Tuscany & Maremma · September 29, 2026 · By Marie-Charlotte Piro
Every harvest begins with a question we cannot answer in advance: what will this year give us?
After a difficult 2025, the answer in Tuscany looks encouraging. The trees are carrying more fruit, the fruit is clean, and our early harvest began in mid-September. Here is what we are seeing in the grove, and what it means for the oil you will taste this winter.
A hot summer, and one unexpected gift
Heat is rarely the olive grower's friend. This year it did us one favor: it kept the olive fruit fly in check. The fly is the most persistent threat to quality in Tuscany. When its activity is low, the olives reach the mill intact, and intact fruit makes cleaner, brighter oil.
Too little rain, then just enough
The same summer was dry. Grosseto recorded an annual rainfall deficit of about 18%, and drought reached parts of the Maremma. September's rain arrived in time to bring some relief before picking.
A dry season shapes the oil in two ways. It concentrates flavor. It can also leave the olives with less water and less oil to give. Around Monte Amiata, fruit quality looks promising, but how much oil each olive will yield remains uncertain.
One variety at a time
Our oil is a Tuscan blend of four varieties: Olivastra Seggianese, Leccino, Moraiolo and Frantoio. Each ripens on its own schedule, so we evaluate each one separately and pick it at its moment rather than all at once. After a dry summer, fruit moisture and oil accumulation will decide the timing.
Picking early costs us volume. Green olives give less oil than ripe ones. What they give is more intense: the peppery, grassy, high-antioxidant character that defines Piro.
The numbers
We expect to produce around 45,000 liters this year, compared with 30,000 liters in 2025. That includes an early harvest dedicated to PiroMD.
More oil does not change how we make it. Our priority remains quality over quantity: exceptional, high-antioxidant Tuscan extra virgin olive oil, pressed from fruit picked when it is ready and not a day later.
Follow the harvest with us: Il Frantoio
This year we are opening the mill. Il Frantoio, "the olive mill," is our way of letting you follow the harvest from the grove to the first taste of the new oil.
During the harvest we will go live on Instagram three times, open to everyone. Those who join Il Frantoio go further: a private live from the mill before the harvest, and a private tasting of the new oil once it is pressed. Joining is free.
And if you want the oil itself first: the 2026 harvest reaches the United States in February, and our subscribers receive it before anyone else.
Marie-Charlotte