HOT ! Zahara Extra Virgin Olive Oil From Italy | Sicilian Pure EVOO | Premium Early Harvest Cold Pressed | Multiple Award Winner From Oleificio Guccione | 8.4 fl oz (250ml) Bottle With Beautiful Gift Box

- PREMIUM PRODUCT OF SICILY: since 1966 Oleificio Guccione produces fine olive oil in Chiaramonte Gulfi, a small baroque village in the heart of the Iblei Mountains in the South-Eastern part of Sicily, considered the BEST AREA ON the ISLAND FOR THE PRODUCTION OF the HIGHEST QUALITY OLIVE OIL
- AWARDED AS ONE OF THE BEST IN ITALY: Zahara truly is an Italian work of art awarded for the past four years in a row with the prestigious Gambero Rosso “3 leaves” - the HIGHEST RECOGNITION assigned in ITALY EXCLUSIVELY to the VERY BEST OLIVE OILS. Also rewarded and prized over the years by leading gourmet food international organizations and magazines as Gambero Rosso, Slow Food, Der Feinshmecker.
- THE MAXIMUM EXPRESSION OF SICILIAN OIL: Zahara is an EXCEPTIONALLY TASTY, full bodied and balanced Extra Virgin Olive Oil rich in Polyphenols (Antioxidants) and Vitamins, with low acidity, characterized by marked notes of tomato and tomato leaf, mediterranean herbs, thistle, nettle and white pepper. In the kitchen Zahara matches with cooked and raw vegetables, tomato Caprese, Sicilian orange salad, cereal and legumes soups, grilled meat and fish.
- LIMITED ARTISANAL PRODUCTION: Zahara is obtained from the olives “Tonda Iblea”, heritage and stunning variety that belongs UNIQUELY to this territory. Guccione follows a traditional artisanal method passed along to the third generation in the family. The olives are delicately PICKED BY HAND from SECULAR TREES and processed into oil within hours after harvest in the family mill. The COLD PRESSING technique brings out the most intense flavor of the olives and maximum benefit.
- THE PERFECT FOOD GIFT: Zahara is the perfect gift for all foodies. Each bottle of Zahara EVOO is a very special and unique masterpiece that embodies the tradition, scent and colors of the beautiful territory it comes from. Its design is an homage to the history of Sicily and was granted important food packaging design awards.

Product description

What makes our olive oil unique?

About us

Our olive trees and territory

Early harvest hand picked

Award winner

Uses and Pairings

Our grandfather used to say: \"No oil is the same as the other, but above all it cannot be from year to year. It’s the plant, it’s the climate, it’s the soil, it’s the man who never repeats himself.\"

Ours is a small family business, we produce limited quantity of EVOO following the traditional artisanal method passed along to us by our ancestors. Our passion is what makes our oil unique and authentic, our hard work gives consistency to its quality year after year.

Our story begins generations ago at our family mill (il frantoio) in Chiaramonte Gulfi, a small village in the Hyblaean Mountains in Sicily. Today we rely on the same traditional methods that have been used for centuries. We harvest our olives by hand and process them in our own mill within hours by cold extraction to bring out the most intense flavor and maximum benefit. No heat is used. Only hand-picked, not fully ripe, undamaged olives are used for our fine EVOO.

Oleificio Guccione is a small family business located in the South East of Sicily, Italy. It is us now, Vito and Giuseppe Divita, two brothers, the youngest generation of the family to lead the business.

Our goal today is to bring to people\'s tables the highest quality artisanal oil, perpetuating our family tradition and values.

We are driven by the passion for what we do, the profound respect for our family and its history, the deepest love and pride for our beautiful territory and its traditions. We believe it\'s our mission to keep these traditions alive, preserve and hand them to the future generations.

It is impossible to think of Sicily without its olive trees, especially here, in the Hyblaean Mountains, an area of the island well known for the production of high quality EVOO. Here the olive trees have flourished for centuries encircling our villages with their silvery green leaves.

It\'s the \"Tonda Iblea\" the most representative variety of our territory, the one exclusively we make our oil from. Some say the taste of EVOO from Tonda Iblea is a concentrate of Sicily, with marked notes of tomato and tomato leaf, mediterranean herbs, thistle, nettle and white pepper and a pleasant peppery bite at the back of the throat.

Its yield in oil is very low, between 8 and 10 percent, resulting in a very intense fruity taste and exceptional nutritional properties. Our oil is rich in Polyphenols (Antioxidants), Vitamins and healthy fats, and low in acidity (lower than 0.2%) and oxidation.

To obtain quality oil the olives should be healthy, picked from the tree, still green (not fully ripe) and taken without delay to the oil mill for processing. Over-ripe olives should never be used to obtain a Top quality oil since they can crash easily, get exposed to oxidants and thus enhance the acidity of the oil (the lower the acidity the higher the quality).

In the hot Sicilian climate olives get ripe soon, by late fall. We typically harvest our “Tonda Iblea” during the first three weeks of October, no later, to pick the fruits at their best and assure the ultimate freshness and lowest acidity to the oil.

A greener fruit also means a lower yield in oil and less profitability, but we assiduously pursue excellence, perpetuating our family tradition and values.

Hand picking is a technique we also use to preserve the health and beauty of our centenary olive trees, pride and wealth of our territory to be handed over to future generations.

Zahara’s high quality and delicious flavor have been acknowledged by multiple Italian and International award bodies that have assigned to it prestigious awards. Among the ones granted in the last two years:

- “3 leaves” award by award body Gambero Rosso ? Oli d’Italia (“Italian Oils” Contest) in 2020;

- “gold medal” award by award body OLIVE JAPAN - International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition in 2021;

- “gold medal” award by award body EVO IOOC Italy - International Olive Oil Contest in 2021

Also, Zahara has been selected by Luigi Caricato, one of the most eminent and influential current Italian EVOO experts, in his book “Atlante degli oli italiani” (\"Atlas of Italian Oils\", Mondadori Editions) as one of the 100 most representative Italian Olive Oils.

In the kitchen Zahara matches with cooked and raw vegetables, tomato Caprese, Sicilian orange salad, legumes soups, grilled meat and fish.

Our grandfather used to say: \"No oil is the same as the other, but above all it cannot be from year to year. It’s the plant, it’s the climate, it’s the soil, it’s the man who never repeats himself.\"

We typically harvest our “Tonda Iblea” during the first three weeks of October, no later, to pick the fruits at their best.

A greener fruit also means a lower yield in oil and less profitability, but we assiduously pursue excellence, perpetuating our family tradition and values.

The box design is a homage to the history of Sicily.