Monte Rosso: A Family Dream Reborn on Istria’s Red Hill

Summary

On the Monte Rosso estate in Croatia, Davor Duboković over­sees a suc­cess­ful olive oil pro­duc­tion oper­a­tion on 62 hectares of land, pro­duc­ing 33,000 liters of extra vir­gin olive oil annu­ally. The estate, which also grows grapes, almonds, figs, and cher­ries, attracts vis­i­tors for guided tast­ings and pair­ing expe­ri­ences, with a focus on high-qual­ity, polyphe­nol-rich oils.

On the pic­turesque Monte Rosso estate, in the far west of Croatia’s Istrian penin­sula near the Slovenian bor­der, the har­vest sea­son lasts more than half the year. It begins in May with cher­ries, con­tin­ues through sum­mer with figs, almonds in August, grapes in September, and finally, olives.

“We started har­vest­ing olives on September 20 and expect to fin­ish by mid-November,” says Davor Duboković, co-owner and man­ager of the estate.

A Modern Istrian Success Story

The estate cov­ers 62 hectares, 40 of which are planted with olives — mak­ing it one of the ten largest and most pro­duc­tive groves in Croatia. ​“We expect about 300 tons of olives this year and roughly 33,000 liters of extra vir­gin olive oil,” Duboković says.

His family’s story stretches back more than a cen­tury to the island of Hvar, from where his grand­fa­ther Petar migrated to Slovenia after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Facing land reforms that stripped exten­sive hold­ings, Petar traded his family’s prop­erty on Hvar for a mod­est life in Ljubljana, where he sold wine and olive oil and opened a tav­ern called Gostilna Dalmacija.

Following the breakup of another Yugoslavia decades later, Davor returned to his roots — cul­ti­vat­ing olives, vines, almonds, figs, and other Mediterranean crops.

Together with part­ner Uroš Gorjanc, Duboković runs Olma, a suc­cess­ful Ljubljana-based com­pany. ​“Two decades ago, Istria turned toward gas­tron­omy, sport, and sus­tain­able tourism beyond just beaches and sun­shine — and that pro­duced great results,” he says.

Transforming the Land

Above Savudrija, on the scenic Crveni Vrh (Red Hill), the part­ners reclaimed 62 hectares of aban­doned state land. ​“It took years of paper­work, invest­ment, and field­work,” Duboković recalls. The land, once over­grown and lit­tered, proved fer­tile after test­ing.

Consulting experts from Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy, they planted 14,000 olive trees, 50,000 vines, 2,000 cherry trees, 600 almonds, and 600 fig trees. The breezy micro­cli­mate at 50 meters in alti­tude, with cal­care­ous, min­eral-rich red soils, proved ideal.

“All these con­di­tions — plus expert care — yield healthy fruit and pre­mium oils,” Duboković explains.

Healthy Olives, High Polyphenols

Unlike many grow­ers in Istria who bat­tled olive fruit fly and other pests, Monte Rosso was spared. ​“We used pheromone traps and con­fu­sion meth­ods instead of stan­dard yel­low pan­els. It worked per­fectly,” he says.

Their lead­ing oil, Grand Selection, pro­duced from early-har­vest Leccino and Istarska Bjelica, is known for its grassy aroma and high polyphe­nol con­tent — over 250 mg per liter, meet­ing the EU stan­dard for health claims. The oil was awarded at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition in New York.

Harvesting is semi-mech­a­nized with a Baggy shaker that col­lects 8 – 10 tons of fruit per day. Olives are processed imme­di­ately at mills in both Croatian and Slovenian Istria to ensure fresh­ness.

“This sea­son is our best so far,” says Duboković. ​“The fruit is healthy, the yields good, and the oils intense and bal­anced.”

A Destination for Visitors

Monte Rosso has built a loyal fol­low­ing. ​“We sell to indi­vid­u­als, com­pa­nies, dis­trib­u­tors, and clients from Japan to Dubai,” Duboković says. ​“Most of our sales are through spe­cialty shops, wine bars, and our own estate store — never super­mar­kets.”

Visitors are cen­tral to the brand’s suc­cess. ​“Guests who come here see where the oil comes from. They become our best ambas­sadors,” he adds.

A tast­ing square next to the estate wel­comes indi­vid­ual vis­i­tors and groups for guided tast­ings and pair­ing expe­ri­ences. The estate’s prox­im­ity to the Kempinski and Petram Resort hotels brings a steady stream of inter­na­tional guests eager for authen­tic local prod­ucts.

Asked whether Croatian and Slovenian extra vir­gin olive oils are too expen­sive, Duboković is firm: ​“High-qual­ity oils, espe­cially those rich in polyphe­nols, can­not be cheap. Late-har­vest and blended oils are dif­fer­ent prod­ucts entirely, often poorly labeled.”

He warns that shelves remain full of adul­ter­ated oils mixed with refined seed oils. ​“In the EU, refined olive oils and pomace oils are banned as stand­alone cat­e­gories, but not as blends. That con­fuses con­sumers and harms hon­est pro­duc­ers,” he says.

Monte Rosso focuses exclu­sively on pre­mium fin­ish­ing oils — those meant to enhance dishes rather than cook with. ​“These are the oils that deliver mea­sur­able health ben­e­fits,” Duboković empha­sizes.

Looking Ahead

He believes Croatia and Slovenia have a bright future in olive oil. ​“Strong national and regional mar­ket­ing is essen­tial. Croatia is already doing well posi­tion­ing itself as a food and wine des­ti­na­tion,” he says. ​“Restaurants and hotels should fea­ture domes­tic oils proudly.”

Walking through his groves on Crveni Vrh, Duboković says the work still fills him with energy. ​“We built a sus­tain­able, long-term estate. As our late advi­sor, Professor Ivo Miljković, told me, you’ll only know in 15 years if you did every­thing right — by then, it might be too late to change. I think we did.”

Monte Rosso, he adds, sym­bol­izes the shared her­itage of Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy — three nations linked by land, cul­ture, and the pur­suit of excel­lence.

Would he start all over again today? ​“Maybe not with the same youth­ful courage,” he laughs. ​“But with­out Monte Rosso, life would be far less inter­est­ing.”