Skip to content
OLIVEPRESTIGE

Current crop year

Fresh Harvest Olive Oil

Fresh harvest olive oil means oil from the most recent crop, bottled and sold while its phenolic content and aroma are still close to what came off the decanter. Olive oil does not improve with age. It loses aroma compounds within months and phenols over a year or two, and the decline accelerates in warmth and light. Every bottle on this page shows the harvest we bought it from, so you can judge freshness by date instead of guessing from a best-before stamp two years out.

Bottles in this selection

Why harvest date beats best-before

A best-before date is set by the bottler, usually 18 to 24 months from filling, and tells you nothing about when the fruit was picked. Oil pressed in November 2024 and bottled in September 2025 can carry a 2027 best-before while already being a year old.

Harvest date is the only figure that lets you compare two bottles honestly. Read it first, then read everything else.

Northern and southern hemisphere crops

Mediterranean harvests run roughly October to January. Southern hemisphere crops from Chile, Argentina, Australia and South Africa land around April to June, which is useful in a US kitchen when Mediterranean oil is at its oldest.

If you buy once a year, buy in late winter from the northern crop. If you buy twice, alternate hemispheres.

Frequently asked questions

What does fresh harvest mean on an olive oil label?
It indicates the oil comes from the most recent olive crop, with the harvest year printed on the bottle. It is a statement about age, not about grade or origin.
How long does extra virgin olive oil stay fresh?
Unopened and stored cool and dark, roughly 12 to 18 months from harvest for most oils. Once opened, finish a 500 ml bottle within about three months.

Read before you buy

All olive oil guides

Related selections

Early Harvest Olive OilExtra Virgin Olive OilPremium Extra Virgin Olive OilCold-Extracted Olive Oil

The harvest letter

Early access to each new harvest, forty-eight hours before release

One letter a month: tasting notes from our own panel, the estates we are visiting, and first refusal on limited single-tank releases.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.