welcome
Jumbuck Olive Grove was established in 1999 at Glen Devon, the home of Hugh and Fiona MacLachlan, in rolling hills just outside the township of Mount Pleasant in the Mount Lofty Ranges, only 1 hour’s pleasurable drive from Adelaide in South Australia. The family owned company focuses on quality, specialising in sheep, wool, lamb, beef production and now, the growing and value adding of premium quality olives for the production of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). Hugh and Fiona have undertaken trips to Italy to source the best olive varieties suitable to the district.
The significant grove of 60 hectares is resultingly predominantly planted to Tuscan varieties - Frantoio, Leccino, Pendolino together with Picholine (France) and Barnea (Israel). At 490 metres above sea level and with an average rainfall of 700mm, Glen Devon is well able to emulate Tuscan conditions for olive oil production.
It is early days yet with only five harvests having been pressed. However, the results have been outstanding and rewarding, with the 2005 Frantoio winning Gold at the Fleurieu Peninsula Food Awards and the 2006 Silver at both Fleurieu Peninsula and Northern Olive Oil Awards.
Approximately 10% of the production is bottled in 500ml dark green bottles and largely sold by the case at competitive prices of $144.00/case or $12.00 per 500ml bottle. Delivery anywhere in Australia is given in. The remaining 90% is sold in bulk, some in 2 litre plastic containers at $15.00 per container, i.e. $7.50 per litre, the remainder in 1000 litre pallecons to exporters.
The previously mentioned Tuscan varieties have qualities as follows:-
Frantoio is one of the work horses of Tuscan production well known for flavour and quality. The tree bears well with small fruit that ripen late. It yields oil at somewhere around 16% - 18%. It’s a vigorous tree, cold and frost tolerant, and is doing extremely well at Glen Devon.
Leccino, a major Tuscan variety producing oil of low acidity and sometimes sweeter than the later ripening Frantoio. It ripens early and is one of the most frost hardy varieties, however, it is self sterile and needs a pollinator, and in Glen Devon’s case we have used Pendolino. It seems to be a vigorous adaptable grower and is producing well.
Pendolino (Little Pendulum), is planted at 10% of the grove, is a pollinator for Leccino and to a lesser extent Frantoio. It’s branches tend to hang down, which makes it difficult to prune and to harvest. However, it’s a very good oil cultivar in it’s own right yielding around 20%.
Picholene, a French variety produces medium size fruit, with good flavour, and is a recognized pollinator for Barnea. Adaptable to a wide range of soils and cold/frost tolerant.
Barnea, an Israeli variety grows extremely vigorously and tall. It produces well in company with Picholene as the pollinator, at around 20% yield. The oil tends to be rather bland and therefore quite suitable for blending. The tree by it’s shape and rate of growth is eminently suitable for machine harvesting.
The grove is in undulating hilly terrain and is irrigated by dam water using micro sprinklers for each tree. Approximate volume is 100 to 140 litres per fortnight in summer from December to April.
Leccino and Pendolino ripen first and are ready for harvesting depending on the year, sometime during the last 10 days of May. While the trees are young, i.e. under 10 years, harvesting has been done by hand operated pneumatic rakes driven by compressed air to ensure that the olives are in best possible condition for pressing. The fruit drops onto nylon mats and is then rolled up and emptied into stackable 15kg crates. A light truck leaves the grove every morning with approximately 2 tonnes of fruit for the press which ensures pressing within 24 hours of picking. The oil is back loaded to Glen Devon in 1000 litre containers, or 200 litre drums. It is allowed to settle for six weeks before decanting for either bottling or bulk sales. It is not filtered.
