JOSEPH

McLaren Vale | South Australia

JOSEPH extra virgin olive oils and aged vinegar represent the best of classic Australian ingenuity and produce. Ever since the first bottling of JOSEPH olive oil in 1989, Joe Grilli has been at the forefront of the country’s modern olive oil industry, and his First Run and Cold Pressed olive oils have become ’first pours’ at some of Australia’s finest restaurants.

They are undoubtedly the pioneers of 100% Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil and you can read more about it on our blog post here.

2026 Extra Virgin Olive Oil ‘First Run’
375ml / 750ml

Once a year for a limited time, experience the freshest, most vibrant Extra Virgin Olive Oil that South Australia has to offer. Greener olives picked at the beginning of the harvest (early Winter) give this a unique cloudy colour, peppery taste and strong fragrance as it is bottled straight from the press.

Tasting Note

The 2026 oils are intensely aromatic, with vibrant fruit character, low astringency and a distinctive peppery finish. The result is a fresh, lively and beautifully balanced JOSEPH extra virgin olive oil that captures the character of the season.

Growing Conditions

A long, even growing season across the Adelaide Hills and Mount Compass produced small olives packed with flavour and oil.

Harvest

The JOSEPH First Run uses fruit picked at the beginning of the olive harvest. The fruit was pressed, blended and bottled in early June. Primo Estate picks the finest parcels from different groves and varieties to produce the best extra virgin olive oil of the season.

Orchard Regions

Since 1989 Joe Grilli has worked with olive growers from the Adelaide Hills and Mount Compass. For close to thirty years, Joe has worked with many of the same growers and has seen groves ripen to full maturity.

Varieties

Coratina, Leccino, Signore

2026 Extra Virgin Olive Oil ‘Cold Pressed’
375ml / 750ml

This is the purest expression of South Australia’s best olives from the year’s harvest with fruit picked in July for a fruitier and more rounded style of oil. Primo estate presses the fruit at low temperatures to ensure purity of flavour, freshness and balance.

Tasting Note

Growing Conditions

Warm, dry conditions approaching harvest delivered excellent fruit concentration while preserving freshness and balance.

Harvest

The JOSEPH Cold Pressed uses fruit picked at full ripeness during height of the season in July. The oil was given over six weeks to settle before bottling without filtration to eliminate sediment.

Orchard Regions

Since 1989 Joe Grilli has worked with olive growers from the Adelaide Hills to Mount Compass. For close to thirty years Joe has worked with many of the same growers and has seen groves ripen to full maturity.

Varieties

Frantoio, Coratina & Leccino

NV Aged Vinegar ‘La Casetta’
375ml *

The most fabulous vinegar Joe Grilli ever tasted was made by his grandfather, Adamo. He kept it in barrels in the front room of his ‘casetta’ (little house) and this is Joe’s unashamedly sentimental attempt at reproducing it. *Limited-production.

Tasting Note

The lingering madeirized and slightly sweet flavours of this strong vinegar instantly transforms any dish in which it is used. It is quite sherry-like.

Production

The base wine comes from white grape juice that has been boiled in stainless steel tubs for many hours using the heat from a wood fire. When it cools, fermentation begins spontaneously to produce 'vino cotto' - a rustic, slightly sweet, sherry-like wine. This wine is stored in half-full old oak barrels in the warm ambience of Primo Estate’s vineyard shed. They then introduce a 'mother' culture of acetic bacteria which grows on the surface transforming it into vinegar, which can take almost two years.

Base Wine Variety

Colombard

Aging

The vinegar is aged for at least a further 3 years before bottling.

Uses

At home use it mainly in the classic olive oil / vinegar / salt / pepper dressing for salads.