A Trio of Delectable Treasures from Down Under! Extra Virgin Olive Oils Crafted with Passion and Expertise From Australia’s Award-Winning Farms
At this time of year, with the Northern Hemisphere harvest still a few months off, the freshest olive oils come from thousands of miles away in the Southern Hemisphere. Relative newcomers to crafting EVOO, Aussie producers have made a name for themselves in a short time, combining Old World inspiration with New World innovation to create award-winning oils celebrated around the globe. Down Under, olive trees thrive in a climate that’s nearly identical to that of the Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters. But it takes the talents of skilled producers to coax beautiful oil from the fruit. And, as always, many were put to the test this year but for a surprising reason: an unusual lack of weather drama in the groves.
Down-Under Odyssey
Shockingly, there were few curveballs thrown by Mother Nature. “The weather was mild, and it never got very hot,” said Melissa Wong, olive oil authority, former restaurateur, and the Melbourne-based member of my Merry Band of Tasters. This resulted in much of the Aussie oil being uninteresting to say the least. Producers who prioritized quantity over quality had no problem with that. Said John Symington of Oasis, with whom we’ve worked for years, “Many haven’t retained the drive and passion for creating ultra-premium oils.”
In the past decade, there has been a lot of divergence in the Australian olive oil community. People with what Melissa calls “hobby farms” (plots of land for which the government offered tax incentives), some of whom produced wonder-ful oils, even if inconsistently, realized that they couldn’t maintain the effort needed, even with the help of family and friends.
Fortunately, producers like John and his wife Marjan have scooped up and, in many cases, restored these groves, ensuring their ability to produce extraordinary oils that match my stan-dards and the desires of Club members. All the producers we choose to work with—the Syming-tons, Annie Paterson of Nullamunjie, and Mick Labbozzetta of Kyneton—chase quality, investing in their groves and their mills to keep pushing the envelope. This enables us to create fabulous oils that meet my flavor profile—very green, very fresh, and high in polyphenols.
I’d heard about a potentially scary situation prior to the harvest—the country faced a shortage of fuel, which threatened a transportation gridlock and led to numerous flight cancellations. Fortunately, the Australian prime minister negotiated with his counterpart in Singapore, an energy supplier that also depends on Aussie food imports. The quid pro quo remedied any fuel shortage. However, the government threw a monkey wrench into our plans, suddenly prohibiting exports by air. We quickly went into Plan B mode and engaged a direct ship with state-of-the-art climate control that’s monitored 24/7 to fast-track our oils to the US.
A Meeting of the Minds
I was excited to work more closely this year with Scott Sanders, a 22-year veteran of the olive industry. Scott grew up on his family’s farm in northwest New South Wales and started his olea journey at the ripe old age of 20, working on prop-erty development for one of the early commercial players. A few years later, one of the country’s premier producers asked him to run their mill so he went to Spain and Italy for formal training. A decade ago, Scott added consultant to his resume, working with growers in the burgeoning California olive oil business. An important turning point came in 2016, when he began a successful partnership with the Symingtons at Oasis.
Scott understands the nuances of crafting premium olive oil and how to stress the trees in the right way to encourage amazing flavors. As he put it, it’s not enough to craft an oil that’s high in polyphenols—it also must be amazingly delicious, with exquisite aroma and taste, so that you’ll truly enjoy it.
I appreciate how Scott and all our partners share my passion for ultra-premium fresh-pressed olive oils and know exactly what I’m looking for, not just for myself but for you, my Club members. Though we live on opposite ends of the earth, my Australian collaborators and I communicate throughout the year, and because the Club is top of mind for them, they’re always striving to improve so that we can deliver the very best olive oils to you. You’ll be dazzled by this trio.
Happy drizzling!
T. J. Robinson
The Olive Oil Hunter®
This Quarter’s First Selection
Kindred spirits when it comes to olive oil, Oasis’s John and Marjan Symington and I have forged a close relationship over the years. They know what my Club members and I expect, and they continually push the boundaries to meet our targets for quality. “We’re focused on getting exactly what you want—a palette of different oils to work with,” John told me. And he does not disappoint! His groves’ capacity to grow nine different varietals—Greek, Italian, and Span-ish—gives us a lot to play with each year as we search for perfection in a bottle.
Newer Club members may not be aware of how the Symingtons first fell in love with oleo-culture 20 years ago. “It all happened by accident—I invested in an olive growing project in Peru,” John said. “I knew nothing about olives and decided that needed to change. We bought a small rundown grove in Kialla East so that we could learn for ourselves.” They became skilled in every aspect, from planting and pruning to harvesting and milling—in fact, when I first met them, Marjan was performing head miller duties.
We’ve grown little by little. You fix up a grove and think, well, we could fix up another,” John recounted. They now have five farms, geographically separated across two states, with various elevations and microclimates. “Some varietals produce better fruit with the gentler conditions, and others produce better fruit with harsher conditions,” he added.
As Oasis expanded, John and Marjan assembled a fantastic team, notably olive expert Scott Sanders, who divides his time—and olive oil savvy—across three continents and continues to raise the bar each time he reaches it.
“We’re changing a lot of the processes that have been done for thousands of years because our sole focus is on quality,” said Scott. “We’ve worked hard to strengthen the trees by monitoring their micronutrient levels, for instance. The more nutrient-dense the trees are, the more nutrient-dense the olive oil should be. Our approach also greatly impacts yield—for the last three years the farm in Kialla has produced exactly the same amount of fruit.” That kind of consistency means enough premium olive oil to satisfy Club members.
No detail is overlooked, including the choice of equipment. Scott prefers Amenduni because it’s the only company that started in olive oil extraction—its competitors came from other industries and adapted existing machines for the process. Recent gold medal wins for Oasis at the TerraOlivo competition and the Australia Inter-national Olive Awards are proof-positive of the team’s commitment to excellence.
The Symingtons are as hands-on as ever—they continue to invest more physical, mental, and financial capital into their farms. Recently, they hosted José Gálvez of Finca Gálvez, one of the Club’s favorite Spanish producers. José met his counterparts on the other side of the world for a unique tasting to compare Spanish and Australian Picuals—the same varietal can taste deliciously different when grown 10,000 miles apart, as longstanding Club members know well. I can’t wait for you—and José—to savor this harvest’s special Picual, enhanced with the fruitiness of Arbosana and the peppery punch of Koroneiki. I know you’ll agree that it’s a winner.
Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings
This Australian-grown union of Spanish Picual and Arbosana with Greek Koroneiki is a garden in a bottle. Its aroma is beautifully grassy, with notes of green tomato, baby lettuce, fennel, basil, mint, and sweet almond, along with the fruitiness of green apple and green banana. We tasted the nuttiness of walnuts, the sweetness of tender greens, and the freshness of lemon zest, followed by the gentle bitterness of Belgian endive and a spicy white pepper finish.
It works beautifully in my “fiber-maxxing” pudding* and on yogurt parfaits. Drizzle it on nut-and-fruit salads, egg dishes, Mediterranean pantry toast,† and charcuterie platters with mild cheeses. It enhances vinaigrettes and sauces; chicken, mild fin fish, and pork dishes; all types of roasted vegetables and tomato-based dishes; and mango matcha slice,† muffins, and quick breads.
*See the recipe section for bolded dishes.
†Included in the Pressing Report online.
This Quarter’s Second Selection
“When eating fruit, remember the person who planted the tree.” This ancient proverb always makes me think of Annie Paterson, the effervescent proprietress of Nullamunjie, whose groves lie deep in East Gippsland, some 250 miles north-east of Melbourne, and who pours heart and soul into her olive trees.
Since we met in 2009, Annie has shown me how a life should be lived, with great joie de vivre, and her generous spirit is reflected in her exqui-site olive oils. As always, I couldn’t wait to savor the fruits of this harvest. Ever gracious, Annie and her husband, John, hosted me and my Merry Band of Tasters for a splendid welcome. We all got into the kitchen, and together we turned out a feast of prime rib, roast potatoes, and blistered green beans, each dish gilded with harvest-fresh Nullamunjie oil. When I admired Annie’s lavish hand with the EVOO, she credited a Greek vegetable vendor who, long ago, advised her never to bring food to the table “undressed.” Words to live by!
Greece, in fact, is where Annie’s olive story begins. As a young woman, she traveled the Aegean coast and fell under the spell of the silvery olive trees she glimpsed from the tour bus window. The Australian cattle ranch where Annie grew up sat on the 37th parallel, the south-ern mirror of the Mediterranean’s olive belt, so she asked her father to sell her a parcel for a grove. He declined—for 20 years! Annie bided her time until he relented, then she purchased this beauti-ful property, bisected by the Tambo River at the base of Mt. Stawell. By the time we first shook hands, she had built a fine olive farm and a repu-tation for excellence to match.
In contrast to her elegant exterior, Annie is as scrappy as she is passionate about crafting olive oil. While some producers have only Mother Nature to fight, Annie faces a revolving onslaught of local fauna and regales us with stories of resident kangaroos, cockatoos, deer, and now wombats. As Annie expands her grove, the furry marsupi-als nibble up their share of tender young saplings. She’s used drones, noise-makers, and fencing to evict them—efforts to deter, not harm. Somehow, I doubt Annie minds their presence as long as there are plenty of olives destined for the mill.
The olive bounty was actually in question this season, for another reason. A third of Annie’s mature trees, on a slope appropriately named Rocky Ridge, didn’t produce fruit because the spring was so dry—six weeks without a drop of rain in the region. “Even watering constantly doesn’t help because the water runs right off the slope,” Annie recounted. Happily for us, her trees on flatter terrain benefitted greatly from the weather stress, which intensified the wonderful flavor in the fruit.
Annie and I worked side by side to create this outstanding Club exclusive, blending three magnificent Italian olive varieties. Coratina provides a peppery backbone and a pleasant whisper of bitterness, the hallmark of health-promoting polyphenols, while Frantoio and Leccino bring fruitiness and finesse. These Italian natives take on new personalities Down Under, and I know you will savor the Aussie accent in this oil as much as I do.
Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings
This is a celebration of three fabulous varietals, Coratina, Frantoio, and Leccino. We inhaled green almond and wheatgrass; culinary herbs like rosemary, sage, and wild mint; the fruitiness of pear; and warm hints of vanilla and baking spices. On the palate, it is redolent of dark leafy greens like Tuscan kale, enhanced by the brightness of lime zest and the pleasant bitterness of radicchio, with a long finish of arugula and freshly cracked black pepper.
It will elevate focaccia and crusty breads, hearty greens, rich cheeses, pizza, dukkah crunch,* quick-pickled red onions, pesto, and tomato sauces. It adds layers of flavor to chicken veggie bowl, roast turkey, prawns and other shellfish, tuna, salmon, and swordfish steaks. Drizzle lavishly over avocado, pasta, risotto, grains, legumes, roasted potatoes, cauliflower steaks, and ice creams, sautéed apples, and brownies.
*See the recipe section for bolded dishes.
This Quarter’s Third Selection
Like my Italian friends at Kyneton, I love to talk about food—and I love to talk about olive oil—so, andiamo! Platters of expertly grilled steak, tender lobster, and al dente pasta, drizzled with our harvest-fresh EVOO, fueled the celebration of the Club’s tenth collaboration with Mick Labbozzetta, the wise, gregarious, perpetually resourceful estate manager of Kyneton. Mick, his son-in-law Rob Inturrisi (Kyneton’s owner), and the devoted harvest staff summoned me and my Merry Band of Tasters to Esca Grill, a superb Italian restaurant in the stylish Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds (see the photo below). I can’t stop thinking about the tiramisù, brought triumphantly to the table in a gigantic glass bowl—light, creamy, delicious. What a beautiful meal to honor a decade of collaboration and friendship.
Ten years ago, the Inturrisi family purchased the award-winning Kyneton from Sam and Sandra Trovatello, merging the thriving olive groves of both families and centralizing pressing operations at the Kyneton mill in Bylands. I’d collaborated with Kyneton, an early Aussie standout, since the Club’s fledgling days and was excited for its next chapter.
When I first met Mick, during the 2016 harvest (wearing his signature newsboy cap, naturally), he was already knee-deep in improvements to the mill. We shared some laughs as we reminisced about that first season working together—amid the construction, in the chilly Australian autumn, we kept warm with electric blankets. Every time I see Mick, he’s set his sights even higher, with an insistence on excellence that means Kyneton consistently delivers what I seek for my Club: complex, flavorful EVOO, bursting with polyphenols, as manifested in the gorgeous, robust, Italian-style blend that has just been delivered to you.
A vibrant Italian Australian community thrives in Melbourne, evidenced by well-stocked alimentari, primo espresso, and residents of Italian descent who, like Mick, speak Italian fluently. Kyneton’s Italian influence also derives from the skilled and tireless harvest team, led by Carmelo Tramontana and Manoel Gasparini, and the extraordinarily talented master miller Davide Bruno, in his eighth season at Kyneton. Davide spends four months per year in Australia, then returns to Liguria for the Mediterranean harvest.
Working two harvests enables Davide to try out twice as many innovations and doubles his knowledge base.
Mick and Davide credit our Club collaborations with fine-tuning their approach across the board. After pressing and filtering, Davide sends the tanks of EVOO for Australian customers to Mick in a separate building. I’d noticed that each 1,000-liter tank was labeled with a number from 60 to 90. Curious, I asked Davide about the meaning of his labels. He explained that the numbers were “levels of excellence,” starting with “very good” at 60, going up to “excellent,” 90. “Anything over 90, I mark ‘T. J.’!”
Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings
This intense oil stars a robust Coratina enhanced with Correggiola and Frantoio, Italian varietals that thrive under the Australian sun. Its aroma reveals arugula, celery, artichoke, chopped fresh herbs, walnut, green peppercorns, Asian pear, and a whiff of cinnamon. It’s exhilarating on the palate—arugula, hazelnut, artichoke, and citrus zest, with abundant polyphenols, represented by the astringency of green tea, the bitterness of cocoa nibs, and spicy finish of chilis and black peppercorns.
It’s a perfect complement to richly flavored foods like aged cheeses, mutabbal* and other dips, ’nduja fried eggs with red peppers, bitter greens, and sweet & crunchy autumn salad and other squash recipes. It elevates lamb kebabs with barley salad; grilled, braised, and roasted meats; sheet pan green curry barramundi and other Asian dishes; hearty chili, soups, and stews; and dark chocolate or nut-based desserts.
*See the recipe section for bolded dishes.
Olive Oil and Health
Kudos from Club Members
