The harvest of 2019/2020
Spring has sprung and we are still thrilled by the bumper crop of 2019/2020. Quality equaled quantity and this year we offer a particularly special blend of Grand Cuvee Gerbaud Extra Virgin Olive Oil to clients. Corinne Petit, our olive oil specialist, describes this year's oil blend of mostly Aglandau and Salonenque varieties as being 'a powerful oil with excellent aromas of the "green fruity" type with dominant aromas of raw artichoke and greenery, accompanied by notes of green banana, apple and tomato leaf, which provides complexity. The fruitiness of the oil has a good intensity and the bitterness should add excellent conservation properties. Corinne's photograph above shows Andre, Louisa and now greatly missed Paco who retired at the beginning of the year removing twigs and leaves from the freshly picked olives before they are taken to the mill for crushing and extraction.
During the quiet winter months we made changes to our labels as the Huile d'Olive de Provence designation changed from AOC, Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, to that of AOP, Appellation d'Origine Protégée. Look out for the bright yellow and red AOP logo on our new labels. This resulted in a redesign of the existing label to accommodate the extra logo whilst also adding another two spot colours to our print run. It costs to comply! Below you can see the mock ups we made in the olive oil room to test the logo sizes.
Now the hard work starts to keep the trees and olives healthy. France Olive, the olive governing body in France, warned against ideal conditions in February and March for the peacock eye and cercosporiose pests. From April the olive moth flourish. So we shall continue our vigilance!