Capezzana

The 2017 harvest, which started in the middle of October, was the earliest anyone can remember, thanks largely to the drought caused by ‘Lucifer’, the heatwave creating a state of emergency in 11 regions. The long, dry summer also resulted in small olives, as they contained little water.  The positive aspect of this was that initial pessimism about quantities was somewhat alleviated by a higher than average yield of oil.  At Capezzana, for instance, they had a yield of 17.5 litres from every 100 kilos of olives, while last year they only extracted 15.5 litres.

2018 was a complex year for olive trees as the climate was challenging and did not follow normal patterns. After a warm and rainy winter, April began with low temperatures (down to -4ºC) and snow. Damage was limited at Capezzana, where only a few branches dried out due to the temperature. The rest of spring was rainy, supplying good water reserves. The rain stopped at the beginning of May, when there was a period of sunshine and fresh wind. This, along with more rain at the beginning of June, encouraged a good fruit set and by the end of June the olives were already set and well developed.