De Rustica Estates was established by Mr. Rob Still, a successful mining entrepreneur, shortly after his 50th birthday. His vision was to uplift and make a meaningful contribution, driven by a passion for creating something uniquely South African. Inspired by his love for trees and a deep fondness for olive oil, Mr. Still drew on his memories of accompanying his landscape gardener mother, Beth Still, to various gardens in Johannesburg during his childhood.
Through thorough research and soil analysis, it was revealed that the Klein Karoo region, with its cold winters and warm summers, was the ideal environment for his olive trees. The final choice was De Rust, nestled beneath the Swartberg Mountain, where pure water flows down the slopes. This location offered the perfect canvas for his endeavour, combining his knowledge of trees, his passion for olive oil, and a commitment to crafting something exceptional.
The area, in which De Rustica is situated, lends itself to quality olive oil production. Good, clean, fresh water comes from the Swartberg mountains, which is our catchment area. The catchment area is also situated within an Eco reserve with no human developments and associated environmental impact. Water, through the Nels River, is moved via gravity over a distance of approximately 12kms, covering De Rustica’s irrigation needs.
Cold, rainy winters and warm summers contribute to the ideal terroir for growing olives and producing world acclaimed extra virgin olive oil.
First and foremost, we produce and present quality EVOO as a final product. Associated with our EVOO, we provide education and an olive experience through our Showroom, olive-tours, olive-tastings and food-pairing. Other offerings through the Showroom include sales and a daily menu.
On our extensive sheep-operation, we provide a half lamb-in-a-box for sale through our own abattoir on De Rustica Estates. This is also available at our De Rustica Showroom and is a favourite for those searching for “farm-to-fork”, pre-packed and vacuum sealed lamb.
De Rustica also provides guest accommodation through Asher Stable Stay, which provides a real farm-feel and countryside experience.
De Rustica’s uniqueness can be found in our push for progress and growth in all aspects of the operation. The constant search for better cultivars, adapting farming practices to changing environments, and anticipating future needs is relevant not only to nature, but also to our market and socio-economic conditions within which we function. Although we are striving for perfection, we realise that progress can only be achieved through moments and periods of imperfection.
This philosophy ensures our production process remains agile and well-prepared.
De Rustica’s value system, heavily based on quality at all cost. This allows us to be small, yet also large in the range of our offerings, especially in terms of a farming operation in the Little-Karoo. This value system is represented in every product presented by De Rustica.
De Rustica will never be able to compete globally in terms of volume. However, we are competing globally in terms of our superior quality. That is the market-segment that we are positioning ourselves in, supported by being voted “Best in the World” for our Coratina, at the 2023 international EVOOLEUM Awards in Spain.
South Africa and USA.
We prioritize proven success before communicating innovations. Our focus is on environmentally friendly solutions and expanding offerings to meet the needs of the growing market interested in De Rustica and its offerings.
Contact person: Precilla Steenkamp
Email Address: precilla@derustica.co.za
Contact Number: (+27)82 557 1757 / (+27) 44 241 2177
Website: https://www.derustica.co.za
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derustica/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derusticaolive/
Oakhurst Olives is situated on the beautiful mountain slopes of Tulbagh, the farm and climate is ideal for Olive cultivation with hot summers, and cold winters, these conditions, together with relative isolation, suppress pests and diseases allowing for minimal chemical spray interventions. Oakhurst was planned and developed from inception with the goal of producing the best quality table olives and olive oil available, so cultivar choice and orchard layout favoured Kalamata as the main cultivar, and the best international cultivars for olive oil as pollinators. Orchards were laid out according to modern sustainable intensive methods where trees are kept small for easy harvesting by hand, and all natural resources are used as efficiently as possible. Olive oil mill waste is returned to the orchard directly after pressing and spread in a thin layer on the soil as valuable organic matter, reducing the carbon footprint.
Oakhurst’s orchards, oil mill and processing facilities are just the right size to be owner managed efficiently with the necessary attention to detail ensuring top quality products and happy staff, as well as a minimal carbon footprint. The Olives are hand-picked and most production processes are done by hand on site to ensure top quality products as well as supplying much needed income to local families. Oakhurst is passionate about producing a product that consumers will enjoy, as well as giving them assurance of purity and health benefits.
Oakhurst uses only salt and water in the curing process of the Kalamata Olives. The water is sourced from the farm and is of such good quality no treatment is required, resulting in a healthy, pure tasting product. Water quality as well as the natural fermentation process is attributed to the success of the table olives.
Oakhurst caters for a broad demographic, from the luxury market to every day and restaurant use, the Olives can also be found in salads on international flights! Only positive feedback on the products has been received, which can be attributed to the hands-on approach to production and insistence on continued uniformity of quality.
Oakhurst has a unique Tasting Room where prospective customers and members of the public can experience a Tutored Tasting. The Tasting includes all the products produced, as well as much needed information about the emerging Olive and Olive Oil market in South Africa.
Contact details:
Contact person: Charmaine Doubell
Email Address: admin@oakhurstolives.co.za
Contact Number: +27(0)23 230 0842
Website: https://oakhurstolives.co.za
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oakhurstolives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oakhurstolives
The Falcon’s Nest Farm in the Blaauwklippen Valley of the Stellenbosch Mountains is home to Perry and Karen Chaloner, where they produce their award-winning Olive Oils and other artisanal products. When they purchased the farm in 1992, there was nothing apart from an expanse of land overgrown with alien vegetation. After seven years of hard work and patience, the farm started to flourish with fruit trees bearing olives, plums, lemons and Seville Oranges.
As well as enjoying a Mediterranean climate perfectly suited to cultivating olives, the farm falls within a temperate microclimate region that’s unique to Stellenbosch. While this means lower yields, the spin-off benefit is enhanced taste. Another distinguishing feature of the farm’s site is its decomposed granite soils, which lend the olive oils their diverse and unusual flavours.
Over the past two decades, the initial half hectare of olive trees has grown to 7 and includes nine different varietals. Each is bottled individually, as well as various cultivars blended to produce the Chaloner EVOO Mountain oil and The Peregrine Limited edition oil.
Perry Chaloner is the man behind the Chaloner range of artisanal products. He began experimenting with traditional jam recipes using the fruits that were flourishing on his 14-hectare farm to create preserves and tapenades with unique flavour combinations. He shared his creations with friends and family, and their response was overwhelmingly positive and encouraging. And so, based on the finest farm-grown ingredients, the range of innovative, hand-crafted, premium quality products was developed.
Our Olive & Chilli Marmalade and our single varietal olive oils. We are one of the few farms that have nine different olive cultivars. Giving us a wonderful selection of oils to blend. All our products are handcrafted and made with passion for quality over quantity. Our flavour combinations are unique, and we source locally and produce seasonally where possible. Our products are all small-batch produced, authentically. We have full traceability on all ingredients and employ sustainable purchasing practices. We minimize waste through the recovery and recycling of materials, we implement energy efficiency measures, and have a pollution prevention policy. Furthermore, we value the earth, as much as creating premium quality artisanal products.
Chaloner started very small, 30 years ago, and we have stayed true to our ethos, building our brand by word of mouth. We are a small, passionate team that all buy in to the philosophy of the brand. Building slowly and being consistent, credible and conscious.
Chaloner–lovers are discerning and appreciate quality, artisanal products and are passionate about taste and flavour. They are very conscious of ingredients and the environment.
We have shipped all over the world. From America to Asia, UK to New Zealand as well Europe.
Chaloner’s philosophy is: simply no compromise, so we are constantly innovating, staying on trends and reengineering. And being a small, dynamic team, we are able to react to market trends quickly.
Contact person: Keyoma Kriel
Email Address: retail@chaloner.co.za
Contact Number: +27 (0)76 1590 750
Website: https://www.chaloner.co.za
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Chaloner.preserves/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chaloner_sa/
After twenty years of living in Central Africa, we decided to come back to South Africa. It was 2010 and the country was flourishing in the glory of the all that came with hosting the world cup! The estate, RIO LARGO was for sale, and Nick was excited to buy into a product that he knew had changed his health many years back after a trip to his GP, who stated that he should consume more extra virgin olive oil to lower his blood pressure!
So we became the proud owners in June 2010. Nick found himself passionately blending the oils harvested in that year and put together a winning formula - which won him DOUBLE GOLD at the SA OLIVE Awards. It put a spring in his walk and he decided to put all his energy into producing a quality olive oil, so he went off to University of California Davis Campus to study a master milling course and has since produced fabulous award-winning olive oils we love to share…
RIO LARGO, a privately owned estate in South Africa, comprises olive orchards, vines and a MORI TEM olive processing and bottling plant. RIO LARGO EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL is a blend of cultivars (FS17, Frantoio, Leccino and Coratino) grown, handpicked, pressed, and bottled on the estate. Oils are individually tasted from single cultivar tanks before blending to achieve a delicious fruity oil, which has won top local and international awards in New York, Italy, Japan, France and the Middle East since 2010. RIO LARGO adopts biological farming methods for sustainable agriculture by “putting more back than you take out” together with overall concern for protecting the environment for future generations.
Our innovative decanters of bag in box on tap, in a wonderful array of designs to suit, filled with that delicious award-winning extra virgin olive oil, fresh until the last drop!
Attention to detail EVERY STEP of the way, and cleanliness! The real secret is that Nick is hands-on and does it all …
Consistent quality olive oil which we are told is delicious, shared in innovative decanters on tap which ensures that quality till the last drop. We pack to order…storing our olive oil in large stainless steel decanters by cultivar under liquid nitrogen in air-conditioned premises.
Oh- who does not love Rio Largo! We are found in so many kitchens…as it does not matter what creed, colour, age or sex - everyone loves a quality EVOO!! We often get feedback that the consumer is surprised at how delicious our olive oil is…all the time!
We share RIO LARGO with consumers across the globe. The world is discovering how fabulous RIO LARGO is – a world-class extra virgin olive oil, at prices they can well afford! A win-win on all sides, and we have fresh olive oil from the Southern Hemisphere in the Northern Hemisphere summers….
Too many to mention here, but North and South; East And West…RIO LARGO is BEST!
Please tell us if you have any innovations in the pipeline for the future.
More innovative packaging! Watch this space….
Contact person: Brenda Wilkinson
Email Address: brenda@riolargo.co.za
Contact Number: +27 (0)82 3406 726
Website: https://www.riolargo.co.za
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RioLargoOliveEstate
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riolargooliveestate/
Nick and Brenda Wilkinson bought the RIO LARGO Olive Estate in the Scherpenheuwel Valley in 2010. Nick is a chartered accountant with a reputation for transforming ailing agricultural businesses, and Brenda is a marketing specialist. Their combined experience of more than 20 years working in Central and Southern Africa was put to excellent use to establish this award-winning estate.
Nick explains: “South African olive oils can compete with the best of the best, as evidenced by us winning top awards in international olive oil competitions across the globe. We are a relatively small producer, but we have modern processing equipment and relatively new groves planted to the best modern cultivars. Most olives are handpicked (cleaner than machine harvested) and processed within hours to achieve high quality. Our dry climate, with hot days and cool nights, coupled with modern irrigation systems, makes for an ideal platform for producing high-quality fruit.”
When asked what they intend to do in the future to stay up to date quality-wise, Nick replied: “We will keep abreast of trends across the globe, but having won awards consistently since 2010, we do not intend to let our consumers down. The plan is to increase our footprint both locally and internationally, and consistently produce world-class premium quality olive oil.”
We asked Nick where he saw South African olive oil on the global stage, and he replied: “For me, it is difficult to say, but South Africa has 11 oil producers that are part of the Top 500 Olive Oils of the World in the FLOS OLEI Guide from Italy, which pretty much sums it up”. South Africa’s position globally was self-evident in the stellar results achieved by producers like RIO LARGO, which were competing with olive oils from around the globe.
RIO LARGO can be found in South Africa and a few countries abroad, including the USA, Dubai, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan.
Contact person: Nick and Brenda Wilkinson
Email address: info@riolargo.co.za
Contact number: 082 688 0578
Website address: https://www.riolargo.co.za/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rio-Largo-Olive-Estate/1104523726259747
Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/riolargooliveestate/
We spoke to Hester de Wet, the Technical Manager at Willow Creek Olive Estate, to find out more about the secret to their success.
My name is Hester de Wet, and I am the technical manager at Willow Creek . I am responsible for maintaining our FSSC 22000 food safety system as well as a practical health and safety system. Apart from these two systems, I am also responsible for ensuring a top-quality products and new product development.
Our first trees were planted in 1999 and we pressed our first extra virgin olive oil in 2002. Our farm boasts approximately 160 000 trees over 200 hectares of well-irrigated and fertile soil.
We have since 2002 increased our pressing capacity from 40 kg raw olives per hour to 5 - 6 tons per hour with our state-of-the-art Leopard 8 Pieralisie machine! In effect, we went from producing 25 L per day to 16 000 L.
What makes Willow Creek Olive Estate special is the dedication to our products. Our Master Oil Maker, Francois Cilliers, has been with the company from the start. With over 20 years of olive oil experience, his passion and commitment are evident in all the awards we have won over the past decades. We are not just blessed with Francois, but with his wife, Esolda, as well. She has started at the very bottom as a factory floor worker, and now she’s our very capable Production Manager!
What do you think are some of the unique products you have?
Our Estate Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a truly special product in two distinct ways. Firstly, the extra virgin olive oil is a beautifully balanced medium intensity oil that wins numerous awards locally and internationally every year. Secondly, it’s packed in a very innovative way! The oil is packed in a lightweight, dark PET bottle that contains an Oxygen Scavenger & UV Barrier that provides the same protection as glass. This patented bottle is squeezable and has a drip-free nozzle that allows perfect portion control every time.
We believe in “want not, waste not”, so every single piece of the olive is used. During the oil pressing process, all our pulp is dried out and reused as compost, along with the twigs and leaves. The pips that are generated during the de-pitting process of fermented table olives are dried out and used as fuel in the water-heater of the olive oil pressing machine.
At Willow Creek Olive Estate, we utilise each person’s strengths to the utmost. Although we believe that everyone should work on their weaknesses, we believe even more strongly that each individual provides a different skill set and we rely on these individuals’ skills as much as possible.
Our products are for the medium to high LSM markets, as it is a luxury product. We have received very positive feedback, especially on the flavoured olive oils. They are always a hit! The market is also very impressed with our Gifting Range, and we have seen an increase of more than 200% in the range!
We are a local producer, but we remain an international player – our awards won worldwide can attest to that. We are slowly but surely making our break globally, with many projects in the pipeline to export.
In which countries can your products be found?
We have a few clients in Belgium, the UAE, Botswana, and Namibia, but we are exploring more routes to satisfy even more consumers!
We recently launched three Single Cultivar Extra Virgin Olive Oil varieties, namely Mission, Frantoio, and Coratina, as well as a Fig Dressing made from our homemade, naturally fermented fig vinegar and award-winning extra virgin olive oil. Currently, we are exploring some exciting packaging material and an upgrade to our Gifting Range!
Contact person: Hester de Wet
Email address: hesterdw@willowcreek.co.za
Contact number: 023 342 5793
Website address: https://www.willowcreek.co.za
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WillowCreekOliveEstate
Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/willowcreekoliveestate/
Oakhurst Olives was one of the top performers at the 2021 Olive and Olive oil Awards. We asked owner Pieter du Toit to tell us about Oakhurst Olives.
Lemoendrif in Tulbagh was a run-down peach farm in a beautiful corner of the Tulbagh valley when I first set my eyes on it in 2004. With a background in property management, I saw the potential of this site to satisfy my passion for creating a high-quality food product and bought the farm. Soon afterwards, Oakhurst Olives were established with inputs from the best expertise available locally and internationally and converted into a state-of-the-art showcase olive production unit. Oakhurst’s orchards, oil mill, and processing facilities are just the right size to be owner-managed efficiently with the necessary attention to detail.
Oakhurst olives is now on the map as the go-to company for premium quality olive products. This is evident from the 27500 Facebook followers, 5000 hits on Google every month with associated website sales, and the popularity of the stunning on-site Tasting Room and sales facility. Oakhurst supplies national restaurant chains, 80% of the 5-star hotels, and top restaurants in the greater Cape Town area.
Oakhurst’s high lying situation on the slopes of Winterhoek mountains provides an ideal climate for quality olive production due to the cold winters, mild springs, long autumns, hot summers, and abundance of fresh mountain water. These conditions, together with relative isolation, suppress pests and diseases, and consequently minimal chemical spray interventions.
Oakhurst was planned and developed from inception to produce the best quality table olives and olive oil available, so cultivar choice and orchard layout favoured Kalamata as the main cultivar and the best international cultivars for olive oil as pollinisers. Orchards were laid out according to modern sustainable intensive methods where trees are kept small for easy harvesting by hand, and all-natural resources are used as efficiently as possible. Olive oil mill waste is returned to the orchard directly after pressing and spread in a thin layer on the soil as valuable organic matter, reducing the carbon footprint.
We currently have 32 permanent farm workers. We strive to provide the best environment and assistance for our staff. We run a mentorship programme through the SA Olive Association, and much to our delight, Carmelita Brink, one of the Mentees, won the 2021 SA Olive Worker of the Year award.
In addition, during harvesting time, we employ an additional 40 seasonal workers to assist with the picking. Olive harvesting falls after the grape harvest has ended, enabling the seasonal workers to continue earning an income.
Oakhurst Kalamata table olives are produced from the genuine sought-after Kalamata cultivar, a firm, meaty olive with a delicious flavour and texture, and attractive aubergine colour, ideal for natural slow processing according to traditional fermentation. Ripe fresh olives which are too bitter to be edible when harvested are transformed into this most delicious product by a natural controlled fermentation process in a salt brine, where, over the course of a year, fruit sugar is slowly transformed into acid, by selected yeasts. This acidity is then able to preserve the fruit without the need for any added artificial preservatives or pasteurisation.
Contact person: Charmaine Doubell
E-mail address: admin@oakhurstolives.co.za
Contact Number: 023 – 230 0842
Website Address: https://www.oakhurstolives.co.za
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/oakhurstolives
Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/oakhurstolives