The time of harvest varies from year to year and begins when the olives reach the perfect ripeness, for our species the time of ‘veraison’ is when the colour of the fruit changes from green to black. Usually this happens towards the end of October.
The olive harvest is a fundamental and important stage of the production process of this excellent oil. In order to obtain a qualitatively high product, the olives must reach the mill undamaged. This means that the olives, which have spontaneously fallen to the ground may not be used and the olives must be intact, harvested without damage or dents and most out of all they have to be fresh.
The harvest is carried out, if the ground is flat, with the help of walkers which have mechanical arms, that slightly shake the tree vibrating, favouring the spontaneous fall of the olives, while on graded terrain the harvest is done manually with a comb/rake; each process causes some leafs fall together with the olives but the tree structure is not affected. In both cases there are nets spread under the trees to facilitate the collection of the olives.
The olives are separated from the leaves and stored in solid, perforated containers, never in closed bags so that the air can circulate. The olives are delivered to the mill on harvest day, in order to complete the extraction process within 24 hours.
The olive harvest and processing are strictly completed within the first half of November, to avoid that the olives begin the natural process of decay, which starts immediately after the ripening of the fruit.
