The Vallecoppa Estate fills a beautiful valley within Italy's Gargano National
Park. It is protected and shaded on three sides by the ancient oak and beech
trees of the Umbra Forest with its fresh-water springs and fertile soil. Our
valley slopes gently down to meet the beautiful Adriatic sea where it is cooled
in summer by a morning mist and gentle breeze. All these factors combine to
create a unique microclimate, perfect for growing healthy plump olives that
produce our exceptional extra virgin olive oil.
We have over 3,000 olive trees in four varietals; Leccino, Coratina, Ogliarola
and Espanola, some of which are up to 200 years old. In the bottom of our valley
a large fruit orchard provides us with a delicious harvest including, grapefruits,
peaches, pears, cherries, figs and lemons with which we create our yearly supply
of Coratina and lemon oil.
At Vallecoppa we are passionate about using time honoured methods to care for
our trees and create our oil. These practices often take longer but are more
respectful to our environment and trees, allowing us to continue to produce
a high quality olive oil. All our olives are handpicked and cold pressed within
six hours to create the freshest, full-flavoured oil. It is then decanted unfiltered
into bottles, as we have traditionally done so for generations.
On our estate we annually produce two types of single estate extra virgin
olive oil in limited quantities. These are;
- Leccino Single Variety; our 'Early Harvest' oil is made solely from our
Leccino olives, picked when 60% of the olives are green creating a robust
and flavoursome oil.
Read the tasting notes from our current
harvest, picked and pressed in November 2006.
- Lemon and Coratina Oil; created by cold pressing our ripe Coratina olives
and estate lemons together. The oils are extracted from both the olives and
the lemon zests. The citrus and olive flavours are allowed to blend naturally.
Read the tasting notes from our current
harvest, picked and pressed in January 2007.
All Vallecoppa oil originates from olives grown within the Vallecoppa estate.
The distinctive flavour of our oil derives from our unique microclimate, varieties
of olives and the care with which we tend to our trees. This is enhanced using
traditional picking and pressing methods, combined with grading by oil masters
and up-to date chemical evaluation.
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