From some of the oldest commercially planted olive trees in the nation comes a fine, luscious extra-virgin olive oil.

Who: Olive growers Darren and Cheree Schneider, Dimboola Olive Estate

Where: Dimboola, Hindmarsh Shire, Wotjobaluk Country 

Darren, the trees have been there for a while.
Since the 1940s. Many trees were planted here straight after the war. An entrepreneur named Jacob Friedman planted the trees here, also at Mount Zero, and elsewhere. Back then, much of the oil was sold to the pharmaceutical industry. Things have changed a lot since then. While the trees were originally irrigated from the river, they are now dry-grown on deep sand.  

Where are you exactly?
We are on a bend in the Wimmera River called Horseshoe Bend, a few kilometres out of Dimboola. The property backs onto the Little Desert National Park. 

You’ve made a few changes?
The grove was previously owned by an old Greek couple who did a lot of hard manual labour, harvesting by hand. While they loved the place, they couldn’t look after it in their later years. We’ve done a lot of pruning, and we’ve bought a mechanical harvester and our own press. 

Why is your oil so good?
Freshness is everything with olives – they can start to ferment in a very short time. We have the press just a few kilometres away in a shed in town, which means we can get the olives off the tree and into the press within an hour. By being able to get them into the press quickly, we produce extra virgin olive oil of extremely high quality. The oil is not heated at all, so it is cold-pressed. 

Where can we get your oil?
Mostly locally, such as at the Dimboola Imaginarium, Dimboola Store, Wimmera Native Nursery, the Wimmera Super Meat Market in Horsham, and the Dunkeld Old Bakery in Dunkeld. I will be doing more wholesale in the coming seasons. dimboolaoliveestate.com.au.