Lo Sgocciolato, the drained, in 500ml bottle

Lo Sgocciolato does things differently

Most modern extra virgin olive oil is separated from the other components of the olive after milling by means of centrifugation. Lo Sgocciolato takes a very different route.

This remarkable olive oil from the Gradassi family is made from 100% Moraiolo and extracted exclusively using the Sinolea method. The oil is separated drop by drop without pressure, centrifugation or added water.

The result is a small quantity of exceptionally pure oil. Hence the name: the Italian verb sgocciolare means to drip or drain.

Moraiolo can produce distinctly characterful olive oils. Lo Sgocciolato combines fresh, pronounced fruitiness with much gentler bitterness and pepperiness.

That combination is precisely what makes it special: aromatic and complex, yet refined and elegant at the same time. This is not an oil that tries to impress through brute force.

This is about finesse. An olive oil that keeps revealing little details after the first taste.

Moraiolo is inseparably linked with central Italy and plays an especially important role in Umbria. The small olive is known for producing aromatic, fresh and characterful oils.

Only Moraiolo olives from the Gradassi estate are used for Lo Sgocciolato. This makes it not only a monocultivar, but also a genuine single-estate extra virgin olive oil.

One olive variety, one estate and one exceptional extraction method. It is difficult to define an olive oil’s identity much more clearly than that.

With Sinolea, the milled olive paste is placed in a machine where thousands of thin metal blades repeatedly enter and leave the paste.

Olive oil adheres to metal differently from the water contained in the olive. As the blades emerge, oil remains on them and slowly drips away to be collected.

So there is no spectacular stream of olive oil. Quite the opposite. Lo Sgocciolato is created slowly, drop by drop. The yield is small – and that is exactly the point.

Hand-picked in the heart of Umbria

The Moraiolo olives used for Lo Sgocciolato are harvested by hand on the Gradassi estate. The producer traditionally gives a harvesting period from late October until around mid-November for this special oil.

Only a limited fraction of the oil is then obtained through Sinolea. That explains why Lo Sgocciolato can never be a mass-produced olive oil.

The aim here is not to obtain as many litres as possible from a kilogram of olives. It is about capturing that particular fraction separated without pressure.

Lo Sgocciolato is at its best when the olive oil itself remains part of the tasting experience. Think good bread, bruschetta, salads, fish, pasta, vegetables and pulse soups.

Its fresh fruitiness can also provide an attractive contrast with the roasted flavours of grilled red meat.

Extra virgin olive oil can of course be heated, but with an oil obtained with this much care, drop by drop, we would personally reach for another bottle for frying.

Words such as Affiorato and Sgocciolato sound wonderfully Italian – but behind them are specific production methods that are often misunderstood.

In our Olijfolie Academie we explain what actually happens, why only a small amount of oil is obtained in this way and why “first oil” does not automatically mean that all other olive oil is inferior.

Discover more about exceptional Italian olive oils and unusual production methods.