Garda Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The Benaco lakeside area boasts particularly valuable oil production from a qualitative point of view. The Brescia side of Lake Garda alone produces 80% of the D.O.P. oil. of all of Lombardy; in particular, over 50% of the production of Garda DOP oil is concentrated in the municipalities of Pozzolengo, Desenzano and Lonato, with over 80 olive producing companies. Production in the area is also evolving rapidly
of the province of Mantua with over 40 agricultural companies active in the municipalities of Ponti sul Mincio, Cavriana and Monzambano.
Garda Extra Virgin Olive Oil has always been recognized by all as an exceptional oil, especially when combined with certain dishes. Its freshness and delicacy are increasingly appreciated throughout Europe. It is right and proper to admit that in the face of such a prestigious image, production is substantially small; just think that commercially Garda extra virgin olive oil does not even reach 1% of national production. Main reason why it is relatively difficult to find on foreign markets.
A strong belief and a continuous constant reconfirmation of qualitative excellence is what unites all the producers of DOP Garda oil. Here, as in other regions of Italy, there are young companies that work well and that with their work raise the image of Italian oil in the world day after day.

Transparency

The high quality of this Garda Oil, today a niche product, is constantly monitored by its Consortium and by a Certifying Body based on a production specification, one of the most restrictive at national level, approved by EC Reg. 2081/92 . This specification establishes the varieties of olives allowed, the registration of the olive groves, the delimitation of the production areas, the maximum production per hectare, the chemical and organoleptic parameters.

The Certification Body establishes the control plan for the admissibility of the product to the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and the marketing methods. For the oil that is decided to be certified DOP, an organoleptic evaluation carried out by a group of expert tasters (so-called panel test) is mandatory. This evaluation ends with the assignment of a score to the oil. Only oils that have a rating greater than or equal to seven can bear the DOP label.