Slovenia Unveils 'Olive Oil Fountain'

Summary

Slovenia opened the world’s first olive oil foun­tain in Marezige, offer­ing self-serve tast­ings of local extra vir­gin olive oils to pro­mote Istrian gas­tron­omy and olive oil cul­ture. The foun­tain serves as a pro­mo­tional hub and edu­ca­tional cen­ter, with plans for a Competence Center for Mediterranean Cultures in Plavje focus­ing on olive grow­ing and other Mediterranean crops.

Slovenia has opened what might be the world’s first olive oil foun­tain in the vil­lage of Marezige near Koper. The attrac­tion, inau­gu­rated on November 26, high­lights the region’s extra vir­gin olive oils and aims to pro­mote local pro­duc­ers.

“This project is highly sig­nif­i­cant. It enhances the vis­i­bil­ity of olive oil and pro­motes Istrian gas­tron­omy,” said Slovenian Agriculture Minister Mateja Čalušić at the open­ing cer­e­mony.

The ​“foun­tain” is a self-serve olive oil tast­ing sta­tion. Visitors pur­chase tokens and use them to dis­pense small por­tions of local extra vir­gin olive oils onto wooden tast­ing trays, sim­i­lar to the village’s pop­u­lar wine foun­tain. The aim is to cre­ate an inter­ac­tive, edu­ca­tional way to explore Istrian olive oils.

Promotional and Educational Hub

Despite its mod­est pro­duc­tion vol­umes, Slovenia has earned a strong rep­u­ta­tion for qual­ity. Extra vir­gin olive oils from Slovenian Istria are known for their pro­nounced aro­mas, rich fla­vors and high pro­duc­tion stan­dards — qual­i­ties repeat­edly rec­og­nized at the world’s pre­mier olive oil com­pe­ti­tion in New York.

According to the min­is­ter, the new olive oil foun­tain will serve as a pro­mo­tional point, gath­er­ing place and edu­ca­tional cen­ter ded­i­cated to olive grow­ing and olive oil cul­ture.

Visitors can taste extra vir­gin olive oils from local pro­duc­ers Pr’ Rojcu, Sveti Kancijan and Sabadin.

Patrik Babič, direc­tor of Prik — the com­pany that oper­ates the foun­tain and is already known for its wine foun­tain — explained how tast­ings work using pre-pur­chased tokens.

“Guests can buy a set of three tokens and receive an olive-wood tray with a space for the oil and a holder for glasses, should they decide to sam­ple wine at the nearby wine foun­tain. The set also includes pack­aged bread, while cheese tast­ings are avail­able for an addi­tional fee. A spe­cialty shop offers sev­eral olive-based dishes and bot­tled oils,” he said.

Competence Center Planned in Plavje

On World Olive Day — estab­lished by UNESCO in 2019 to pro­mote the pro­tec­tion of olive trees and the val­ues of peace and har­mony — a pub­lic forum was held on the planned Competence Center for Mediterranean Cultures in Plavje, a vil­lage near the Italian bor­der. The six-mil­lion-euro cen­ter is expected to open next year and will focus on research in olive grow­ing, viti­cul­ture and other Mediterranean crops.

The min­is­ter also high­lighted Slovenia’s new Food Law, which intro­duces a com­pre­hen­sive sys­tem for test­ing the sen­sory prop­er­ties of vir­gin and extra vir­gin olive oils. ​“This reg­u­la­tion strength­ens qual­ity con­trol and places Slovenia along­side the most advanced olive-grow­ing coun­tries,” Čalušić said.

Climate Change Challenges

Experts at the forum warned of the grow­ing impact of cli­mate change. Higher tem­per­a­tures and milder win­ters are expand­ing olive-grow­ing areas but also increas­ing the pres­ence of new pests and inten­si­fy­ing those already present. Extreme weather events, they noted, cre­ate abi­otic stress and affect yield sta­bil­ity.

Changes are also being observed in oil qual­ity, com­po­si­tion and flow­er­ing times, which are occur­ring ear­lier. The ripen­ing period is short­en­ing, influ­enc­ing opti­mal har­vest dates and pro­cess­ing deci­sions. Despite these chal­lenges, Slovenia’s olive-grow­ing area con­tin­ues to expand — from roughly 460 hectares in 1985 to 2,600 hectares today. The sec­tor is cur­rently grow­ing by about 70 hectares per year.

The Strategic Need for Irrigation

“The sec­tor would grow even faster if we had an ade­quate irri­ga­tion sys­tem,” said Maja Podgornik, head of the Institute of Olive Growing at the Scientific Research Center of Koper.

Researchers empha­size that irri­ga­tion devel­op­ment is essen­tial for Slovenia’s olive sec­tor. Irrigation improves nutri­ent uptake, veg­e­ta­tive growth, yields and oil qual­ity. However, the coun­try still lacks a clear water-man­age­ment strat­egy and a legal frame­work for using alter­na­tive water sources.

As cli­mate impacts inten­sify, mon­i­tor­ing con­di­tions and devel­op­ing adap­tive strate­gies will be cru­cial. ​“Water will be one of the key ele­ments of our resilience,” experts at the research cen­ter noted.

A Better Harvest Than Last Year

Despite the chal­lenges, this year’s olive har­vest was solid in both quan­tity and qual­ity. ​“Better than last year,” said Miran and his son Martin, who runs the fam­ily estate, Ronkaldo. At the insti­tute’s invi­ta­tion, 84 grow­ers sub­mit­ted 121 oils for analy­sis.

“The oils were very uni­form in qual­ity, which made clas­si­fi­ca­tion chal­leng­ing. They dis­play fresh fruiti­ness with aro­mas rem­i­nis­cent of freshly cut grass, olive leaf, green almond, herbs, tomato leaf, arti­choke and chicory, along with pos­si­ble notes of apple, banana and sweet herbs. You are warmly invited to taste these excep­tional oils,” said Dr. Milena Bučar Miklavčič, chair of the tast­ing panel at the Institute’s sen­sory lab­o­ra­tory.

This year’s Young Olive Oil Days fes­ti­val, orga­nized by the Institute of Olive Growing, is tak­ing place in par­tic­i­pat­ing Koper restau­rants from November 22 through December 7, offer­ing curated menus and pre­mium oils to the ben­e­fit of grow­ers, restau­ra­teurs and vis­i­tors alike.