Our Estate and the Mill

Bordering the southern limits of the Rif mountains, the estate benefits from the mildness of the Mediterranean climate while also being protected from its excesses. We have selected an ancestral Moroccan variety (Moroccan picholine) well adapted to climatic conditions and resistant to disease and climatic stress, and we have planted the trees at a density that gives them plenty of sunshine.

Olives growing at Noor Fès remains very traditional and fertiliser is exclusively organic and used sparingly. Pruning the olive tree is an operation of the utmost importance: it helps to aerate the tree in order to increase the quality of fruiting. This requires great know-how and precise techniques. Noor Fès’s farmers have all been trained in tree pruning techniques, each of them is also assigned specific plots, so they become familiar with almost each tree.

Olives have been harvested the same way at Noor Fès for years. At harvest time, the estate’s work force increases to more than 400 pickers, all trained and familiar with the domain for many years. Exclusively harvested by hand so as not to injure the fruit, and maintain all its benefits, the olives are collected and put in aerated boxes to prevent the olive from being crushed thus increasing the oil’s acidity level and damaging its quality.  

The olives are then immediately taken within the next 3-4 hours to the mill, that is located within the Estate, where they’re carefully washed prior to being cold pressed, at a precisely controlled temperature not exceeding 22-24°C, so as to preserve their unique flavours and health benefits. Our obsession is that our olives remain fresh throughout the process, to obtain a fresh olive juice.