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News &
Events
Award Winning Oils for 2009 •
2009 Product range now released
• River Estate now has four ONZ
certified oils • Seasonal
comment Winter/Spring 2009
Archives
River Estate Award Winning 2008 Oils
• Vinnies Restaurant Prestigous
Win • Meet us at the Markets
Vinnies Restaurant • Royal
New Zealand Show Awards for River Estate 2007
River
Estate Award Winning 2009 oils
 River
Estate Frantoio was awarded a Gold medal and
‘BEST in Class’ for light oils at the
OlivesNZ Awards in October 2009.
Silver medal was awarded to the River Estate
Tuscan Blend in the medium class oils for the
same competition.
Light oils for the competition are determined by no
bitterness or pungency and generally are made from very
ripe olives. The oils are expected to be complex and
very balanced.
Medium oils for the competition are determined by some
grassy or herbaceous aromas with some level of pungency,
which is in harmony with the fruity flavours.
2009
Product range
River Estate have released the 2009 range of oils -
click here for product range
and to order.
ONZ certified
Oil – certified Extra Virgin
You will notice that four of our 2009 oils now have
a red label displaying that the oil is 'ONZ certified
oil'. This is verification that the olive oil is indeed
Extra Virgin, in every sense.
To receive this 'red label' the oils are firstly laboratory
tested first to ensure they meet the chemical composition
required by Olives NZ.
They are then tasted by specially convened sensory tasting
panel, looking for fruitiness, flavours, complexity,
intensity and no defects.
This panel is authorised by the International Olive
Oil Council who blind test the panel at frequent intervals,
to ensure their accreditation to the International Council.
We submitted 4 oils, Frantoio, Tuscan Blend, Koroneiki
and Picual to the Olives NZ sensory panel where they
have been certified as medium intensity oils.
To meet the NZ standard the chemical
analysis must be less than 0.5% Oleic acid measured
as free fatty acid and less than 15 meg/kg peroxide
content. The International standard is less than 0.8%
free fatty acid and 20 meg/kg peroxide.
Our olive oils have tested low around the 0.06 to 0.13
with one at 0.43% (which is unusually high for us) free
fatty acids and 4.8 to 10.5 peroxide, which is well
within the NZ standard, by laboratory testing. The high
value this year is due the heavy early frosts we encountered
before they were ready to harvest.
Seasonal
Comments Winter/Spring 2009
This year we had an early winter with a number of heavy
frosts in May and June. The winter was relatively dry
but the rains arrived with vengeance in the Spring.
The warm temperatures in August had us pruning in summer
clothing, but the colder Spring temperatures had us
back in our winter clothing. A few more frosts arrived
in September to remind us that winter is still lingering
about.
We carried more severe pruning again this winter, to
ultimately shape the trees for mechanical harvesting
by tree shakers. This will take approximately three
years to have the trees shaped for mechanical harvesting,
being an on-going process within the grove management.
Even the trees are confused with the seasons and our
estimation is that the flowering will be approximately
a month late, judging by the late arrival of buds and
the size of them.
Chemlali is showing huge amounts of bud on the remaining
trees that were not severely pruned this winter, to
bring them back to a more manageable height.
Again, Kalamata is showing plenty of promise with the
trees full of bud. However, we will see if the fruit
has a better fruit set this season – depends entirely
on the weather when the flowers open. Last season we
have high winds and rain and no fruit!
Archives
River
Estate Award Winning 2008 Oils
River
Estate Tuscan Blend and the Chemlali olive
oils were both awarded Silver medals at the OlivesNZ
Awards in October 2008.
These Awards were judged by Internationally accredited
tasting panel which included two overseas guest judges,
Roberto Zecca from California/Italy and Franca Camurati
from Italy.
 The
Koroneiki and the Picual were both awarded
Bronze medals in the New Zealand Gourmet Oil
Competition also in October 2008.
We are very pleased as we have four premium medal winning
olive oils for the 2008 season. This the first time
we have submitted this many oils for competitions. We
consider them as a benchmark for the quality of the
olive oils.
Vinnies Restaurant
Prestigious Win
Vinnies Restaurant was voted 'Restaurant of the Year
2008' by the NZ Culinary Fare. The organisation
behind the NZ Culinary Fare is the Restaurant Association
of New Zealand. This is a very prestigious award to
receive. River Estate Oils are on the menu at Vinnies.
www.vinnies.co.nz
Meet us
at the markets
Come and meet Barry and Sheryl selling direct to you
at the following markets:
Vinnies
Restaurant
Vinnies (166 Jervois Road, Herne Bay, Auckland), is
proud to present River Estate 'Tuscan Blend'
olive oil to their diners as a complimentary condiment
to their menu.
Head chef and owner Geoff Scott is pleased to make this
delicate and fruity oil available to all their diners
and invites your comments. This is a truly an excellent
night out to enjoy the very best cuisine.
www.vinnies.co.nz
Royal New Zealand
Show Competition Results - River Estate wins 2 awards!
New Zealand Gourmet Oil Competition 2007 - River Estate
- Frantoio was awarded Silver, and River Estate
- Picaul was awarded Bronze.
This follows their 2006 success at the same awards with
a Bronze award for the River Estate Chemlali.
For more information on these awards click
here.
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