Fresh pressed olive oil Bilini is here: the harvest is done

Yesterday, October 30, we finished this year’s olive harvest. You have probably already heard that this year in Istria there was significantly less olive fruit than last year, which in turn resulted in smaller amounts of olive oil produced. Combined with the general rise in prices of everything we need to produce oil, we too were forced to raise prices after the harvest. But even though we have less of it than last year, fresh olive oil Bilini is phenomenal.

You can find new prices of extra virgin olive oil Bilini in our web shop.

Olive harvest 2021

This year’s harvest was as difficult as usual, with significantly less fruit than last year. That’s the olive grower’s doom: you put in the same amount of work and effort as a year earlier, but the “factory under the sky” decides to produce less. We are powerless before nature, so all we have to do is enjoy the quality of fruits and oils.

I was glad to hear from my friend Daniel that now – after participating in the harvest – he absolutely understands why premium olive oil costs as much as it costs. Even when he was just harvesting, without “experiencing” other activities in the olive groves. The coordination of the olive harvest – if we want to produce first-class oil – must be 100% accurate.

Waking up at 6:00 in the morning. Preparations and arrival at the olive grove around 8:00. The beginning of the harvest is around 8:30. Work is done up to approx. 4:30 p.m., with a brunch break and a couple of coffee breaks in between. The pace was VERY strenuous. We wanted to harvest our olives before the (in)famous autumn rains. Now is the time when olivesare in the optimal ripeness degree for processing into top quality extra virgin olive oil. The fruit must not be immature nor overripe.

The harvest lasted about two weeks, with the rain driving us out of the olive groves twice. One of those two times is shown in the image above (see the sky color). I take this opportunity to thank our tireless pickers: Jadranka, Drago, Daniel, as well as the “guest pickers”: Dragan, Verica, Barbara, Siniša, Ivica. YOU ARE BADASS! Thank you very much ?

Although this year the amount of fruit was significantly lower than last year, there were also positive things. Less fruit often carries a higher yield (olive oil content in the fruit), which, fortunatelly was the case this year. We’ve never had a 19% yield before ?

Also, the fact that most Istrian olive growers had less fruit than usual, means less crowds in oil mills.

Therefore, the situation was not so bleak.

Fresh olive oil Bilini

Our fresh olive oil this year is extremely fine. Harmonized scent, bitterness and spiciness, we believe you will fall in love with. You can order it in our webshop. Don’t forget our loyalty program, thru which you can obtain a discount when buying. We believe that now – after the price increase – the discount will come in handy.