Volume 10 - December 2009

CONTENTS

• President's Comment
• Executive Portfolios
• Olives NZ Sensory Panel
• Obituary - Sir Don Beavan
  
• La Casa Toscana
• NZ Gourmet Oil Competition
• Around the Regions
• News Briefs
• Coming Events

President's Comment

We are nearing the end of yet another year.  A year of development for New Zealand’s olive industry and a year of change for ONZ.  The year hasn’t been without its challenges for all of us in one way or another. 

One group that has been keen to embrace the challenge of change has been the Executive elected at the AGM in October.  The incoming Executive has been keen to look forward into the future, to learn from all our experiences in past years and continue to grow and develop, not only in our effectiveness as a team but also to assist with the support required to grow the New Zealand olive industry. 

I believe one of the most important tasks of the Executive is to develop its listening and communication skills.  Every member of the Executive is accessible to members of Olives New Zealand and I hope we will be able to develop a positive and healthy relationship with you all.   Future communications from Olives New Zealand will assist with promoting mutual co-operation, goodwill & fair dealing amongst the industry body.   The responsibility for the wellbeing of the organisation of Olives New Zealand rests with the Executive and for that we will be held accountable.  It is your responsibility however, to ensure that you communicate honestly and openly with us also.
 
To assist us to get to know you all and the various interests of each region, the Executive have been attending various regional functions.  It has been a pleasure to have so far met with growers in Nelson, Blenheim, Hawke’s Bay and Waiheke Island.  We would like to meet growers in all regions, so if you have an upcoming function or field day and would like to invite the Executive to be represented, then we’d be pleased to attend and meet you all.

From visits to these regions a large flowering has or is being had by most.  This I hope will equate to a large crop and an excellent harvest. 

Prior to the Annual Meeting in October 2009 the previous Executive accepted the resignation of our Executive Officer, Bruce Robertson.  We thank Bruce for making himself available to us until a new appointment is made.  Subsequent to acceptance of Bruce’s resignation we have reviewed the Executive Officer’s role and have agreed to Executive members being directly responsible for portfolios with the Executive Officer now providing administrative support.  A new job description has been developed and the newly formed position is being advertised on our website.

Best wishes for the festive season and the 2010 year. 

Andrew Taylor.

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Executive Portfolios

At the Executive meeting held on 14 November, an Action Plan was discussed and Executive members were allocated the responsibilities set out below :

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Olives NZ Sensory Panel

The Executive of Olives New Zealand is very pleased to inform Members that the International Olive Council has announced that the Olives NZ Sensory Panel has passed the exams for 2009.  On behalf of the members, the Executive congratulates Margaret Edwards and the panelists on their fine achievment and thanks them for their ongoing support and input into our industry. 

This is the fifth consecutive year that the panel has passed the exams and therefore has International Olive Council recognition until October 2010.

As well as having to pass the exams, the panel must also satisfy the International Olive Council that it is the "official" panel for tasting olive oil in New Zealand.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade provided the documentation for this which, was accepted by the International Olive Council.

The panelists wish to record their gratitude for the support of the Sensory Team at Plant and Food Research and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in helping the panel achieve this recognition.

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Obituary - Sir Don Beavan

A pioneer with vision has been lost to our industry…

With sadness we read today the events over the past 24-hours that identified the person taken tragically on the Banks Peninsula in a house fire was our great friend Sir Don Beaven.

I am sure you all will appreciate the tremendous energy and support Sir Don gave to the olive industry in Canterbury and New Zealand over the past 15-years. It was Don’s dedication and commitment that lead our industry to establish the understanding of the health benefits and quality in New Zealand produced extra virgin olive oils that today command respect on the international stage.

Sir Don’s vision established the first tasting panel based in Canterbury when through his connections invited parties from Italy to share with him the enthusiasm others had in the establishment of an olive industry in this country.

It has been widely communicated of Sir Don’s activities in the area of health and the life-long dedication to the research into diabetes on a worldwide front along with the establishment of the wine industry in this country.

I must add they have forgotten to report on Sir Don’s passion for olives with his energies supporting the establishment of the olive industry in this country.

Through Sir Don’s efforts he was one of the first to establish an olive grove in Canterbury and later worked with company Syft Technologies in developing instrumental technology in sensory analysis of extra virgin olive oil. This initial research has lead Syft into other areas of research.

Sir Don’s wisdom has been shared with many olive growers throughout New Zealand and especially Canterbury where he has provided tremendous support to all that have elected to quiz him on his experiences.

Both Sir Don and Lady Gillian supported the olive industry in Canterbury and their dedication in tendering to their small grove in Little Akaloa that produced a small quantity of fruit on an annual basis resulted in keen followers arriving for an annual outing to undertake the harvest.

These included those having worked with Sir Don in the field of diabetes research and speak volumes for the commitment shown towards his efforts in this field. The resulting olive oil was shared between those dedicated parties that followed Sir Don to the annual ritual of harvesting and presenting the olives to the processing company. 

Sir Don’s dedication to his olive grove in Little Akaloa may have been unknown to many, but, at his age we must all admire him for his commitment in meticulously tendering to his patch. For me, it is a sad way to learn of Sir Don’s passing and not now having a call from him and letters offering support and encouragement will be sadly missed.    

It was only last month Sir Don and Lady Gillian attended our annual general meeting with Sir Don rising before the gathering to endorse the efforts of Margaret Edwards who has withdrawn her services from the industry.

Sir Don always showed passion for those who supported the well being of others and for us all we will sorely miss his contribution at our field days and meetings.

For me, and I am sure for all our members, this is a sad way for anyone to end ones life knowing their work in many fields is unfinished.

To Lady Gillian – on behalf of all the members of Olives New Zealand Inc – Canterbury Branch, we extend our deepest sympathies to you and Sir Don’s immediate family at the sad way in which he was taken from us all.

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La Casa Toscana Manzanilla – Best in Show 2009

For the first time at the Olives New Zealand Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards, the trophy for Best in Show was awarded to a South Island entry, namely La Casa Toscana Manzanilla.  In recognition of that feat we feature Gayle & Lionel Sheridan and their olive grove, La Casa Toscana.

Lionel and I established our first olive grove at Pautahanui, just north of Wellington, in 2001. We were living on a 23 acre property which was on a north facing valley overlooking the Pauatahanui inlet. Fabulous views and gorgeous on a sunny day, but exposed to the northerly and southerly winds. The primary reason for living on the property was our family of Irish Setter dogs and we were looking for a way in which to use the land productively.

Lionel was working for Allflex  as EID Business Development Manager, which took him to Europe every few months, and I had a great job as CEO of the Aviation, Tourism and Travel Training Organisation and accompanied him generally twice a year on his trips.  We would add on a week or so to the business trip and our favourite places to visit were Italy, France and Greece.  We loved the Mediterranean lifestyle and the fabulous olive groves – the age/size of the trees, the way in which they cascaded down barren hillsides. So establishing an olive grove was an obvious choice for us and we were fortunate to have access to both the Kapiti and Wairarapa Olive NZ Regional Groups.

Being impatient we prepared and planted the olive grove at the same time as the shelter belts. We planted 400 trees on the flatter areas of the property – Koroneiki, Pendolino, Picholene, Frantoio, Leccino, Picual and Moraiolo.  The trees were staked but the wind was a real problem so in the third year the trees had to be re-staked with three 50 x 50 stakes with surrounding shelter cloth. The trees then became well established and when we left the property in January 2007 the trees were smothered in blossom and subsequently have produced good crops of olives.

We had brought a holiday home in Akaroa in 2004, which we let out to visitors, and used to escape to it monthly. On the way into Akaroa we took great interest in a good sized olive grove that looked at a similar stage of development as ours. We were amazed at the flimsy stakes used but the trees flourished.  We soon decided that we would like to move to Akaroa permanently for a new lifestyle and looked for an olive property which would suit us and the dogs.

We were very fortunate to find a 15 acre property in 2005, already with an olive grove of 250 trees (Barnea, Pendolino, Frantoio, Verdale, Manzanilla) established in 1994, and a vineyard of 350 vines. The property was well sheltered and irrigated. Some of the olive trees were huge owing to a lack of pruning – the Barnea especially being more than 6 metres tall. We had house plans drawn up and put our place in Wellington on the market. At the time the place sold in 2006, Allflex offered Lionel the opportunity to again relocate to the United Kingdom for 2+ years and we headed off to the UK in April 2007.

While we were in the UK the olive grove that we had watched develop came on the market. It was larger than the place we had, being 20 acres with 1100 trees (Frantoio, Manzanilla, Kalamata, Sevillano, Picholene and Uovo de Piccione) plus native woods, springs, ponds and trees. It was similar in aspect to our Wellington property – north facing valley and overlooking the harbour. We also felt that the property had some real differentiating factors from other olive groves:
•    the volcanic soil and temperate climate
•    minimal wind and frost – thus no shelter belts required (minimising  potential for fungi and pests)
•    natural springs - providing adequate in ground moisture so that artificial irrigation was not required
•    free-draining and all day, uninterrupted sun.

We decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up so

La Casa Toscana Olive Grove

Lionel flew back to New Zealand in July 2007 to purchase the property and moved back to New Zealand in September 2008. The property had buildings – a four bay garage used for storing the farm equipment and the processing house which was configured as a large open plan kitchen/dining/ family room plus two bedrooms and a bathroom.  So we were well set up for accommodation until we could get a new home built.

Moving on to the property was well timed as the trees needed pruning and we could make plans for the 2009 harvest, plus there was the 2008 oil for me to sell.  I started selling at the local Markets in late December and started looking at suitable retail outlets. I soon saw that a number of retailers had many brands of NZ olive oil on their shelves and that much of this was fast approaching the ‘expiry’ date or had passed it. It seemed that having too many brands was actually confusing to the customer and subsequent feedback from retailers confirmed this. We decided to be selective as to where our products were stocked and still feel that this is the right decision.

We decided that we wanted to specialise in table olives as well as olive oil, which had driven the original choice of trees. Because we wanted to embark on table olives for the 2009 harvest and wanted this done to proper commercial standards, we decided to outsource the processing.

So to the 2009 harvest. The table olives came on spectacularly with fat, fleshy fruit and the oil olive trees were also laden with fat fruit. However in March we had a hail storm and this marked more than half of the table olives.  The first of the green table olive varieties were ready to harvest the first week in May which coincided with winter arriving and snow down to 300 metres on the surrounding hills. My brother was over from Australia so was roped in to helping us hand pick the olives. This was a painstaking process as each olive had to be examined to ensure it was not hail damaged – the three of us struggled to pick 60kg a day.

We then had a couple of week’s hiatus until the oil olives were ready. Our harvesting team would start at 9.30am with an hour for a sociable lunch and then back into it until daylight faded around 4.30pm. Lionel and I would then load the trailer with the crates of olives and head off to Canterbury Olive Processors in Ohoka, a round trip of about 4 hours. After a week of this we changed to using our local courier which was more cost effective plus saved us the time.

We harvested the Manzanillo first and then the remaining green table olive varieties (Sevillano, Picholene and UDP), the latter which we blended for oil. We also did a trial run with the Frantoio in mid June however the feedback from Graham Keen at Canterbury Olive Processors was that they needed a bit more time which suited well as Lionel had to travel to Europe for a week.

Next came the birds and I  am sure that they would have parties and invite all their friends. They managed to clean out a large number of Frantoio trees, so for us now the challenge was to harvest the remainder before they did. We had also been carefully monitoring the Kalamata trees and the combination of the cold, wet weather and the birds was really frustrating. The birds seemed to know the best trees, which trees we earmarked to pick the next day, and cleaned them out overnight. We ended up with a moderate amount of Kalamata table olives and the balance went into oil.

We had pleasing feedback from Graham in relation to the quality and quantity of EVOO produced from our harvest. In particular the Manzanillo which yielded just under 17%, one of the highest seen in Canterbury.  The canisters of oil came back in July and it was then on to bottling, selling, arranging certification and entering the NZ Olive Oil Awards!

When we went up to the Awards Dinner in October, we had no expectations being a relatively small producer and first time entrants. We were delighted that our Frantoio was first up winning a Silver Medal and then next our Sevillano Blend also won Silver. We were absolutely flabbergasted when our Manzanillo won Gold and then Best in Class. To then go on from there and win the ultimate award of ‘Best in Show’ was just amazing and everyone was so wonderful towards us.

That evening we had more photographs taken than when we got married and the next morning we did our first interview, which was for The Orchardist magazine. 

When we got back to Akaroa the ‘madness’ started.

Gayle & Lionel proudly display the Best in Show Trophy

Ongoing calls requesting interviews and photographs plus people wanting to know where to buy the Best in Show oil. We had actually not started selling the 2009 Manzanillo as we had a small amount of 2008 Manzanillo remaining, so that put the pressure on us to get the bottling underway and the bottles out to our retailers.

We received fabulous media coverage – ZEST in the Christchurch Press, Harbour Bay News, Akaroa Mail, Metropol, Latitude, The Orchardist, special mention by Tamatai Coffey on TV One’s Breakfast program plus various web coverage e.g. Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism, Olives NZ etc. Our local MP, Amy Adams, even sent us a letter of congratulations! There are more mentions due – Cuisine in January and Kia Ora (Air New Zealand’s in-flight magazine) in February.

Our sales of the Best in Show oil have been very strong and our retailers report that it ‘flies off the shelf’! We are fortunate in having a good supply of Best in Show oil to be able to take advantage of the boom in sales.

Where to from here? We already had plans to expand the olive grove but are tempering this with keeping it manageable for us to remain hands-on with minimal additional assistance. Probably we will plant another 500 trees but we have not decided on the variety. It would now seem that, given our success with the Manzanillo and the fact that it has not performed particularly well elsewhere, this would be a logical choice. 2010 will be busy as we need to get the house built and then look at setting up to process the table olives ourselves.

Gayle Sheridan

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New Zealand Gourmet Oil Competition

On Monday 2 November, judges from around the country tasted 53 oils from 35 producers at the New Zealand Gourmet Oil Competition. They awarded 4 Gold Medals, 11 Silver Medals and 21 Bronze Medals.

Creekside – Koroneiki (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), produced by Creekside Olive Estate in Marlborough, was voted by judges as Best in Show. Creekside will receive the Best in Show Trophy and a 12 month subscription to Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor plus a 2009 Australian and New Zealand Olive Industry Directory thanks to Ryan Publications.

Extra virgin olive oils from around the country earned top spots in the competition. Creekside – Koroneiki was also awarded the Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the Best Walnut Oil went to Uncle Joes, Marlborough.

The competition celebrates the success, quality and variety of New Zealand’s gourmet oils and was judged by food industry professionals including Cuisine Magazine Deputy Food Editor Ginny Grant, Senior CPIT Tutor of Professional Cookery Bill Bryce, Sam Marchant and Jamie Bennett of Christchurch Farmers Market plus leading chefs and industry identities Chris Fortune, Jonny Schwass, Michal Haines and Ngaire Baker.

Judging was completed in blind tastings by flights. “Judges like consumers are quick to separate what they like and do not like. Taste does not require a degree in scientific analysis but the ability to look for good flavours and aromas that New Zealand is famed for roducing”, added Fortune.

Judges agreed that the standard of olive oils has improved and is consistently higher through the various categories although there were fewer stand out oils. “The best oils had excellent bouquet and flavour, were well balanced and had lingering finishes. The Best in Show was a delight with its wonderful aroma, light flavours and rounded finish,” commented Grant.

The New Zealand Gourmet Oil Competition is run by the Canterbury A&P Association and all medal winning oils entered in the competition will be on display at the Royal New Zealand Show in Christchurch.

The Royal New Zealand Show runs from 11-13 November at Canterbury Agricultural Park
Christchurch. Attracting 120,000 people, over 7000 livestock and feature competition entries and close to 600 trade exhibitors, plus three full days of entertainment, it is the premier agricultural and pastoral event in the country.

The full results may be viewed by clicking here.

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Around the Regions

Central Otago

Thirty five members gathered at Aurum Winery on 28 November for the annual Long Lunch.  The setting was perfect with tables set up on the lawn outside the tasting room surrounded by a beautiful perennial border.  The weather played its part too with a lovely sunny day and a gentle southerly breeze.

Again an amazing range of dishes had been provided, starting with hors d'ouvres, antipasto platters followed by all manner of hot and cold dishes and finishing with desserts, tea and coffee.

As befits the title the last guests didn't leave until 5:00pm.

Kapiti

A new committee was elected consisting of David Walshaw (Chair), Anne Barnett, Allan Frazer, and Sean Denson.

A program of events has been decided with the first one in early February 2010. This time on plant health and sustainable farming with a surprise topic thrown in.

Our last event for this year was a tasting “without labels or competition” of many oils grown in this region. The most interesting thing was the great range of flavours amongst them.

Hawkes Bay

Hawke’s Bay 2009 EVOO Awards

The Hawke’s Bay branch of Olives NZ held their 2009 annual awards dinner on November 11 at which the medal and competition winners were announced.  The Hawkes Bay's judging panel is completely independent of the olive industry and is headed by two NZ domiciled Italian judges, Jessica Scalzo and Maurizio Rocchetti. Jessica and Maurizio were very complimentary about the world class quality and freshness of Hawkes Bay Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  In an attempt to strengthen and broaden our cohort of skilled judges, the HB branch committee has implemented a structure for EVOO judging ‘apprentices’ to learn from the awards judges.

Twenty three entries were received from Hawke’s Bay growers, with 8 awards given in the Commercial category and 7 in the Boutique category.  Best in the Boutique category went to Lyonmark Estate's 'Picual', whilst the best in the Commercial category was awarded to The Village Press for their 'Frantoio'.  Best in Show went to The Village Press's 'Frantoio.

Field Day

The HB branch of ONZ held a Field Day at Matapiro Olives on November 8.  About 40 people attended and listened to Dr Adrian Spiers from Omnia Primaxa, the developers and distributors of ‘SPOTLESS’, the only product registered in New Zealand for controlling peacock spot.  Andrew Taylor then provided a session on pruning, emphasizing pruning to generate new growth but controlling tree size, which generated a lot of questions and discussion.  John Arthur, from Matapiro Olives, then demonstrated a tree sprayer which sensed trees and only sprayed when there was a tree opposite the spray nozzles, thus preventing spray wastage.  The day finished with a barbeque and refreshments provided by the branch association.

Wairarapa

On Saturday December 5th 34 Branch members convened at Gladstone Vineyard to enjoy a long Christmas Lunch.  A pleasant start with socialising amongst friends with starters and local Rose followed by turkey, roast beef and ham for the main meal and Christmas cake in a crème Brule.
 
Two members, John Laing and Ian Juno, attended the Table Olives Course in Auckland on November 28  arranged by John Bishop for the Auckland and Northland areas.  Simon is an engaging speaker and had everyone's attention as he described the different processes for table olives, the associated regulatory requirements, and the need to plan your marketing  strategy.  For those of you intending to move into Table Olives; if a similar course comes up in your area it is thoroughly recommended.

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News Briefs

Imported oils fail tests

Weekly Times Now - Southbank,Victoria,Australia
Leslie White - October 21, 2009

OLIVE oil consumers continue to be duped as testing shows more than 80 per cent of imported "extra virgin" oils are pretenders.  More

Olive Oil Standards Keep Counterfeits Out of the Kitchen

North American Olive Oil Association Helps States Pass Regulation on Olive Oil Labeling and Production Standards

NEPTUNE, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--It’s no secret olive oil, the delicious staple responsible for the rich flavors and heart-healthy benefits of the Mediterranean diet, is fast becoming dear to the American palate. As demand for this premium product grows, the North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA) and its members want to ensure consumers get what they pay for when buying olive oil. To help achieve that, the NAOOA recently started asking states to adopt the international standard for olive oil.  More

To get the good oil, buy local
Country News
By Jordan Oliver November 9 2009

Liquid gold ... Rod Henry from Greendale Olives in Shepparton is confident smaller olive producers can find their way in a tough market.

Goulburn Valley olive producers have been spruiking the quality of Australian olive oil and have urged consumers to think local when they're at the supermarket.  More

Influence of Vertical Centrifugation on Extra Virgin Olive Oil Quality
Journal    Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publisher    Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
ISSN    0003-021X (Print) 1558-9331 (Online)
Issue    Volume 86, Number 11 / November, 2009

Abstract  The qualitative effects of vertical centrifugation (VC), i.e., the last step of the extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) extraction process, were investigated on an industrial scale by sampling EVOOs before and after VC. Several parameters were determined to evaluate EVOO quality. Vertical centrifugation results in a marked loss of volatile aromatic compounds, whereas only a slightly variation was recorded in the hydrophilic phenols concentration.  More

How long should olives be conserved before pressing them?
Teatro Naturale - Milano,Italy
... which is the limit for the definition of an extra virgin oil, ... Montedoro found that the Leccino olive reacts better than the Moraiolo olives, ...  More

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Coming Events

February 2010 - Wairarapa.  It is planned to have an informal get together with our President Andrew Taylor to discuss everything olive possibly over  beer, wines and pizza's at the Norfolk Road pizza joint in Masterton.

February 2010 - Kapiti.  A field day on the topic of plant health and sustainable farming with a surprise topic thrown in.

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