Fèlsina is a wine estate and a traditional Tuscan farm, or fattoria, as well.  Thus, throughout its history, it has always exercised in an integrated fashion, various agricultural activities.

The most important of these is olive oil production.  The civic spirit that inspired the project “Olio secondo Veronelli”, or Veronelli’s Choice, arises from the “life-nourishing” imperative, throughout the country, of ensuring that the olive reflects the earth that bears it.  Right from its inception, we  put full faith in this philosophy.  Beginning in 2002, we singled out three productions zones, called “grove units”:  Fèlsina , Pagliarese, and Boschi, distinct terroirs for the each of the four olive varieties growing there:

Pendolino – Leccino – Moraiolo – Raggiolo (Correggiolo)

The core of our activities centers on assaying and “tasting” their differences as they flourish in the Fèlsina microcosm.

Absolutely essential for this is the adoption of suitable cultivation practices and processing techniques, along with constant technical and tasting analyses.  This is what makes possible effective traceability through every step of production.

The most important components are:

• Hand-harvesting of the varieties just as they begin to turn color (veraison), the ideal moment for optimal sensory quality of the oil.
• Immediate transfer of the olives to the pressing facility.
• Extraction of just the pulp and its storage in stainless steel blanketed by nitrogen or argon to prevent oxidation.
• Bottling under vacuum as shipping orders are received.
• Data on the label concerning the vintage year, polyphenol and acid levels, vitamin E, and, of course, the relevant grove unit.
• All of this comes at a cost, in particular the hand labor, which the estate makes public.
• In vintages with abundant yield, we produce a multivarietal oil, in addition to the monovarietal, at a lower retail price.

The fact that we and other Italian estates have adopted production methods and regulations in common makes possible scientific research, which requires consistent reference parameters.

Calls from many quarters have been requesting that the more than 600 olive cultivars grown throughout Italy be scientifically analyzed, by means of DNA, and that they receive appropriate attention and promotion based on each of the “infinity” of terroirs which are a true patrimony of Italy.

Further information on Fèlsina’s olive oils and those of other producers belonging to the same program can be found on the Fèlsina website.