Olives offer taste of quiet life | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

From citrus-infused mild flavours to those that enliven your taste buds with a kick of pepper, Wairarapa olive oils have proved to be some of the best in New Zealand.

Wairarapa has dominated the Olives New Zealand 2011 Awards, with 14 of its estimated 40 olive groves scooping awards.

Huangarua Olives, Juno Olives, Olea Estate, Left Field Olives, Atutahi, Olive2Oil, Springbank, Olivo, Ridgeway Olives, Martinborough Art Department, Oriwa Grove, Stone Valley Grove, River Grove and Kilrae Olives all won awards in the competition.

Ian and Karen Juno, owners of Juno Olives, are thrilled with their gold, silver and bronze medals, and best in class award for their picual olive oil.

"It's really nice to win these awards, so people know that we sell a top-quality olive oil," Mrs Juno said.

The Junos came to Greytown, Mrs Juno's hometown, in 2001 in search of a retirement scheme, and settled on growing olives, planting 1200 trees on arrival and 500 more in recent years.

"My grandparents were Lebanese, so olives naturally came to mind," she said. "I knew about the harvest, and I remember my nana always used to pickle them. So we did a bit of research, talked to other growers and then did a course up in Gisborne and decided to make a go of it," Mrs Juno said.

Although the couple works in Wellington and commute every day, the Junos look forward to daylight savings and always find time to work on the grove.

"It is quite hard work finding the time to do everything, but at the moment all I have to worry about is mowing the grass," Mr Juno said. "It's actually quite restful coming out here after a hard day at the office sitting behind a desk, it takes your mind off things."

Huangarua Olives owners Jamie and Diana Reid also find it hard squeezing in time to tend the grove while living in Wellington and juggling life around their two young daughters, but both agree it is a passion of theirs, and driving over the hill most weekends to the grove is worth it.

The Reids also won a best in class award for their barnea olive oil, as well as a gold medal and a bronze medal at the Olives New Zealand Awards.

"It was the first time we've entered the barnea into the competition because up until then we've only had a small amount, but we decided we would enter it this time and it's a good thing we did," Mr Reid said.

The Reids purchased their land in Martinborough, which was bare at the time, about 10 years ago, and moved a house there four years ago from Miramar, Wellington, after moving to New Zealand from England.

"I lived in Italy for a while, so the idea partly came from that and from the fact that it was a fairly new industry in New Zealand at the time," Mr Reid said. "We chose an olive grove because it was cheaper to set up an olive grove than to set up a vineyard. My background is in horticulture, so I understood a lot of it."

"We actually only looked at one property, and this was it. It was one we had looked at online while we were still in England and we thought it would be snapped up before we got here, but it was still for sale. It is our little piece of paradise, it's a stunning spot."

At the grove, Mr Reid said the trees must be allowed to do the work.

"It is important to us that the trees are allowed to take the goodness from the soil, so we make sure the trees do the work," Mr Reid said.

"We nurture the trees, and we nurture the soil, and we expect the flavour to come through from the soil."