produttori — Andali · Calabria
In the rolling hills of Calabria, a short distance from the Ionian Sea, the Agro di Belcastro (Belcastro countryside) has safeguarded a family farming tradition for over a century. Here, across forty-four hectares between the towns of Andali and Belcastro, an organic extra virgin olive oil of character is born.
The olive grove began with an idea from Antonio Colosimo, a former oenologist, who planted the first rows in the Contrada Antonio Mazza (Antonio Mazza district) between 1998 and 1999. Since then, without ever resorting to fungicides or pesticides, the company has earned and renewed its CSQA organic certification every year: a stance taken even before regulations required it.
Tradition and agronomic knowledge guide the Colosimo family in identifying the ideal moment for harvest, when the four cultivars — Carolea, Coratina, Nocellara Messinese and Leccino — are at their best. The olives are carried to the mill in dedicated crates and pressed within twenty-four hours of picking: a rhythm set by the land itself, and one the family has honoured for over a century.
Pressing takes place cold, below twenty-seven degrees, using a continuous-cycle system with no added water: a process that preserves the oil's organoleptic qualities over time. The result is a brilliant, intense green oil, medium fruity with notes of freshly cut grass and hints of bitterness, with low acidity.
An organic extra virgin olive oil that travels directly from the Agro di Belcastro to tables across Italy and Europe: the page tells the full story.
