Ante Duvnjak and his son Tomislav started olive growing and olive oil production 14 years ago. Today they have over a thousand trees of various varieties and have two to three thousand liters of oil per year. For years, they have been present at domestic competitions, but also at the biggest, world ones. They picked up huge prizes, and among the last two even arrived from New York. We talked to the younger half of this olive tandem about all this, but also about the problems in the market and production in general.
The competition in New York is one of the largest, most renowned world competitions in the quality of olive oils, which this year was attended by more than 800 participants, and more than 500 prizes were awarded. You can enter the competition by registering on your own, and one of the conditions is that you must have your own brand, label and sales on the market.
– This is the first time we have participated in the NYIOOC, although we have thought about it in previous years, but we have not been able to find the time and send samples. Therefore, I must admit that this situation around the pandemic has allowed us a surplus of free time this season, Tomislav Duvnjak tells us.
They received two awards, both in the category for medium-intensive, organic olive oil. They received a silver medal for a single-variety oil from the autochthonous Dalmatian variety – oblice and gold for a multi-variety oil – blend containing 60% of the form and 40% of other varieties (frantoio, levantinka and leccino).
– Medals are a great recognition of the quality of our oils and thus an incentive to continue to strive in the same direction, and at the same time with these awards, our little Vodice entered the big map of the world as a place with top quality olive oil.
For years, they have been present at domestic competitions where they have won numerous awards and recognitions, silver and gold medals and various plaques. On one occasion, they participated in a competition in Milan, where they won gold with the indigenous domestic variety – the shape and entered the category of “Top 25 medium-intensity olive oils”.
– Also, I would like to mention that we have achieved significant success in packaging design, so we were champions at RED DOT 2011. Berlin – visual identity and packaging design, Noćnjak 2011 – champion of the appearance of olive oil packaging, Cropak 2011 – design category as a whole and Maslina Split 2012 – the champion looks like a pack of olive oils. We can thank Market Kolektiv for all the awards related to the design of our packaging, the girls who have been taking care of what our oil will look like from the very beginning.
As for distribution – demand is lacking, it’s just a question of what price to move in the market. Their goal is to sell as much oil as possible through the tasting room in the Sveti Ivan oil mill in Vodice, because the best price can always be achieved at home, but that does not mean that you cannot find them in other places.
– We have been present in the Cheese Bar in Zagreb for years, we were in the Nature and Society store and in some other specialized stores and gift shops in Zagreb and Dubrovnik. We have some 2000 – 3000 liters, depending on the year, but these are some quantities that we are dealing with for now.
This year, all olive growers expect a good year – if they follow the flowering. But he tells us that there is an old saying in Dalmatia that reads: You lie like an olive in bloom.
– This would mean that not even 90% of the empty flower remains, but we also know that when 2 – 5% is fertilized, it will be more than enough, so much so that the branches will shoot under the weight of the fruit. We are of the opinion that this should be such a year. You never know with olives, microlocation and microclimate play a big role. We often say that more is known about the Moon, stars and the universe than about the sea and olives.
Their olive groves are located in several locations in the rural area of the town of Vodice – Stajice, Leć and Seline. They number about 1000 trees of various varieties, among which trees of the shape predominate. There are a lot of problems, he says.
– We can start with the low price of oil on the market, which is ruined by bad imported oils (20 – 30 kn / l). Due to the early harvest, the yields are only about 10%, so the price of our oil in production is around 100 – 120 kn. There are few consumers who appreciate the high quality of oils, primarily because a wide mass of customers are simply not educated enough about the quality range of olive oils. Also, we need to work more on branding oils from domestic producers, in order to raise quality and prices. This means that every small farmer needs to get an incentive from the state, so that every oil has a label.
At the level of the state and local and regional self-government units, work should be done on the establishment of a kind of oil cluster that would provide everything from co-financing and production of protected brands, through marketing and design, to marketing. Individual or associated producers of high-quality extra virgin olive oils should be encouraged, their costs of participating in prestigious world competitions should be financed, and thus the creation of a brand of Croatian oils in the world should be encouraged.
– The advantages of Dalmatia and therefore Vodice are definitely more favorable climatic conditions, much more sunny days and shallow and rocky soil on which olive groves are planted. So, if olive oil producers follow the rules of the profession in production, then the best olive oils in the world can be produced. The beginning and end of everything is the timely harvesting and processing on the same day, and then storing the oil in optimal conditions. Following these rules, all olive oil producers in Dalmatia can win gold in New York, and I am sure that our Vodice, as well as the rest of Dalmatia, hides a lot of such producers.
Olive is the basis of Mediterranean cuisine, an indispensable component of every dish and recipe. The smell of olive oil and garlic on the pan is a smell that no one can remain indifferent to. Olive oil is kissed with fish, meat, vegetables, salads, we even put a few drops on ice cream. You have to try, great thing.
– Olive oil is primarily a medicine and we must be happy that we have the opportunity for our medicine to grow on the tree. Regarding the care of the trees, it is necessary to feed it, water it, and perform regular pruning. The olive is the mother who gives even when you turn your back on it, unlike the vine which is like a stepmother, because it will punish you if you do not prune it only once. So there is work to be done, but everything can be achieved, the only question is how to cover the costs.
Their tasting came to life only last year, so to speak – with one pilot project that proved to be a complete success. They started with the AirBnb Experiences program and did about twenty tours where they educated our visitors about the complete process of olive oil production – from flowers to plates.
– Our visitors have the opportunity to visit the oil mill for olive oil production, meet different varieties of olives and try professional oil tasting, all accompanied by our guides who always try to educate the guest what is real ultra – extra virgin olive oil, and at the end of the tour we pamper their palates with delicacies from our local producers. Believe me, when you bring olive culture closer to just one visitor and awaken in him that love for olives, you have done a lot. Guests who leave with satisfied facial expressions with some new knowledge and experience are what is invaluable in this business!
This season surprised them all, but it is as it is and they will do their best to do it as well as possible, if nothing else, then in preparation for next year when they expect a large number of visitors in their tasting room.
– We plan to expand the offer of our products with some surprises that I would not list now, to enable a web shop for fans of our oils to make it more accessible to them. We will work on the promotion of our oil through participation in renowned world competitions, thus developing the brand of Dalmatian olive oils. We cannot do it alone, but we will try to interest and encourage our oil mills to participate in competitions as many as possible, because only with joint efforts can we position Dalmatia on the world scene of the best olive oils, concluded Tomislav Duvnjak.
