Canny islanders' olive oil that's driving world wild

PETER DE GRAAF sails out to Waiheke Island, where enterprise and a pioneering spirit are well and truly alive.

Waiheke Island olive growers Jeryl and Howard Alldred have already won international acclaim for their oil - although they have yet to pick a single olive of their own.

In June, Mrs Alldred was invited to Spain to represent New Zealand growers at a meeting of the International Olive Oil Council.

In her luggage were two dozen bottles of Waiheke Wild olive oil - pressed from neighbours' trees - for the experts to sample.

"They were absolutely blown away by it, which is pretty amazing because at this stage we're pressing every olive we see," she says.

"If we can get such accolades now, imagine what we can do once we have the knowledge and experience behind us."

The Alldreds' passion for olives began eight years ago. They were having a quiet night in, watching television, when an episode of Country Calendar came on about pioneer olive growers in Marlborough.

"It set off a fire in our souls, and from that day on we just talked, researched and lived olives," says Mrs Alldred.

Now that passion is starting to pay off.

The Alldreds' grove, on 20ha of rolling hills high above Waiheke's Cactus Bay, is the largest on an island going olive crazy.

Although their trees are still just three years old - usually olives need five to seven years to bear fruit - next autumn they hope for a first harvest of their own, and the chance to build on the growing reputation of New Zealand olive oil.

The Alldreds began planting in 1997 and now have 2000 trees, mostly Frantoio, a Tuscan variety they chose for its "grassy, peppery and herbaceous" taste.

The following year, itching to get the oil flowing, they started with a neighbour's tree.

"The tree was just laden with fruit, and we thought there must be more around like this," says Mrs Alldred.

An advertisement placed in a local paper sparked a flurry of interest, and the Alldreds picked a quarter-tonne of olives from gardens all over the island, producing 30 litres of oil. This year that rose to two tonnes and 270 litres.

The Alldreds keep as much of the production work on the island as they can - from the local contract presser to the local artist who designed the "Waiheke Wild" labels.

"It's a totally Waihekean product," says Mrs Alldred.

Within the next year, the Alldreds plan to import a high-capacity Italian press and bring their grove up to 3000 trees.

Ten years from now that should yield at least 60 tonnes of fruit, or 7200 litres of oil annually. Enough, they hope, for Mr Alldred to give up his job as a geotechnical engineer and join his wife fulltime in the grove.

"We don't expect to become zillionaires out of this, but it should let us give our family the kind of lifestyle we want," says Mrs Alldred.

She quickly adds that "lifestyle" is a much-abused word: "That doesn't mean sitting on the porch drinking gin and tonics - we haven't got money to build the porch yet, and we've never worked so hard in our lives."

Serious attempts at commercial olive growing in New Zealand did not start until the late 1980s, despite a series of trials in the 1960s.

Growers are finding that olive trees will thrive in parts of the country with long, dry summers and well-draining soils - about 700,000 have been planted so far, mostly in Marlborough, North Canterbury, Hawkes Bay, Northland and of course Waiheke.

They are also finding that, although New Zealand's generally cooler climate - comparied with other olive-growing areas - makes them hard to grow, the quality of the oil is exceptional.

"Extra virgin" is the name given to the highest-quality oil, which accounts for just 5 per cent of world olive oil production, but almost all the oil produced in New Zealand. To qualify as extra virgin, oil has to satisfy strict criteria - it must pass an International Olive Oil Council taste panel, be cold pressed, have a free fatty acid content of less than 1 per cent, and have a high phenol content (phenols are the substances responsible for breaking down the fatty linings in arteries).

However, growing olives in New Zealand also poses special problems.

In Spain or Italy, no one has to spend up to 15 hours a week mowing vigorous, year-round grass like the Alldreds do - but worse still are the birds.

"In the Mediterranean birds just aren't an issue, because they ate all theirs long ago," said Mrs Alldred.

"Here, as soon as the fruit starts to blush, the birds just whip them off - they will even choose olives over apple trees in the next row."

Birds aside, the real challenge for local growers will be finding markets for their oil when the groves now being planted mature.

The Olive Association estimates that domestic demand for olive oil will be met by 2004, so the Alldreds have their hopes pinned on exports.

With high demand for extra virgin oil in Europe and the United States, and a booming export sector, they are not too concerned by talk of a local economic downturn.

"All the same, each year we'll have to get sharper and leaner," says Mrs Alldred.

In its first year, Waiheke Wild sold for $150 a litre - that is now down to $110 a litre, or $22.50 for the 200ml clip-top bottle.

That price is likely to fall further, and the Alldreds have based their business plan on a long-term price of between $25 and $30 a litre.

Although the industry has great promise, people who have planted olives thinking they are a low-maintenance crop or a sure-fire investment are sadly mistaken, says Mrs Alldred.

"Some people have gone into it because they like the idea, but they don't have any idea what they will do with their olives.

"Some growers won't make it - the difference will be in the business planning."

Time will tell whether olive growing in New Zealand is a passing trend, this year's hip crop, or whether, like wine, it becomes a major industry.

But if the growers' passion is anything to go by, olive groves could be part of this country's scenery for a long time yet, perhaps for as long as they have been grown in their Mediterranean home.

"And that's part of the appeal of growing olives," says Mrs Alldred.

"Being part of a family thousands of years old."

KEYPOINTS


* A cool climate produces high-quality oil.

* High prices are unlikely to last.

* It is too early to judge viability.