Historically, the olive tree (Olea europaea) was brought to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
From the West Indies, the trees spread to Mexico, Peru, Argentina, and Chile. Though olive trees have been present in South America for centuries, commercialization of olive groves in Chile began only recently. Because Chile is bordered both by the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountain range, a wide variety of microclimates exist, many of which are suitable for olive growing. In the late 1940s, Italian immigrants planted the first commercial olive groves, which began producing Chilean olive oil by 1953. Modern agricultural technology and popular olive varieties were introduced in the 1990s, furthering the Chilean olive oil industry.
Location of Agroindustrial Siracusa S.A. in Chile.
In Curicó Valley, near the small village of Villa Prat, Agroindustrial Siracusa was founded by the Sarquis family in 2006.
Curicó Valley lies tucked between the Chilean Coastal Range and the Andes in Chile’s Maule region. Cold winds from the Humboldt Current bring morning fog to Curicó Valley, and winds from the Andes bring cooler temperatures at night—leading to the perfect balance of humidity and temperature. The valley’s characteristically cold and wet winters, along with the Mediterranean-like climate make it an ideal growing region for olives.
Coastal climate conditions that allow Siracusa to produce delicious EVOOs.
Siracusa lies at the intersection of time-tested olive oil extraction techniques and cutting edge agricultural technology.
A leading producer of Chilean olive oil, Siracusa has strict quality standards. Their super-intensive olive orchard is planted on 1250 hectares—almost five square miles. During the completely mechanized harvest, the Siracusa team works for 40 days and 40 nights to pick and quickly transport olives to their state of the art mill that can process 400 tons of olives per day. Olives are pressed in hammermills within four hours of harvesting. Watch the video above to see their harvest and production process from start to finish!
Siracusa’s devotion to the olive in its purest form is evident—come taste the difference in store.
A view of the Siracusa super-intensive olive orchard with the Chilean Coastal Range in the background.
The 100% mechanized harvest of olives.
The almazara, or olive mill, lies at the center of the Siracusa orchard.
Siracusa's cutting edge olive mill, which has the capacity to process 400 tons of olives per day.
Olives are harvested "over-the-row" mechanically.
In the past, one of our ultra premium EVOOs hailed from Siracusa—the Picual.
The Picual, a mild intensity EVOO, is slightly astringent with low bitterness and pungency. Interestingly enough, Picual olive trees are only planted on 48 hectares of Siracusa’s 1250, or approximately 3% of their total land area. This oil has very green overtones with notes of tomato leaf, grass, and green almond.