Every Autumn, from mid-October, It’s harvest time for olives in the Luberon.

Eagerly awaited by both amateurs and professionals, it is a tradition in Provence to bring the freshly picked olives from your own garden to the local mill for pressing. The first to be harvested are the lucques and the salonenques which are harvested when green. In October the picholines are harvested for use directly in the kitchen or as cocktail olives. As the fruit turn yellow and then darkening shades of red the olives are harvested for their oil. Each valley produces a different oil with subtle differences in fragrance and flavour.

The exact moment to harvest will depend on your personal preferences: Olives collected early in November before the first frosts are said to produce an oil with a sharper flavour profile, with notes of artichoke and green apple. Oil made from more mature olives (collected after the frost, have a sweeter flavour and a lighter colour.

I love the ritual and partake in the tradition every year. We have 6 different olive trees sprinkled throughout our property and we harvest all of our varieties for oil in early November. We bring our selection of fresh olives to the nearby moulin St Augustin on RN900 near Coustellet - 84580 Oppede. In a good year we get about a kilo of oil from each tree and 2018 is expected to be a good year. Whatever the quantity I am always proud to be serving the olive oil pressed from our own olive trees.

The olive oil produced in Mont Ventoux and the Luberon is protected under the “Huile d’olive de Provence” AOC. The AOC designation defines a number of regulations in terms of the care of the trees, the harvest and the production process and the oils bearing the AOC designation must be based on the following varieties: aglandau, bouteillan, grossane, petit ribier, salonenque, picholine, tanche, and verdale.

Where to buy: At the smaller mills you can only purchase oil during the oil production season and it is best to phone ahead. You will find shops specialising in olives, like Oliviers & Co which has a boutique in Aix-en-Provence, which offer oils from various AOC and AOP labels, from different mills and of course an entire range of table olives and olive based products like tapenade, aioli anchovy paste.

Where to visit: There are some remarkable mills in the area which would be interesting to visit including the moulin des Bouillons on the route de Saint-Pantaléon, D148, 84220 Gordes. The oldest mill in Provence and a perfectly preserved monument historique with presses dating from the 16th century, and Roman built pipes and vats. There is an excellent museum in the 3-hectare park.