"Collina degli Ulivi" extra virgin olive oil There is no account for tastes!!!!! However we assure you that Collina degli Ulivi extra virgin olive oil has got two of the main quality marks: low percentage of acidity and incredible fragrant natural smell. If the olives are processed with good equipment and if the oil is not the result of mixes, the natural percentage of acidity in the oil is determined by the ratio water/oil which is present in the olives. If the olives are processed when they are extra ripe (they are being collected inside nets when they fall naturally from the trees) there is a higher quantity of oil and a lesser quantity of water but, the oil is more acidic, polifenols are less, fats decompose and perossids increase. The acidity and the fragancy of the oil is thus being wasted. On the contrary, we pick up the olives by hand from the trees in the period when the olives from green turn black: they have a higher percentage of water and a lesser quantity of oil but, the oil contains very low percentage of acidity and fragancy is kept at its best. This means that producing good quality oil is more expensive than producing a poor quality one for includes high costs for manpower that pick up olives from the trees (and I assure you that picking up olives in the chilly-rainy Autumn days is not fun at all!!!!). The nice fragancy of the olive oil is being determined also by other factors that can be summed up like this: the site where the olives are grown, the plant species that produce the olives and the extracting methods by which we get oil from the olives. Our olive trees grow in Abruzzo hill-side in a Mediterranean like climate which has mild Winters and hot Summers. The olive trees are planted on calcareus soil with high exposure to sun. This is a most suitable natural habitat and perfect climatic conditions for the olive trees to produce best quality fruits. We decided to grow above all local olive trees species (eg Dritta and Catiglionese) that have naturalised in centuries in our farm mixed up with other Italian varieties that are famous for best olive qualities and have adapted themselves to grow in our soil very well(eg. Gentile di Larino, Gentile di Chieti, Coratina, Leccino). This mix of olive tree varieties gives our oil a peculiar, extremely rich blend of natural essences. The olives are being processed no more than one day after they are being hand picked up from the trees thus preventing olive fermentation. The extracting method is a cool one; that is the olive paste is not being warmed for a better separation of the oil from the paste. We do not allow that the heat may spoil the natural fragrance of the oil even though small quantities are wasted. Our olive oil machine factory is completely Inox steel made so that it can be washed any time necessary without passing any bad smell to the olive paste to be next processed.