About Us
During a bicycle ride through the beautiful countryside of Mangawhai Heads, we came across a ‘field of trees’; a paddock planted with olives that looked like they needed someone to love them. The seed of an idea was planted.
Our Story
We purchased the grove in April 2012 and spent the next 6 weeks pulling together the necessities for our first harvest; a second hand tractor, a container to house our gear and crates for the hand-picked olives, and hours of research into olive varieties and what to do with them.
Friends and family came to help out with picking, lunch in the grove and some of our first pressed oil was their reward.
The trees were planted around the turn of the century by a local expert, David Prankard, on instruction from the previous owners, Graeme and Phillip from Wheels on Wairau.
Some say the trees are too close together, but now that Chris has pruned the old grey branches out and opened up the interiors, the dappled light brings an airy peacefulness to anyone strolling down the avenues of trees.
We are not afraid of hard work and we know there is a lot of it still to come. But so far our venture into creating olive oil of the finest calibre is our very exciting adventure, and we are loving every minute of it.
The Grove At Mangawhai
Nestled in the foothills of the Brynderwyns and in the centre of the new Kingsview Estate lies the grove that is becoming renown for top class olive oil; Olives on the Hill.
The 700 trees that make up the grove at Olives on the Hill have produced some excellent harvests for us.
Strong, fruity flavours of the Frantoio olive and the more subtle but vibrant flavour of the Leccino olive have given us several harvests to remember.
Our Olives
We have two main varieties, all with very distinctive qualities. Our Frantoio is fruity, full bodied and very tasty, and the Leccino has a full and buttery flavour that will keep you wanting more. There are a few other varieties on the grove, Pendolino, Manzanilla and Ascolano. All of these olives are blended each year into our delicious Grove Blend extra virgin olive oil.
How We Make Our Oil
Harvesting and pressing the olives has been an inspirational journey since we started in 2012.
Mechanical harvesting is quick and easy, and hand picking is a pleasant way to spend a weekend. With friends and family lending a hand, the toil becomes fun and the rewards immense. With the dappled sun streaming through the foliage, we talk our way through over 600kg of hand-picking and sorting olives in a day. Very satisfying.
Have Questions?
Why not drop us a message? We would love to hear from you.