Savantes Australia 2026
19 and 20 March 2026
Melbourne, Australia

Profiling the World’s Extra Virgin Olive Oils
and
Discussing Markets, Health Benefits, Culinary Uses and Quality Standards
Excellent Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Valuable Knowledge and Good Company makes Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes Much More than Tasting
- Learn to use the Savantes latest method to profile olive oil – the Savourgram©
- Provides opportunities to improve personal tasting knowledge and confidence
- Through its tasting skills review recognises and rewards competency
- Is unaligned and independent
- Is an international movement connecting people in many countries; and
- It fosters respect for the products of all producing countries
The Savantes Complete Olive Handbook: Olive Oil and Table Olives Production to Sales
The Savantes Complete Olive Handbook: Olive Oil and Table Olives—Production to Sales is a comprehensive guide covering every aspect of olive cultivation, oil production, and table olive processing, making it an invaluable resource for both industry professionals and olive enthusiasts. The book begins with the fundamentals of olive farming, addressing grove establishment, soil selection, irrigation, pruning, and pest control—essential elements for achieving a successful and sustainable harvest.
New Book: Olives Naturally: With the Puggle Express
Extra Virgin Olive Olive Oil Savantes founder Simon Field has launched his latest book "Olives Naturally: With the Puggle Express".
Olives Naturally amusingly describes the lively activities of the animals, plants, and humans on an organic and wildlife friendly olive farm in north-west Victoria, Australia. As custodians of the land, the farmers observe the plants and creatures, their intimate interaction, the ebb and flow of the interrelationships, and the constant changes in rhythm with the four seasons.
Lace Bugs Test Our Organic Resolve
Every year brings different seasonal combinations which test our resilience in managing the olive grove without resorting to the quick fix of artificial inputs. Most of the time we get through with a reasonable yield and a manageable workload. This season spanning 2023 and 2024 has proved by far the most challenging.
The start of the season back in November was auspicious with good rains accommodating bounteous flowering and promising olive fruit set. The trees which produced a lot of fruit last year started to grow in all directions and the trees which had an off year set a lot of fruit. We are happy to have the heavily laden trees as long as the irrigation and summer rain replenished the soil water reserves. The trouble with the rapid growth of many trees is they become too big for us to handle without machinery and they steal the water from the smaller trees with the fruit as the root growth matches the above ground foliage growth.


