Name of the oil: Andante Intenso
Style: Intense

Cultivars used for this oil: Nocellara del Belice
Litres produced: 4500 lt

Tasting notes: Intensely aromatic green olive, artichoke, and green tomato scents, with notes of fresh walnuts. Mildly bitter, latent persistent spice. Balanced, complex.

Best paired with which food: Great all-rounder. Excellent with tomato-based dishes, pasta sauces, tomato, rocket and parmesan salad. All meat dishes. Particularly good with rare T-bone or sirloin steak, done a la Fiorentina. We marinate cleaned sheep’s tails in it, before preparation. Exciting with vanilla ice-cream and a small twist of rock salt (credit to Sue Langstaff). Delicious in rooibos tea (instead of milk) – it brings out the aroma beautifully.

Producer history: Andante Extra Virgin Olive Oil (evoo) is made from olives grown on the Wêreldsgeluk Olive Estate, owned by Willie and Lisa Duminy’s family trust. It is situated near Porterville, North-East of Cape Town.

The first trees were planted in March 2006. There are now 36 hectares under intensive cultivation, with about 35 000 trees of 8 cultivars. They are Nocellara del Belice from which our award-winning Andante Intenso, Frantoio, Leccino, Coratina, Favolosa, Mission, Kalamata and Koroneiki.

Cultivation, harvest timing and milling are directed at producing the finest premium quality evoo, with a focus on complex, harmonious flavours, and maximising biophenols and mono-unsaturated fats for their extraordinary culinary and health benefits.

Farming practices are science-based, ethical, sustainable, and natural where possible, to promote soil life and health. Pest control is by integrated pest management (IPM). Pest populations are monitored and controlled with natural predators, not pesticides, which have not been used since 2006. Drip irrigation and accurate sub-soil monitoring are used for responsible and precise water management.

All evoo is cold-extracted with a MORI-TEM “Cultivar” mill. No artificial additives are used, and opportunities for unwanted oxidation avoided. Immediate filtration achieves a balance between optimal purification, maximum flavour and biophenol preservation.

Short introduction to the oil maker & his/her comment on the 2020 harvest: In 2020, the oil was made by Jan Hendrik Basson. He has managed the farm from inception. He has made oil since about 2010, in collaboration with Willie Duminy, and mentored by Giorgio Mori and Guido Testi (from Mori TEM), pays meticulous attention to the cleanliness of the press and the care of the olives and oil. Temperature is carefully controlled and monitored throughout the process.

Available in bottles of 2 liters, 750ml and 250ml.