil production though.
As timing is so important to achieve a faultless end result, the olives are collected and
immediately undergo an accurate selection rejecting as much as possible all the olives not suited to grant the best quality extra virgin oil.
The leaves are then removed and the fruits washed before
an elevator takes them to the low speed hammer grinder.
The crushed olives fall directly in the low velocity blender to begin the kneading phase. The low speed is
needed to minimise the heating produced naturally during the operations.
The next phase, the oil extraction is performed with a 2-step horizontal decanter. It is very important that the juice is obtained as gently as possible without the
influence of heat. as it would reduces flavour and nutrient content of the oil. The 2-step decanter returns oil
in one end and wet cake in the other. There is absolutely no harm to the environment with this method. On the contrary as it produces little quantity of
vegetable water the waste can be easily composted and returned to the
field as an excellent fertilizer.
In the 19th century a stone mill was crushing the olives, today there might be less romance, though when Villa Stabbia freshly picked olives are disappearing into a
hospital-clean stainless steel machine (conforming to current EC manufacturing
norms) the family has the guaranty of a
superb extra virgin olive oil.
The Storage
Once the "liquid gold" has been obtained, it has to be stored under optimal conditions until bottled. In the temperature controlled cellar of Villa Stabbia there
are several large upright stainless steel containers ready to house the fresh olive oil.
Ensuring a correct storage at all times is a very important operation as it prevents the olive oil from
oxidising and consequently becoming rancid. The oil is highly
influenced by temperature and humidity, but can also be
affected by the atmosphere where the oil is stored; in fact, olive oil acts like a sponge and
as such absorbs all the odours present in the storage atmosphere. So the optimal place is a
dry, cool, well-ventilated place far from direct light and sources of heat
- like the cellar under Villa Stabbia.
Here the oil undergoes the natural decantation, where sediments will slowly settle at the bottom and removed from the oil before it gets bottled.
The Bottling
At Villa Stabbia, the oil is filled directly from the storage tanks,
and immediately plugged. A plastic sleeve is applied
to prevent possible leakage. The bottle has a small booklet attached to it, with some history of the oil, where, why and how it was made.
Olive oil is time, heat, and light sensitive. The maximum shelf life of a high-grade olive oil is two
years from harvest. EU regulations say 18 months from bottling
though. If stored properly, protected from heat and light, the oil will maintain its fruity aroma throughout its shelf life. The
slightly piccanti oil of Villa Stabbia will tend to mellow with time but
will in no way lose quality.
As the oil has not undergone any filtration, but only natural decantation, a slight
sediment may form at the bottom of the bottle, but this only indicates
the quality of the extra virgin olive oil from Villa Stabbia.
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