In Puglia’s Ancient Groves, a Young Producer Charts a High-Tech Future for Ulivè

Summary

Azienda Agricola Emmanuel Sanarica pro­duces world-class olive oils such as Ulivè through a com­bi­na­tion of research, tech­nol­ogy, and a gen­er­ous ter­ri­tory in the hills above the Gulf of Taranto. The farm applies a mod­ern, sci­ence-dri­ven approach to its olive cul­ti­va­tion, focus­ing on qual­ity, inno­va­tion, and sus­tain­abil­ity while exper­i­ment­ing with new cul­ti­vars and orchard sys­tems to adapt to chal­lenges such as cli­mate change and Xylella fas­tidiosa.

Research, tech­nol­ogy and a gen­er­ous ter­ri­tory drive the work of Azienda Agricola Emmanuel Sanarica, pro­ducer of world-class olive oils such as Ulivè.

Nestled in the hills above the Gulf of Taranto, the farm lies on the lime­stone ridges of the Murgia Tarantina, a land­scape ded­i­cated to olive cul­ti­va­tion since antiq­uity.

Among cen­turies-old groves that define the coun­try­side, the Sanarica estate applies a mod­ern, sci­ence-dri­ven approach across its 25 hectares of active olive orchards.

“Actually, we have 85 hectares of farm­land. Most of it has been aban­doned for gen­er­a­tions, and we are slowly recov­er­ing it and bring­ing it back into pro­duc­tion,” owner Emmanuel Sanarica told Olive Oil Times.

The soils are sandy and cal­care­ous, nat­u­rally drain­ing and low in vigor — con­di­tions that favor aro­matic olives rather than high yields.

While many grow­ers in the province strug­gled through a com­plex cam­paign, Sanarica’s groves per­formed well above the local aver­age.

“Outside our farm, many are com­plain­ing about very uneven pro­duc­tion,” he said.

“The sea­son began with excep­tional rains and humid­ity since sum­mer, and olive fruit fly dam­age was wide­spread,” Sanarica recalled.

For the Ulivè pro­ducer, atten­tive daily obser­va­tion of trees, soil and fruit proved deci­sive.

“With our con­sul­tants, we car­ried out impor­tant pre­ven­tive activ­i­ties and did more treat­ments this year than last year,” Sanarica explained. ​“That allowed us to reach har­vest calmly, with excel­lent pro­duc­tion and per­fectly healthy olives.”

He empha­sized that con­sis­tent qual­ity remains the farm’s pri­mary objec­tive. ​“We are very, very happy with the results.”

“We are in the field every day, mon­i­tor­ing all phe­no­log­i­cal phases. We tar­get irri­ga­tion to enhance aro­matic devel­op­ment and taste olives sen­so­ri­ally in the grove,” he added.

“We also use a small dynamome­ter to mea­sure detach­ment force. Technology and ded­i­ca­tion helped us time both the fly-con­trol strat­egy and the start of har­vest.”

The farm processes its olives at a part­ner mill and also sup­plies fruit to other mills seek­ing pre­mium mate­r­ial. Part of the har­vest is des­tined for table olives.

“We use Leccino for that pur­pose, where size, firm­ness and integrity are essen­tial,” Sanarica said.

“All three pro­duc­tion chan­nels are giv­ing us great sat­is­fac­tion this year because qual­ity is extremely high.”

The farm also pays close atten­tion to cli­mate change and other pres­sures shap­ing olive farm­ing in Puglia, includ­ing the spread of Xylella fas­tidiosa.

Sanarica is expand­ing and exper­i­ment­ing with Xylella-resis­tant vari­eties.

“To counter Xylella, resis­tant vari­eties are being planted. With the same spirit of inno­va­tion that defines us, we are also chang­ing plant­ing and crop-man­age­ment tech­niques, focus­ing on a high-den­sity sys­tem with free-stand­ing canopies and no sup­port wires,” he said.

“Still, much work remains to under­stand how the new resis­tant vari­eties adapt to these sys­tems across dif­fer­ent areas.”

Ulivè’s groves host rich bio­di­ver­sity with about a dozen cul­ti­vars, includ­ing Ogliarola Salentina, Cellina di Nardò, Cima di Melfi and Nocciara.

The farm is expand­ing by five or six hectares, adding cul­ti­vars such as Lecciana and Leccio del Corno.

Lecciana is con­sid­ered resilient to Xylella. Leccio del Corno, a Tuscan vari­ety, is known for its high resilience and intensely fla­vored, high-polyphe­nol oils.

“Leccio del Corno has very low yields — plac­ing it here is a bold bet. This spring we’ll con­tinue with Favolosa in tra­di­tional set­tings because on slopes we can­not go super-inten­sive,” he said.

“We will test Lecciana in both super-inten­sive and tra­di­tional sys­tems. From this point of view, we are pio­neers.”

Sanarica’s groves also hold sur­prises. ​“We have a few Leucocarpa trees,” he said, recall­ing how one neglected plant revived after being moved.

“We dis­cov­ered it was Leucocarpa only recently when we saw its white fruits,” he added, refer­ring to the unique olives pro­duced by the ancient vari­ety.

An enol­o­gist, mas­ter brewer and olive oil expert, the 30-year-old pro­ducer has devoted recent years to his groves, bring­ing a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary per­spec­tive.

“I don’t think in terms of kilos of oil pro­duced. I think: what sen­sa­tions can the soil bring out? It’s a dif­fer­ent approach — more holis­tic, more philo­soph­i­cal,” he said.

Three hectares of cen­turies-old trees were grafted two years ago.

“We expect pro­duc­tion to resume next year. It was a bold move — we sac­ri­ficed the out­put of more than 110 ancient trees to graft them with Leccino,” Sanarica explained.

“The sen­sa­tions from the grafted trees are com­pletely dif­fer­ent from those of the mother plant right beside them.”

The olives from the old­est orchards go into the farm’s pre­mium blends.

“Unlike oth­ers — and some­times this is con­tro­ver­sial — I have always focused on blends because of my oeno­log­i­cal mind­set,” he said.

“Consumers want the same notes every year: tomato leaf, arti­choke, chicory. Through blend­ing, we recre­ate those sen­sa­tions con­sis­tently.”

Sanarica col­lab­o­rates closely with pro­duc­ers and chefs. ​“We even work with pas­try chefs for Panettone,” he said, refer­ring to the grow­ing trend of using EVOO to replace but­ter in the iconic Italian cake.

He sees the years ahead as a bal­ance between inno­va­tion and iden­tity. Experimentation with new cul­ti­vars and orchard sys­tems will con­tinue, he said, while pre­serv­ing the dis­tinct char­ac­ter of his land and oils.

“We must always adapt,” Sanarica said. ​“But qual­ity is never nego­tiable. That is our future.”