Visiting the Brist family's olive groves
Autumn has arrived in Istria and has banished the oppressive heat. Nevertheless, the sun is high on this day, while a gentle sea breeze brushes across our faces. Paul knows that the harvest season will soon come. It is time to round up the harvest workers from Fažana. Until then, you can marvel at the olives in all colors and sizes. Various varieties can be found on the estate, some trees are already over 100 years old. These are cared for with great passion by the Puhar family. Paul relies on organic farming and tries to use natural means to keep pests such as the olive fly away from the valuable olives.
The chapel of Sta Margherita near Brist - olive oil tour in Istria
On the way to the
Sta Margherita chapel we keep spotting bees and butterflies. These are a good sign of a natural landscape. Good olives ripen with nature and not in a monoculture. The chapel showed itself to us in all its ancient beauty in the middle of a small forest, surrounded by old walls that date back to the Illyrians long before the birth of Christ. It is a place of harmony. We feel the energy that emanates from this place. Part of the old walls around the chapel shows an artificial shelter made of stone. In technical terms, it is called
Kažun. These one-room buildings were used to keep food and the harvest fresh, but also as a place to sleep. You have to know that the paths used to be more difficult and it could take several hours to reach the next place. Paul is reviving this unique tradition of the Kažun by having new Kažun built together with young olive trees.
Our olive oil tour with Paul at the olive groves of Brist
Back at the starting point of our tour we notice the sea breeze again. The coast is only about 5 km away and clearly visible to us. Paul explains to us how important the sea breeze is for the olive trees. Even the ancient Romans knew about its effect when they laid the foundation for olive oil production in Istria. With them, unique varieties such as
Buža,
Istarska bjelica (called Biancera for short) or
Rošinjola were developed. At the end of the day, it's not about producing the best single-variety olive oil in the world. It's about being in harmony with nature and creating an excellent product from the different varieties. Paul relies on the centuries-old local varieties on the one hand, but also on newer varieties such as
Leccino or
Frantoio, which have been around in Istria since the 1950s. We recommend
BRIST Intenso, a particularly intense olive oil made from five old Istrian varieties. It embodies the diversity of Istria like no other olive oil.
Sta Margherita, named after the chapel of the estate of the
Puhar family, is more balanced and is the only olive oil from the BRIST brand pressed exclusively from Buža olives.
