Varieties & care

La Grue Olives cultivates the varieties Kalamata, Leccino, Coratina Pendulino and Taggiasca, mostly chosen for their oil yield characteristics but 150 Kalamata trees allow some scope for pickling table olives [green or black] when desired. The trees have responded well to the good drainage and soil chemical balance at Gruyere and the cold but not excessively frosty winters resemble the Mediterranean environment where olives are grown in the northern hemisphere. Cold air drainage ensures that the trees are not frost struck late in Spring when they are flowering or setting fruit. Pelletised natural manure is applied around each tree annually.

Mechanical Harvesting.