COLOR: intense and brilliant green.
AROMA: very intense and persistent, fruity, and with notes of olives at the moment of their crushing.
FLAVOR: elegant and fruity, with a marked piquancy which gradually, after a few months, becomes smoother on the palate.
The olives, grown in carefully selected groves, were entirely hand-picked before they became overly ripe and were exclusively milled, no more than 18 hours after picking, in the farm’s own olive mill. The cycle which transformed the olives into oil began with the elimination of the leaves by a vacuum machine and then milling with small hammers. The olive paste obtained was then emulsified by means of a machine which operated for ten to fifteen minutes per batch at temperatures of 72-76° Fahrenheit (20-22° centigrade). The particles of oil then began to unite and separate from the other parts of the olive paste. The following phase was that of the extraction itself, obtained by means of a two-phase decanter; the process, accordingly, took place at low temperatures and without the addition of water in order to bring out, without dilution, all of the aromas and flavors of the olives of this Laudemio oil. The conservation and the natural decantation (which cleans and purifies the olive oil) took place in small stainless steel tanks under the protection of an inert gas. Finally, the Laudemio oil thus produced, after approval by a select tasting commission whose work is part of the rules and regulations governing the Laudemio producers consortium, was further selected by the house in order to insure the highest possible quality standards. The oil was then bottled in specially designed and typical 500 milliliter (half liter) bottles.
In 1990 a Consortium was created to give greater visibility and prestige to the olive oil of Central Tuscany through a series of severe rules and regulations for the new Laudemio olive oil. The significance of these rules and regulations, which the producers who belong to the Consortium have imposed on their estates and their work and which distinguish them in their sector, is based on the following fundamental norms: production from olives grown exclusively in the area of Central Tuscany as defined by decrees of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forest Resources; classification of the groves on the basis of the soil, the varieties cultivated, the date and the planting criteria of the grove, and the cultivation methods practiced; precise and official rolls for the registration of the groves; control of the entire production cycle and the methods utilized, from cultivation practices all the way to the bottling of the “Laudemio” oil.
