Max Gaiatto di Olio Gaiatto si racconta
THE PROOF
Since 2005, I have been involved in olive farming on Lake Como, and from the very beginning my goal has been to commit myself to producing the best oil in the lake area and in Lombardy.
Unfortunately, like the vast majority of small olive growers, for the transformation of olives into oil I had to rely on an olive mill that operates on a contract basis.
Although I must acknowledge that the results were generally satisfactory, I had to accept a series of compromises that in the long run prevented a progressive evolution and improvement of my oils.
My long-cherished dream, from the very first years, has always been to have my own company olive mill, and while pursuing this goal I have always been interested in olive mill technology and kept myself up to date by attending various courses for mill technicians over the years.
Aided by my training as a taster, I tried to understand the oils from the best producers, with which extraction technologies they were made and characterised. This approach gave me the opportunity to prefer, over time, oils that had a distinctive personality, and I increasingly appreciated less those oils that I considered standardised, with an extraction profile focused on polyphenols and poorly developed.
Thanks to these insights, I was able to get an idea of what the olive oil machinery market had to offer, focusing my attention on the best-performing systems for the quality I wanted to achieve and the most flexible in terms of production capacity.
Starting from a decent quality base achieved through contract processing, I immediately searched for a solution that would allow me to grow, ensuring a good prospect of quality improvement and at the same time broad flexibility, as I still had room to increase the quantity of olives cultivated and to be processed.
In 2022 in Trieste, I had the opportunity to meet Giacomo Cappugi from OMT at their stand at Olio Capitale, where I could see the technology and quality of their offerings. I immediately recognised their great expertise and professionalism and appreciated their willingness to share ideas and solutions that helped me and contributed to defining the structure of the system I considered ideal for my company.
A great help for me was getting to know the renowned Slovenian mill master Sandi Babič, who allowed me to visit his olive mill and introduced me closely to its functional and construction features, developed to achieve the extraction of exceptional oils. After completing this informative and in-depth journey, in April 2023 I visited the OMT factory and together with Giacomo we finalised the system that best met the required specifications. The choice was the Pegaso 1000, and together we shared the solutions that ensured the best quality performance to obtain the finest oil possible.
La Pegaso 1000 è dotata delle stesse tecnologie estrattive come le macchine di maggiore capacità che assicurano la migliore qualità estrattiva attualmente disponibile, inoltre il layout dell'impianto ha permesso un perfetto inserimento negli spazi destinati al frantoio. Una qualità che ho avuto modo di apprezzare, determinante per l'estrazione di oli di altissima qualità, è il controllo delle temperature, e tutte le macchine OMT che abbiamo scelto, la lavatrice, il frangitore, le gramole e il decanter, permettono questo controllo in quanto dotate di un sistema di raffreddamento bordo macchina, in questo modo possiamo decidere le temperature che vogliamo durante le fasi della lavorazione.
Throughout the entire design and definition period of the system, I was the only one interfacing with Giacomo's expertise and Sandi's experience, and I was assisted by them in all the decisions to be made. Once everything for the mill had been decided, I began organising the mill management team. I decided to involve and have Riccardo work alongside me—a young, passionate agronomist who had already gained experience in a small mill the year before—while the other collaborators, Erman and Simon, would continue to mainly take care of the olive groves and therefore also the harvesting procedures.
One of the fundamentally important elements was also the delivery deadline I requested, because my goal was to have the system ready for the ongoing 2023 season. To my great satisfaction, this was perfectly achieved, so much so that on 14 October 2023, after the initial testing, we started crushing our olives.
Finally, the dream had become reality, and I can assure you that my satisfaction and that of the entire team was truly immense. I won't hide that Riccardo and I experienced great tension throughout the first week of operation, which was then progressively overcome. As we gained confidence and acquired experience, the initial stress faded away.
When everything was finally under control and the results were giving us more and more satisfaction day by day, the olives unfortunately ran out, due to a truly poor and not very qualitative harvest season.
2024 was our second year with the mill. Thanks to OMT's assistance, we further refined and improved the machine performance, gaining great satisfaction from the oils produced and from the recognition our oils have received. In OMT I found what I was looking for: first of all, the possibility of dialogue. I have always spoken with people who listen, who have expertise, significant professionalism, and a great passion for the craft. Like us, they share the common goal of producing the best oils possible through continuous technological development.
