Olivegrower profile – 2021 AIOA Best of Show
Sweet smell of AIOA success for Leisal Rose As a remedial massage therapist, improving outcomes with handson care is nothing new for Leisal Rose owner Liz Tonkinson. But when she took on the task of rejuvenating a neglected 300-tree olive grove, she had no idea she’d end up producing this year’s Australian International Olive Awards (AIOA) Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil of Show.
2021 Award wins
Leisal Rose’s EVOO was the stand-out winner of the 2021 Australian International competition, awarded Gold and the judges’ highest score with a rare 96/100. The blend also made a clean sweep across all eligible trophy categories, named Champion Mild EVOO, Champion New South Wales EVOO, Champion Australian EVOO, Best Southern Hemisphere EVOO and then Best EVOO of Show Boutique Volume. With production of just 500L, that’s a big mark on the world of olive oil for such a small producer. And making the win even more remarkable, it was the first time Liz had entered an oil into any competition.
Liz said the award also belongs to her ‘right hand man’ Dick Galvin, who helps manage the grove.
Background
Liz’s life in olives began about 10 years ago, when she decided to swap city hustle and bustle for a tree change and more peaceful life. “I was a single parent, working in Sydney as a remedial massage therapist with people with disabilities, and I was sick of sitting in city traffic. My daughter had finished her studies, so I thought I’d transition to the country and have a different lifestyle,” she said. “I hoped to supplement my income with something and just stumbled on this little place in Murringo, which had about 300 olive trees. At the time I thought ‘It’s an olive grove, that’s lovely’ but didn’t look too closely, and when I moved here I found they’d never been looked after. The people I bought from said they could get them bulldozed out but there’s no way I was doing that.”
Learning to manage
Which meant that when Liz took over the property, she also took on a huge learning curve in olive grove management. “The trees were in such bad condition, full of scale and black with sooty mould. I used to call one section the black forest,” she said. “But I was very green to the country - I knew nothing about
Issue 122 • December 2021 • Australian & New Zealand Olivegrower & Processor • 17
