Issue 4: Fall 2014 - A non-harvest in Tuscany, Italy

What happens when all efforts fail?

I didn’t matter if you were Guido Tinnaci, a farmer in San Gimignano with his small family grove of 500 trees or the giant estate of the Principe Cortini in Chianti with 73 hectares of olive trees and their own press.....the story was the same. Weather and pests had conspired to almost totally shut down production of olive oil from this region in Italy this year. Many olives were still on the trees. Some presses opened for two weeks, others not at all. With the hundreds of hours and large sums of money wasted, we could have expected our visit to be met by anger, frustration or bitterness. Instead, the people we spoke with had a longer view of the process, and were much more resigned to the fact that this year, they in fact would not be producing the oil. Guido admitted that he had not produced enough for even his family to enjoy. The office guide at Villa Cortini said that oil would have to be imported.
“It’s been a disastrous year, but at least we won’t starve...” 
To read more, open the Tuscany Newsletter.