Tomislav Duvnjak, a member of the Management Board of the company Vodice from Vodice, which includes the Sveti Ivan oil mill and produces several types of olive oil, estimates that the olive oil market is one of the most unsettled in Croatia. Unlike, for example, Italy, he explains, when someone in our country receives an incentive, he is not asked where he will place the oil or whether he has paid taxes.
However, without underestimating this important topic, the reason for the conversation with this young and ambitious entrepreneur, who took over the business from his father Ante, is good news. Recently, his oils, which are marketed under the St. John brand, won a gold and a silver medal at the evaluation in New York.
Why do you claim that the olive oil market is messy?
Not that it’s messy, but it’s one of the most messy. In Italy, for example, you have to pay tax first on the olive oil you produce, and only then can you sell it. The state receives data from the oil mill that processed the oil. There are, admittedly, a certain number of liters per person of the household for their own use, but for the rest of the olive oil a tax must be paid immediately. After paying the tax, the producer can sell olive oil wherever he wants, wherever he wants. This is not the case with us.
What is the difference, how is it with us?
We have restrictions on where we can sell oil, but no one cares about its quantities or the state in which it is sold. With us you get incentives, and after that no one asks you where that oil ended up or who takes care of the tax. Furthermore, almost the worst oil from the countries that produce the largest quantities of olive oil ends up on our market. It says on that oil that it is extra virgin. It is not difficult for me to understand because such an oil satisfies two basic parameters to bear such a label. In all of this, it is important that the oil declared in this way should not have a flaw, and I am not sure that it does not exist. We are witnessing that we have oils on the shelves that are sold at unimaginably low prices, so it is not clear to anyone what this is all about, especially since their transport is a serious item in the price. It is not clear to anyone how a liter of olive oil can be sold at a price significantly lower than 30 kuna. And we are witnesses that we have such oils on the shelves.
Where are the Dalmatian olive oils in all this?
We in Dalmatia have all the assumptions that we can produce almost the best olive oil in the world. This statement of mine may sound too strong, but I am convinced it is so.
So, you can produce better olive oils than Istrian oil mills?
We can still learn a lot from olive oil producers in Istria, they know how to do business. They are probably at an advantage because Istrian olive oil producers are organized into clusters or some other form of producer organization through which they get everything they need; support, education, design and marketing experts. This is one of the reasons why they succeeded and why Istria was declared the best olive growing region in the world. I am convinced that Dalmatia is more promising because it has two very important elements for the production of olive oil: a larger number of sunny days and shallow and rocky soil on which olive groves are planted. Olives in Istria are mostly planted in deep soil. So, if Dalmatian olive oil producers follow the rules of the profession in production, then they can produce the best olive oil in the world. The beginning and end of everything is timely harvesting and processing, and then keeping in optimal conditions. If we follow the rules, all olive oil producers in Dalmatia can win gold in New York. Although there is less and less of it, we still have cases of overripe olives being picked, bought from the floor and left in the sea for a month before processing. Therefore, it is obvious that the recommendations of experts are not adopted so quickly. In addition, there are incomparably more olive trees in Dalmatia than in Istria. I don’t know how accurate the information is, but I read it somewhere – allegedly only the island of Brac has more or about as many olives as the whole of Istria. However, at major events and evaluations of olive oils in the world, incomparably more olive oils from Istria are evaluated than from Dalmatia. Istrian producers send five times more samples than Dalmatian ones. Istrian olive oil producers have long understood the importance of major world competitions; when you are not in the big competitions, then you are not on the world map either.
Are there any other differences in approach?
In Istria, the share of young people who are engaged in this business is much higher, and it is young people who bring about change. In Dalmatia, we have top producers of olive oil, but this business is mostly done by older people. In addition, there are still few producers in Dalmatia who sell bottled oils. And you can’t come to big competitions if you don’t have a label or designed packaging.
What else is important for olive oil production?
The big problem is the fragmentation of plots. So a family that would like to make a living from olive oil production must have at least 1,000 olive trees. Below that number, it’s hard to make a living from that job. So having 200 or 300 olive trees is not enough to ensure a good standard of living.
What awards have your olive oils received in New York?
We won a gold medal for a multi-grade olive oil obtained from the form; it has about 60 percent, and the other 40 percent falls on swallow, leccino and frantoio. It is a very gentle blend. We won a silver medal for our monosort oil obtained from the shape. For this oil we received high marks in domestic competitions. So it’s not a problem to get gold in New York, and it’s one of the most recognized ratings in the world, perhaps even the most important. You just have to follow the rules of the profession. Whoever produces oils according to the rules in our country will have the top quality of olive oil. However, changing habits is not easy. The most important thing in obtaining extremely spicy oil is picking at an early stage and fast processing. If you harvest it in November, you will lose the spiciness, but you will gain fruitiness. The most important thing is fast processing and the use of suitable packaging in which you pick the fruit.
How much do medals from New York mean to you?
It means a lot to us because we first sent samples to that competition and got a gold medal. We are happy because we have confirmed the quality of our olive oil Sveti Ivan, in which we have invested a lot. I am thinking primarily of the enthusiasm and vision of my father Ante. Thanks to our medal, Vodice is now on the world map of top olive oil producers. I am sure that there are other producers in Vodice who have top quality olive oil, not to mention the rest of Dalmatia. It is commendable that the people of Hvar organized themselves and won as many as five gold medals.
Why do you say you are not completely satisfied?
The challenge for me now is to work on making Dalmatia a world-class brand in the production of olive oil. It doesn’t mean that a few of us won gold medals if there aren’t a few dozen of us from Dalmatia with gold medals next year! I love Istrian olive oil, but we have better conditions for the production of premium oils. It is now a challenge for me to gather and animate even more producers from Dalmatia to send their oils to big competitions. I have already contacted a few of them who have top quality oils and persuaded them. There will surely be more of us with gold medals next year.
Is it challenging to send oil for such an assessment?
It’s not complicated at all; we sent samples during the pandemic and they arrived quickly. This year there were about 60 samples from Croatia and we received 49 awards, of which 10 or 11 are from Dalmatia, and the rest are from Istria. So, one small Istria won 39 medals. We are a country that has top oils and we were third in the world in terms of medals.
Olives are in bloom, what kind of crop is expected?
This is a very promising year. Flowering passes and the fruits are already visible. If something unforeseen doesn’t happen, this fall should be a great harvest. The flowering and fertilization of the olives went great. Now we hope there won’t be some extraordinary disasters or pest infestations.
How was last year?
Last year, we processed barely 300 tons of olives in our oil mill. In record 2013, we processed 2,000 tons of olives. On average, we process about 1,000 to 1,200 tons of olives. Last year, therefore, we processed a quarter of the average yield. In the case of the form, which is the most common variety, the characteristic that it bears abundantly in one year and poorly in others is especially pronounced. Another reason for the poor yield is high temperatures during the flowering of olives.
Has your olive oil tasting room started working?
The tasting room is operational. We already started receiving guests last fall. This year we planned to receive groups, but we will see what the season will be like.
