“V” from Fattoria di Volmiano in Calenzano is Italy's finest organic IGP extra virgin olive oil

“V” from Fattoria di Volmiano in Calenzano

is Italy's finest organic IGP extra virgin olive oil

The Gambero Rosso “Guida Oli d'Italia 2021” bestows its highest accolade on the organic oil produced on the hillside of Monte Morello, owned by the Marchesi Gondi

Florence, 22 March 2021 – Italy's finest IGP oil is Florentine. The Gambero Rosso Guida Oli d'Italia 2021, now in its eleventh edition, has awarded the Tre Foglie and the special prize – its highest accolade – to “V”, the organic extra virgin oil produced for the first time with the new TEM mill, in 2020, by the historic Fattoria di Volmiano, set on the northern slope of Monte Morello in Calenzano and owned by the Marchesi Gondi.

“V” – Igp Toscano Colline di Firenze is born in olive groves lying between 300 and 600 metres above sea level: 80 dedicated hectares in which 22,000 olive trees are cultivated according to organic farming protocols.

Its composition is 70% Frantoio, 10% Moraiolo, 10% Leccino and 10% other Tuscan varieties. The result is an organic extra virgin olive oil, cold-extracted using oxygen-depletion technology and therefore high in polyphenols, with unique aromatic notes and flavours that owe much to the character of the land in which it is born and to a particularly favourable season.

“The elegant scents of fresh olive and lettuce speak of the balance of spring 2020,” explains Lapo Gondi of Fattoria di Volmiano, “while the bitter notes of cardoon and chicory capture the wide temperature swing between night and day that we saw last summer and remind us of the ‘green’ that we tend with respect and care. The spicy notes of marjoram, closing on a pleasant, clean pungency, refresh the palate and tell of autumn 2020, a seasonal pattern perfect for olive growing. Ours is heroic farming,” Gondi concludes. “At Volmiano we chose to sacrifice quantity in favour of a singular quality, one that makes every oil produced here unique and inimitable. Like our “V”, which today is honoured with this coveted recognition from Gambero Rosso.”

Fattoria di Volmiano is one of the properties of the Marchesi Gondi, an ancient Florentine family documented as far back as the days of Charlemagne.

The estate extends over 550 hectares of steep terrain: rocky plateaux surrounded by coppice and high forest ranging from 250 to 1,000 metres, rising to one of the three peaks of Monte Morello before descending into cool valleys.

A landscape of rare distinction with a long history behind it, in a territory known since the Middle Ages for its oil production and largely designated a SIC, a site of Community importance.