Olive Press Central Otago

10/05/2025

Opening day is Monday.

07/04/2025

The Community Day is happening again - mark your calendar **Saturday 17 May**

Amateur olive growers in Central Otago will gather on May 17 for a Community Press Day, turning their harvest into extra virgin olive oil. Hosted by Olive Press Central Otago, the event welcomes all local growers.

29/10/2024

A great result for an oil OPCO press!

There's gold in the Central Otago hills — and, for one couple, in their oil too. Awanui Olive Oil owners Michael and Jannette Hope, of Alexandra,...

15/10/2024

A silver medal for the 2024 Community Day Oil at the NZ Olives Awards 💃💃👌👌

18/07/2024

Growing Olives in Central Otago

The oldest olive trees in Central Otago are located in Bannockburn, just outside Cromwell, and are about 30 years old. However, the vast majority are 10-15 years in age, with more trees being planted in recent years by small growers.
The main varieties grown in the region are Frantoio, Leccino, Pendolino, and a few Barnea, Minerva thrown in along with some table olive varieties. Frantoio & Leccino are by far the most popular as people, primarily planted for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) production. These are the most frost-tolerant, which is crucial for oil production in our southern climate.
The primary planting area is the Cromwell basin, with a few lifestyle blocks in Wanaka and surrounds, and Alexandra. In recent years we’ve also pressed a small amount of fruit from a grower in Te Anau. While half a dozen sell their oils, most people harvest their olives for personal oil consumption.
Similar to growing grapes in a cool climate, olive growing is “on the climate limits”, striving to achieve ripeness before the winter frosts. This results in oils with high polyphenol counts and intense peppery flavours. With an average of 10-15kg per tree and a typical oil yield of 12-15% (on a good day), our costs of production are higher than other NZ regions. In 2023 our processing facility processed 70 tonnes of olives, with 60 tonnes harvested by handheld olive tools!
Our region benefits from low disease pressure thanks to a very dry climate, low annual rainfall, cold winters and summers of hot days and cool nights. Consequently, we use minimal inputs and no spray on the trees.
This season….a hot dry summer made irrigation essential. While most groves had good fruit sets, overall fruit quantities were lower than last year. Early May brought a series of severe frosts over days, with temperatures dropping below -5°C in the coldest areas. This significantly impacted yields, leading to a reduced oil production this year. Many of our processing customers experienced a 10-30% decrease in their harvest.
Olivia Morris at Ollie's Olive Oil

17/05/2024

Yes we are still on for todays event!

17/05/2024

It’s going to be cold tomorrow for those coming to the Community Day but we are still going ahead. OPCO customers - drop offs after 3pm please. 🙏

14/05/2024

Information on this weekends Community Day on the link :

On Saturday, 18th of May 2024 COOG will be running the Community Pressing Day at 125 Smiths Way, Pisa, Cromwell - Time 10:30am to 2pm. See the Olive Press operating. The EVOO Olive Oil will be racked, then stored, and then bottled in late July/August and then be ready for distribution!!

12/05/2024

Just reposting this ;)

10/05/2024

If you squeeze the fruit and clear, brownish juice comes out the olive is frosted. If its' greenish and milky pulp coloured then you're good to go, bring them in. The shrivel is not an issue on the outside, it's just dehydrated from the cold. Tolerance for pressing is maximum 10% frosted olives - more than that taints the flavour so we don't press them.

Happy picking!

26/04/2024

We will be selling Ollie's Olive Oil at the The Arrowtown Autumn Festival tomorrow - come and say hi and ask us a question about the upcoming harvest if you have one!

05/04/2024

Great to see our friends Dunford Grove featured in Kia Ora magazine!