The Ipša family began growing olives in 1998 in the village of Ipši, not far from the Istrian village of Oprtalj. A family of four brothers and an old father has always grown olives and produced wine, but the brothers moved around the world. In the late 20th century, one of the brothers began growing olives again, continuing his father's tradition.

The Ipša family owns one of the world's most modern oil mills. What is their secret? The olives are grown using traditional, natural methods and processed using the most modern technology in order to produce the best oil.

One of the most awarded Croatian oils is their extra virgin olive oil

Their work was recognized in 2005 with a certificate. Their Frantoio and Istrian Bjelica oils became one of the first Croatian olive oils to be included in the world guide of extra virgin olive oils, Flos Olei. A great success was achieved a little later by Frantoio oil, which in 2011 and 2017, according to the guide of the same name, was included among the 20 best olive oils in the world.

In the past, every major Istrian village had an oil mill, like Ipši, owned by their ancestors. The oil mill, which was opened way back in 1929, underwent its last processing in 1966, so that after more than half a century, drops of olive oil would once again flow in Ipši in one of the four most technologically modern oil mills in the world. The oil mill, which is located on their property, is divided into two levels, the reception part is separated from the processing part, a characteristic that is extremely important for hygiene and for achieving higher oil quality.

The first part of the production process, in which the olives are cleaned of leaves and impurities, is located in the upper part. The lower part is dedicated exclusively to processing.

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Ipša oil mill is unique because the entire processing system maintains a constant temperature. The olives are washed in chilled water first. It determines the quality of extra virgin olive oil.

After washing, the clean olives are sent down to the cooled mill, where, thanks to the controlled temperature during grinding, natural aromas, smells, spiciness, bitterness are created, which are retained until the green gold from the mill runs out.

A unique feature of oil mills is that their entire processing system keeps a constant temperature. It is first necessary to wash the olives in chilled water. Extra virgin olive oil's quality is determined by this factor.

Once the olives are clean, they are sent down to the cool mill, where natural aromas, smells, spiciness, bitterness are created, which are preserved until the green gold from the mill runs out.

Due to the extremely short contact of the olives with oxygen, the quality of the final product is very high. Until the olive oil leaves the decanter, the entire process is under a vacuum, which means that until it leaves the decanter, oxidation in the oil does not occur, which affects its aromas and smells.

The olive groves are exclusively processed ecologically sustainable in order to produce the highest quality extra virgin olive oils. In October, when the olives are optimally ripe, they start hand-harvesting by variety and processing them immediately.

Extra virgin olive oil is processed using a cold process in order to achieve high quality. The oils are stored under strictly controlled conditions in stainless steel tanks after they arrive from the oil mill: barrels under inert gas and 16 to 18 degrees Celsius in the basement.

Experience the history of the Istrian region and autochthonous varieties through guided tastings at the cellars, olive groves, vineyards, and oil mill while tasting wines and extra virgin olive oils in Ipša.

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