Leading from the piazza behind Katharine's house at the edge of Villa Guardia, an old gravel road starts to wind away heading deeper into the Impero Valley. Taggiasca olive trees, some centuries old, line the road and dot the land below which slopes down towards Bestagno olive grove across the gully. When Katharine first moved here this area was an impenetrable jungle, untouched for 50 years. The team worked to restore it and bring the abandoned trees back to life by clearing the canopy of ivy and brambles which were suffocating the trees, rebuilding the crumbling terraces they grew on and pruning the trees right back to aid new growth and strong branches. Over the next few years by keeping the area maintained and applying organic fertilizer, the trees started to spring back to life. Now six years on they have had their first olive harvest in generations and the results are phenomenal.
Katharine runs Bestagno olive grove with her son Toby, a grove in Nudo's olive tree adoption program which they brought back to life and now produces award-winning extra virgin olive oil. Each year Katharine takes Bestagno's olives to be pressed at Oleificio Tallone, the small local mill run by Alessandro and his family. So this year the first olives harvested from the Villa Guardia trees went up alongside. Katharine made her way up to the mill the morning after harvest to see the results and found Alessandro eagerly waiting outside as arrived, brimming with excitement about the exceptional quality of the oil.
Taste this oil to transport yourself to the Impero Valley in the Italian hinterland between the Mediterranean Sea and the foothills of the Alps where the Taggiasca olive tree reigns. Monovarietal Taggiasca extra virgin olive oil produced from a restored olive grove near our Bestagno olive grove in Liguria's Impero Valley. This is the first oil produced from these trees in generations and the results are truly exceptional. Beautifully packaged in a gold embossed tin, the striking design matches the striking quality.
Aromatic, grassy and with a great peppery kick, Taggiasca extra virgin olive oil is delicate and velvety with floral notes. A wonderfully versatile oil. Drizzle over a salad, fish or vegetables and be transported to the Impero Valley, in the Italian hinterland between the Mediterranean sea and the foothills of the Alps where the Taggiasca olive tree reigns.
