Olmuhle Al Torcio, Istria, Croatia

4claula 5:00 PM Aug 13, 2014

One of the best oils I have ever tasted
We went to the mill after having tasted their oil in the restaurant owned by the same family. We were greeted by the owner who explained how they produced their oils and made us taste several sorts. The visit is not spectacular, but it is certainly worth a detour if you love olive oil.

1TheBestTours 5:00 PM Sep 30, 2013

IF YOU'RE AN AMERICAN, BEWARE!
My visit to Istria was primarily to set up interesting experiences for a gourmet wine and olive tour I am planning on bringing to Istria in 2014. A local winery in Novigrad referred me to this olive producing farm, saying they produced the best olive oil in Istria. My husband and I proceeded to the farm which was 500 meters down the road from the winery (without prior arrangement) and were greeted by two small dogs, but no folks. Eventually an elderly gentleman (not so much of the gentle it turns out) walked out onto the balcony and asked in German what we wanted. Not speaking German, we managed to articulate that we'd like to try a tasting of his oils and hoped to get a farm visit and be educated on the process of making olive oil. He proceeded down the steps and motioned for us to go around the side of the building. He is clearly in poor health and announced he only spoke German or Italian and ushered us in. The tasting room has 4 stainless steel vats on one end of the room and a row of tables with various boxed sets of olive oils against the other wall and many little used plastic cups of oil scattered across the tables. Clearly there had been a previous tasting - that day? the day before? Who knows? The farm owner took a new cup, went to one vat, decanted 25ml and gave that to us to taste - that's it! It was very good oil and clearly that was the only tasting we were going to get. Seems as though his Pekingese dogs like oil too, one was licking the tap from one of the vats! We tried to explain to him that we were flying back to America the next day and could we buy a small bottle. When he offered me a large and small bottle, I chose the small bottle costing 70 Kuna. When I pulled out my 100 Kuna note to pay, the man totally lost his cool, pulled out a huge wad of money, shook it in my face and screamed "this America!" repeatedly. I was shocked! He took my note and flung 30 Kuna back and picked up the bottle of oil and threatened to throw it through the door, yelling "Croatia, America!" and then threw all his money into the air - oh my goodness he clearly didn't like any Americans. I took my oil and my husband and I ran! What an awful experience for a very hospitable area of the world. I guess you always have one bad apple in an applecart. If he didn't feel like doing a tasting, why invite us in? If you cannot speak German or Italian, don't even bother visiting.