7 minute read
Thinking Small in Croatia
Walking the groves of a Dalmatian olive oil farm
By: Agnes Groonwald
Kristo Kristović wants to be an ambassador for olive oil. A walk through his groves in Dubrovnik is a lesson in what it takes to win over even the most discerning tastebuds. Every single tree has earned an individual approach. A visitor might think that sounds tedious, but for Kristo, that’s the beauty of small-scale olive oil production.
The attention paid to each leaf and each patch of dirt didn’t come naturally. Despite generations of connection to these groves, Kristo has only worked this land as a full-time job since 2019. Before then, the trees sat neglected while he climbed the ladder as a mechanical engineer.
The groves have always been a part of the family history, but the commitment and care required to help them realise their full potential wasn’t always possible. There was a mass move to the Czech Republic for new opportunities by much of his grandfather’s generation. Then there was the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s that ravaged the local economy. These groves survived periods of war and transition in Croatia that would take down the less resilient.
New Beginnings
When the pandemic hit, a return to the groves felt like a chance to avoid inevitable burnout and revisit familiar roots. It was a learning curve, certainly, but one that tapped into an existing connection to the land.
It took several years to get the groves healthy, to get them to a place where Kristo could say, “This is what I want.” Welcoming tourists wasn’t as natural. That part was his wife Tea’s idea. She sold it to him as an opportunity to teach visitors about the importance of olives to this corner of the world, with no additional work for Kristo outside of showing people around. She would do the rest, namely the prep work involved in the more indulgent aspects of visits here. DuOlive was born. The family’s hobby groves became a business.
A visit to Dubrovnik these days may be a tough sell for travellers seeking a reflective experience.
The summer months are inundated with cruise ships and Game of Thrones enthusiasts looking for dragon keeps and the perfect social media backdrop. A trip in the off-season months begs for flexibility.
A good portion of high-season shops and eateries shut their doors. In the hills beyond town, though, there’s always work to be done.
Golden Harvests
Picking season along the Dalmatian coast runs between October and November, depending on what’s happening with the trees. In the weeks leading up to that point, efforts are dedicated to recruitment and planting a different kind of seed. Friends and family are coaxed into committing to a week of hand-picking and treeshaking before Kristo takes the fruits to nearby mills for pressing.
It’s a sight to see. A few huge nets surround each tree to catch the fruit that comes down when a finger-like branch shaker does its work. Anything missed in the first round of shaking and collecting is plucked manually. It’s painstaking work, but this is how it’s done here. This is how it’s always been done.
The months prior are spent watching the fruits change color, a crucial moment for extra virgin olive oil to get the right balance. If you pluck them too green, you get more pungency and bitterness. If you keep them on their branches for too long, the oxidation process begins.
It’s this level of care that allows Kristo and Dalmatian growers like him to compete with bigger producers in Italy and Spain. While the volume of olive oil produced here can’t compete with those heavy hitters, the meticulousness involved with small productions like this one means unmatched quality. It means a commitment to making a quality product over making money selling artisanal oils.
The money is certainly nice, Kristo says, but he’s much more invested in ensuring the health of a product that means so much to not only his family, but the community. Seeing pictures of people cooking pasta with a bottle of their olive oil has been more meaningful than expected.
Recognition for that effort in the form of national olive oil contests is nice, too.
A Winning Formula
Croatian olive oil has won numerous accolades on the international stage in recent years, including at the prestigious NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. Croatian producers earned the fourthhighest number of awards at the 2024 competition despite fewer registered oils participating and a much smaller footprint for growing. The product is a result of generations of knowledge. Kristo hopes to participate on the world stage eventually. He talks about it not with envy, but pride that it’s even possible thanks to hard work and a dedication to the craft. It all hasn’t gone unrecognised. He won gold medals in the annual Žrnovnica Oil competition in Split in 2022 and 2023.
My husband and I visited Kristo’s grove before picking season, spending over four hours walking the groves and listening to the intricacies of determinants on flavour and colour. The tour, a wordof-mouth suggestion from a local in town, was described to us as an olive oil tasting.
We tasted quite a bit of olive oil — injecting olive oil into pieces of orange is one of our new favorite treats — but our visit was far more than that. It was an immersion into olive oil making and the history of these groves. It was as local an experience as you can get in a city that has been losing a bit of its identity over the years to over-tourism.
We touched the ground and the trees. We learned about what is and isn’t worth it in terms of pest control and higher yields, always with the quality of the final product in mind.
We ate dried figs, candied almonds, meats, and cheeses, all either produced on the family property or brought in from locals nearby. We drank Croatian wine and liqueurs. We laughed as the family’s dogs, Khan and Abi, zoomed through the grove before begging for scraps.
It was the best meal we’d had in Croatia by miles, made all the more meaningful by the treatment we received. We started our afternoon as outsiders but became more like family, as if we now had a place in the grove’s storied history.
Good to know
Olive oil production in Croatia dates back to ancient Rome, particularly along the Istrian peninsula. Istrian olive oils enjoy Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status from the European Union. Many growers there offer tours, as well.
The most common indigenous varieties of olives in Croatia are the buža and oblica olives, but there are over 30 different domestic types grown all over the country. Growers also plant over 40 foreign varieties within their groves.
Researchers say there are olive trees that are over a thousand years old in Dalmatia, still producing fruit. It’s no wonder why olives have always featured so prominently in Croatian cuisine.
Visits to DuOlive’s grove in autumn mean the potential to participate in the harvest. Exact dates vary and are weather-dependent.
Arriving before the harvest means a chance to see the olives at their best. It’s also a chance to see Dubrovnik at its best, with fewer crowds, cooler temperatures, and lower prices on accommodations.
Tasting during the autumn period will focus on the previous year’s olive oil. The new olive oil won’t be ready until closer to the end of November.
