A taste of Olio Nuovo
For a few weeks each winter, Tuscany smells of freshly pressed olive oil.
The year's harvest, at its freshest.
There are few better ways to understand Tuscany than standing in an olive mill during the harvest. The scent of freshly pressed olives fills the air, warm oil is poured onto fresh bread moments after leaving the press, and conversations naturally drift from this year's harvest to generations of family tradition. It is a simple experience, but one that stays with you long after the season has passed.
A season measured in days, not months.
Visit during the pressing season and you'll find the mill at its busiest, as olives arrive straight from the groves to be transformed within hours. Watching the process unfold offers a rare glimpse into one of Tuscany's oldest traditions, before following it to the tasting table where the first oil of the season is waiting.
The season's first taste.
Bright green, intensely fragrant and finished with its unmistakable peppery kick, freshly pressed olive oil is unlike anything you'll find bottled months later. Served simply with warm bread and local produce, it becomes one of those meals that proves the finest ingredients rarely need anything more.
A season worth planning around.
The olive harvest lasts only a few weeks, making it one of Tuscany's most rewarding seasonal experiences. Visit at the right time and you'll leave with more than a bottle to take home, you'll have experienced a tradition that has shaped these hills for centuries and continues to bring families together each winter.
