olives101OLIVE NEWS & INFORMATION

Every olive on earth, and the oil it becomes.

An encyclopedia, true stories the sellers won’t tell you, and notes in two languages. From someone who spent twenty years in the trade and has nothing left to sell.

The centerpiece

The oldest olive tree in the world

In a village in Crete stands an olive tree perhaps 4,000 years old — still making olives. A timeline of everything it has outlived… and the one thing that might finally get it.

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Latest articles · les dernières

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EN

An Early Warning: Spain Sells Down Fast as the Bloom Falters

In June 2026, cheap oil is everywhere — but Spain has already sold most of this year’s crop, and early field data points to a poor…

EN

“Bottled in Italy” Doesn’t Mean What You Think

The three most valuable words in olive oil tell you where the glass was filled — not where the olives grew.

EN

Why Olive Oil Prices Spiked

Olive oil hit record prices in 2023–24 because of drought in the Mediterranean — but olives grow on five continents now (California, Texas, Australia, NZ, Chile,…

EN

In Focus: The Picholine Olive

France’s classic green table olive, the slim Picholine is firm, crisp and faintly nutty — the green olive of the French aperitif.

EN

Year’s End 2025: Cheap Oil and Hard Questions

As 2025 closed, the cupboards were full and prices low — but cheap Tunisian imports and below-cost farming had the industry asking what a fair market…

EN

How South Africa Makes Its Oil

Hand-tended Cape estates, fast modern mills and a competition culture — how South Africa makes such fresh, award-winning oil.

EN

In Focus: The Arbequina Olive

Catalonia’s small, sweet olive gives the soft, buttery oil that won the world over — and now grows on every continent.

EN

South Africa’s Signature Oils

Small-batch and competition-proven, South African oils run fresh and well-balanced from Cape wine country — here’s the house style.

EN

In Focus: The Gordal Olive

Seville’s giant green olive, the meaty Gordal — the ‘fat one’ — is the showpiece of the Spanish aperitif.

EN

Record Output, Record Exports — and Growers in the Red

By late 2025, Spain was producing and exporting at record levels — yet its growers tallied some €1.9 billion in losses, selling below cost for a…

EN

A Grower’s Map of South Africa

Centred on the Western Cape, South Africa’s small but award-winning olive scene grows in wine country — here’s where and why.

EN

In Focus: The Manzanilla Olive

The world’s favourite green table olive, Seville’s Manzanilla is the firm, nutty olive in countless jars — often stuffed with pimiento.

The exposés · what the sellers don’t tell you

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The encyclopedia · one page per olive

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❀ The lavender room

Its beauty, its origins, its history — the varieties, the fields, the pictures.

“What does lavender have to do with olives? Well — I’m glad you asked. I just love both, and to me they’re the perfect match.”

Step into the lavender room →