Our olive oil
We craft our early-harvest oil in small quantities from three traditional Sicilian cultivars grown on our land: Cerasuola, Nocellara del Belice, and Biancolilla. Each bottle is pressed within hours of harvest to preserve its vibrant flavour and high concentration of polyphenols, the compounds that make extra virgin olive oil a true elixir of health.
Our extra virgin olive oil has an acidity below 0.16%, and its polyphenol content ranges between 289 and 400 mg/kg. The EU specifies that EVOO should have a count of 250 mg/kg to qualify as ‘high polyphenol’. The exact level in the oil varies naturally from year to year, influenced primarily by rainfall and temperature during the growing season. To fully benefit from these effects, it is recommended to consume 20–30 g of olive oil per day, equivalent to 2–3 tablespoons.
Borgo Naera extra-virgin olive oil has a green colour with possible golden-yellow highlights and a harmonious yet elegant aroma with pronounced tomato notes complemented by marked balsamic hints. On the palate it is enveloping, with tomato taking the lead, well accompanied by herbaceous undertones. Noteworthy is the balance between bitterness and pungency.
Our story
Borgo Naera began with a dream and a ruin. In 2023, we found a small olive grove in western Sicily, 200 ancient trees, dry-stone walls, and the sea in the distance. We had simply hoped to create a home in Sicily, but the land drew us into something larger: a journey of learning how to make the best possible olive oil and how to care for the place that sustains it.
For Michele, an architect who finds beauty in every detail, it became a space to shape with care, from the landscape of the grove to the design of the bottle itself. For Zélie, an environmental scientist and lifelong nature lover, it became a way to contribute to the biodiversity and resilience of the Mediterranean landscape.
The restoration of our house soon intertwined with the restoration of our land, and Borgo Naera grew from this union, a shared pursuit of beauty, balance, and belonging.
Our vision
At Borgo Naera, we are embarking on a long-term journey to restore our land through regenerative practices, nurturing the beauty and biodiversity of the Mediterranean landscape. All revenue from our olive oil this year is reinvested directly into this work – from bringing back greater diversity of trees, to creating natural fire-protection barriers, to adopting no-tillage methods that build healthy, living soils.
Healthy soils make healthy trees, and healthy trees create the pure, vibrant oil in every bottle for many years to come. Our approach goes beyond organic: carbon-negative, regenerative farming improves soil structure and microbial life, helping olive trees synthesise complex phenolic compounds; pesticide-free and microplastic-free methods ensure that the bottle carrying these beneficial molecules does not carry unwanted contaminants; and our vegan, cruelty-free principles reflect a philosophy where human health is never achieved at the expense of other living systems.
When we describe Borgo Naera olive oil as “beyond organic”, we mean that we treat the tree, the soil, the microbiomes and the people who enjoy our oil as one connected system. The science of olive polyphenols simply gives modern language to what traditional cultures long understood: a well-made olive oil, crafted with respect for nature, can quietly support the whole body, meal after meal.