Process

Great olive oil doesn't happen by chance. It is the sum of hundreds of small decisions – when to harvest, how to handle the fruit, how quickly to process it and how to store it. At Leut we make every one of those decisions ourselves, because we believe quality is built step by step.

Early harvest

We harvest early, while the olives are still mostly green and just beginning to change colour. Olives picked this way yield less oil, but it is far richer in aroma, freshness and natural antioxidants. It is the early harvest that gives our oil the lively green fruitiness and peppery finish you recognise it by.

←→

Careful selection of the fruit

Harvesting is done by hand and with care, so the fruit isn't damaged. Every batch picked goes through selection – only healthy, undamaged olives move on. Damaged or overripe fruit quickly starts to oxidise and ferment, and that inevitably shows in the oil.

Cold-pressed the same day

The key moment in the whole process is time. We cold-press our olives on the very day they are harvested. The shorter the journey from tree to mill, the more of what the olive carries the oil keeps – aroma, freshness and polyphenols.

←→

Cold extraction means the temperature is kept low throughout processing, so heat doesn't destroy the delicate aromas and valuable compounds. The result is an oil that earns the extra virgin label – the highest grade of olive oil.

Tradition and precise control

Our process brings together the experience of generations of Dalmatian olive growers with modern technology and precise control at every step. Tradition tells us what we're looking for in the oil; technology helps us achieve it consistently, harvest after harvest.

Storage and bottling

After processing, we store the oil protected from light, heat and air – the three greatest enemies of olive oil. We bottle it in small batches so that every bottle reaches you as fresh as possible.

We describe the result of this process in the story Olive oil, and it all begins in our olive grove.