500ml | Olio Verde NOVELLO Extra Virgin Olive Oil | 2011 Harvest

Imported Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil | Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil

First Pressing of 2011 Harvest | harvested, pressed, bottled October 11-18, 2011 | Your chance to have a new harvest oil on your table as soon as our friends in Italy!!

In the gentle uplands of northwestern Sicily, Becchina & Company's country estate is an ideal location for growing olives. The olives used are 100% Nocellara del Belice. These fine trees are not chemically treated in any way. Some of them are 300-year-old-stock onto which younger trunks are grafted. A spring is tapped to deliver water directly to every tree through an elaborate irrigation system. The olives are hand picked.They are captured while still green, but coated with a light whitish sheen that only exists for two weeks at the most. This is called the white phase and is regarded by many as too early to harvest-usually in October when yields are low. But Becchina & Company seeks the strong green flavors in their oil. This also helps to preserve the oil's intense aroma and high quality. The olives are stone-crushed under huge millstones, then laid on mats and pressed gently. The unfiltered oil is stored in rotund terracotta amphorae until spring, naturally clarifying itself. It is never filtered; Becchina & Company prefers that the chlorophyll suspended in the minute particles of sediment act as a natural preservative. The oil is decanted into the distinctive Olio Verde rectangular bottles.

REGION | Castelvetrano, Sicily

OLIVE VARIETY | 100% Nocellara del Belice - harvested both black/purple and green. Unfiltered, Estate-bottled.

DESCRIPTION | Color is deeply green - reminiscent of olive and sage leaves. Well-balanced, round rich notes of olive fruit and almonds on the palate and nose, with a spicy kick and a delicate long peppery finish.

TRADITIONS |  Drizzle over fresh greens, grilled meats or over a thick piece of toasted Italian bread.