In recent days, Cooperativa Agricola La Verità has celebrated its 70th birthday: a good chance to submit again to your attention the article we published ad the beginning of the yeat on this important reality of the Garda olive oil world.
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Its proper name is Cooperativa Agricola San Felice. But everyone knows it as La Verità, or The Truth: a company founded in 1946, which this year cuts the finish line of the 70th anniversary under the banner of strict and uncompromising protection of the extra virgin olive oil of Lake Garda. From this original vocation of respect to one of the most important local products comes the nickname by which the Cooperative has always been recognized: La Verità (The Truth), in fact, as if to emphasize that oil is a topic too serious to joke about it, and that guarantees of transparency and authenticity of the product must always come first.
Grown gradually over time, the Coop. San Felice is a structure of particular relevance, with 300 associates, and the mill in Via delle Gere squeezes around 21 % of the olives produced on the Brescia coast of lago di Garda.
Chaired since 2012 by Antonio Leali, one of the most valued winemakers and olive growers in Valtènesi, the Cooperative from the beginning has had as its goal the transformation of the olives of the founding members, for a quantity that in normal years can be up to 10 thousand tons of olives which, after the pressing, give about 1200 tons of oil.
“We work each weighing separately and the store it for the original producer of the olives – explains technical manager Pierpaolo Vezzola -. From this year we equipped the mill of a new decanter that can reduce storage times and waiting between harvesting and processing, considerably improving the final quality profile “.
The bulk of the Cooperative work is concentrated in two months of feverish frenzy, between mid-October and mid-December: the time of ripening and delivery of the olives, when the structure becomes the soul of the country, a real square where farmers and fans meet to discuss the vintage expectations, give the harvest, sell, deal, or simply to find themselves united around a ritual rooted in centuries of tradition.
“The timing of the campaign are shortened more and more – says Vezzola -. This is because once the collection was only manually, but today the productivity of the individual with new technology is at least doubled by the use of harvesters, telescopic bars that mount vibrating combs which leads to detachment of the olives without the person going on the plants. ”
Not all the oil squeezed by La Verità is delivered to its rightful owners: the Cooperative buys a quantity equal to the average of 15% per year. The line is divided into an extravirgin which is accompanied by the Garda Bresciano Dop, to produce which La Verità acquires directly olives for maximum excellence. These products were often rewarded with the highest awards at the most important national : among the latest is the Mention obtained by DOP 2013 in the 2014 edition of the Sol D’Oro in Verona, and the mentions in the Slow Food Guide 2015 despite the outcome certainly not exciting of the 2014 campaign.
This year, on the contrary, the product is at the top of its expression thanks to a campaign characterized by a hot and sunny weather and absence of rains: extremely low acidity, good intensity of aromas, taste slightly more bitter and spicty than usual thanks to a higher content of polyphenols, guarantee of even greater healthiness but also of particular longevity.
” 2015 was a truly exceptional year – confirms president Antonio Leali -. Compared to a normal year we have had a decline in the traditional harvest close to 40%, but the quality is very high indeed: we are getting really enormous satisfaction even internationally with requests increasing all across Europe.”
The oils of La Verità (the range also includes a selected Italian Extravergine available also in large sizes) are available for purchase in the shop on Via delle Gere, together with wine by the members and other local products, but can also be bought online at www.oliofelice.com. And the Cooperative often hosts moments of tasting and in the summer months, the happy hour in the mill, as well as small tasting courses.
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