The Kastelanac family has been growing olives for four generations. Our single goal has always been to preserve the traditional way olives have been planted, grown and harvested; implementing new techniques, technologies and knowledge in pressing and storing olive oil.
Rather than focus on mass production and planting as many new trees as we can, we want to bring together the island’s olive organic growers to achieve sustainable production by growing the olive tree species unique to Solta and the region.
Olive groves are the living history of our ancestors – trees that gave generations olives and oil for food, wood for heating and oil for lighting. Planted on barren, stony land and surrounded by stone walls an olive grove is not only a miracle of nature for having survived the milennia, but a testament to the blood, sweat and tears of the men and women who stubbornly struggled to create and sustain it. The Olynthia olive groves are planted with native Croatian varieties that you can only find in this part of the world.
The most widespread variety we grow is Oblica and it remains a symbol of Dalmatia. It is famed for its excellent ability to grow with very small amounts of water and its fruit is good for both eating and oil.
The second most common variety is Soltanka (literally, a lady from Solta, also referred to as Levatinka).. The success of this variety is so well recognized that it has spread to other Dalmatian islands as well as to the mainland.
The actual fruit harvest takes place from mid October to end of November. Every olive is picked by hand and cold processed in small batches in our mill within 12 hours in order to obtain extra virgin olive oil is the best quality.
Olive oil from Šolta has been protected by a European designation of origin since 2016
