The 2025 harvest is officially wrapped up, and we couldn’t be happier with the results! While the groves gave us a fairly average crop in terms of quantity, the oil itself was fantastic—especially the early batches we pressed before the first autumn rains set in.
Overall, it’s been a solid year, and the quality has been absolutely top-tier.
Our Local Community
As you know, we press our own olives, but our real pride comes from being the local hub for our neighbours. These producers travel to us because they know we’re sticklers for the rules; they want the absolute guarantee that the oil they take home is made only from their own olives.
This year, we put about 800 tonnes of olives through the mill. With an average yield of 12.5%, that gave us roughly 100,000 litres of liquid gold. The best part? 95% of that oil was graded as Extra Virgin.
Behind the Scenes
Running a mill isn't without its headaches! Every year we face a few surprise breakdowns that need fixing on the fly, but our biggest hurdle is finding skilled hands for the season. The harvest only lasts about eight weeks, which makes it a bit of a scramble to train temporary staff.
Luckily, our permanent team is growing. Having more faces here year-round means we can keep our reputation for great service and high-quality pressing, which is what it’s all about.
Going Green and Growing Fast
We’ve also got some big news: We are now officially completely Organic (BIO) certified! This covers our trees, our extraction, and our bottling. It’s a huge step that really sets us apart here in Central Portugal.
We’re steadily producing more oil, and it’s not just because of the locals. Sadly, some small farmers nearby are leaving their land, but we’re seeing more and more people travel from Lisbon, Coimbra, and even the Alentejo just to use our mill. It’s a great feeling to know people are willing to go the extra mile for quality.
More Than Just Oil
Our new Olive Tourism project (the tours and tastings you’ve been seeing) is really taking off. It’s been lovely to host so many groups, and it actually helps the mill run better by allowing us to keep a larger permanent team throughout the year. It gives us a lot of pride to share our story and help our visitors get an in-depth understanding of a product most of them use almost every day.
Winter at the Mill
Even though the harvest was over, December was still flat-out. We were busy sorting the oils, bottling, and putting together Christmas gift basket orders for businesses and friends, filled with all our local goodies.
Now that the New Year is here, we’re stripping down the machines for a proper deep clean and service. If the weather behaves, we’ll be back out in the groves soon to prune our 4,000 trees before March.
And then, we wait for the blossoms... and the spring.
