Quality Push Redefines Olive Oil Production in Montenegro

Summary

Montenegro is expe­ri­enc­ing a new era in olive oil pro­duc­tion dri­ven by a focus on qual­ity, with invest­ments in mod­ern equip­ment and col­lab­o­ra­tion with other coun­tries. The indus­try is expand­ing cul­ti­va­tion, pre­serv­ing ancient trees, and devel­op­ing ter­tiary indus­tries, aim­ing to main­tain high-qual­ity olive oil and pro­tect the coun­try’s olive-grow­ing her­itage.

A renewed focus on qual­ity is dri­ving a new era in olive oil pro­duc­tion in Montenegro.

“In the last decade, sig­nif­i­cant invest­ments have enabled pro­duc­ers to acquire equip­ment for olive oil pro­duc­tion accord­ing to the most mod­ern tech­no­log­i­cal stan­dards,” said Marija Markoč, biotech­ni­cal researcher, olive oil pro­ducer, and CEO of Kuća Maslina – House of Olives.

“With the help of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, pro­cess­ing mills, pack­ag­ing units, and stain­less steel tanks for safe stor­age under inert gas were pro­cured,” she told Olive Oil Times.

Nestled in the Balkans on the Adriatic Sea between Bosnia and Albania, Montenegro is roughly the size of Connecticut and home to medieval coastal towns, dra­matic moun­tains, pris­tine lakes, and ancient olive groves.

Montenegrin grow­ers pro­duce about 500 tons of olive oil annu­ally, and the cur­rent cam­paign looks promis­ing. ​“Several Montenegrin olive grow­ers have started har­vest­ing early — at the opti­mal stage of olive fruit matu­rity,” Markoč said. ​“The fruit is har­vested man­u­ally and with elec­tric vibro shak­ers, and processed within twelve hours.”

According to the House of Olives’ esti­mates, most olive orchards in the coun­try are in good con­di­tion this sea­son, and an abun­dant har­vest is expected. ​“These results indi­cate the pos­i­tive imple­men­ta­tion of agro-tech­ni­cal mea­sures in olive groves through­out the year,” Markoč added.

Growers and millers in Montenegro are increas­ingly con­nected with their coun­ter­parts in Croatia, Greece, Albania, and Italy, exchang­ing valu­able knowl­edge about pro­duc­tion and pro­cess­ing.

This year’s cam­paign fea­tures a spe­cial, lim­ited-edi­tion olive oil pro­duced from the Stara Maslina in Mirovica, near the coastal town of Bar, one of the old­est olive trees in the world. Protected by state law since 1957, the mon­u­men­tal tree is esti­mated to be 2,250 years old.

“We are proud to have pro­duced this spe­cial olive oil in the year we cel­e­brate the tree’s jubilee,” Markoč said.

House of Olives serves as a hub con­nect­ing Montenegro’s agri­cul­tural and tourism sec­tors, sup­port­ing rural devel­op­ment and farmer edu­ca­tion. The ini­tia­tive, launched through col­lab­o­ra­tion between national and local author­i­ties and the Administration for Capital Projects, includes a new lab­o­ra­tory for chem­i­cal and organolep­tic analy­sis of olive oil qual­ity.

“The team is ded­i­cated to pre­serv­ing the autochtho­nous assort­ment and genetic resources char­ac­ter­is­tic of Montenegrin soil,” Markoč said. The group includes agron­o­mists, biotech­nol­o­gists, econ­o­mists, engi­neers, and som­me­liers spe­cial­iz­ing in olive oil qual­ity and assess­ment.

Beyond tra­di­tional pro­duc­tion, Montenegrin experts are explor­ing how to expand cul­ti­va­tion in response to cli­mate change. ​“They rec­og­nize the oppor­tu­nity to extend olive orchards into the country’s cen­tral, con­ti­nen­tal areas,” Markoč explained. ​“Modern olive grow­ing is no longer a choice — it’s an oblig­a­tion.”

While embrac­ing inno­va­tion, Montenegro’s pro­duc­ers are not pur­su­ing high-den­sity or super-inten­sive sys­tems. ​“It would not even be pos­si­ble here due to our unique land­scape and moun­tain­ous ter­rain,” Markoč said. Instead, grow­ers are focus­ing on adapt­ing tra­di­tional meth­ods and diver­si­fy­ing with for­eign cul­ti­vars to improve fer­til­ity and pro­duc­tiv­ity.

Markoč empha­sized the impor­tance of edu­ca­tion and aware­ness among grow­ers. ​“High-qual­ity multi-vari­etal blends are not obtained by mix­ing all vari­eties from the grove,” she said. ​“Blending requires knowl­edge and pre­ci­sion.”

She noted that many grow­ers are unaware of Montenegro’s numer­ous native olive vari­eties beyond the pop­u­lar Žutica. These include Barkinja, Drobnica, Gloginja, Lumbardina, Lumbardeša, Sitnica, and Šarulja, as well as for­eign vari­eties such as Frantoio, Leccino, Arbequina, Koroneiki, Maurino, and Pendolino.

“I par­tic­u­larly appre­ci­ate Coratina among the Italian cul­ti­vars, which shares many sim­i­lar­i­ties with our domes­tic Žutica,” she said. Growers are also exper­i­ment­ing with Croatian vari­eties like Oblica, Istarska Bjelica, and Buža.

Ongoing ini­tia­tives include iden­ti­fy­ing ancient trees and clones with nat­u­rally high polyphe­nol con­tent. ​“The aca­d­e­mic com­mu­nity should inten­sify these efforts, as such vari­eties are vital for pre­serv­ing olive genetic her­itage,” Markoč said.

She added that the sector’s next steps should include expand­ing cul­ti­va­tion and devel­op­ing ter­tiary indus­tries — from by-prod­uct pro­cess­ing and pack­ag­ing to mar­ket­ing, edu­ca­tion, and waste man­age­ment.

Markoč cited a pre­vi­ous project on pel­letiz­ing olive pro­duc­tion waste as ​“a per­fect way to reg­u­late waste in an envi­ron­men­tally friendly man­ner.”

Ultimately, she believes greater atten­tion must be paid to Montenegro’s mil­len­nial trees and his­toric groves. ​“They are a trea­sure we do not appre­ci­ate enough,” she said. ​“We must rec­og­nize the oblig­a­tion to pre­serve them — and the poten­tial they hold.”

Research shows that olive oil pro­duced from hand-picked fruit from these old plan­ta­tions has higher polyphe­nol con­tent and more potent antiox­i­dant prop­er­ties. ​“These oils not only deliver greater health ben­e­fits but also fea­ture a dis­tinc­tive sen­sory pro­file — a har­mo­nious bal­ance of fruiti­ness, bit­ter­ness, and pro­nounced spici­ness,” Markoč said. ​“They rep­re­sent the finest expres­sion of Montenegro’s olive-grow­ing her­itage.”