Duck Creek Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Duck Creek Road Extra Virgin Olive Oil is grown by Derek and Sally Holland on their single-estate grove near Matakana in Auckland's Mahurangi district. The property was originally planted with 600 trees across six cultivars: Leccino, Frantoio, Koroneiki, Albany Gold, J5 (Chemlali) and Pendolino. The current productive-tree count and total annual output have not been published.

Current release and production scale

The 2025 release certified by Olives New Zealand was a medium-intensity Grove Blend of Frantoio and J5. It won Bronze in the Boutique Medium Blends class at the 2025 New Zealand Olive Oil Awards. Under the competition's rules, a Boutique entry must represent 30 to 249 litres of oil that was available for retail sale. This brackets the entered Grove Blend, not Duck Creek's entire 2025 production.

The producer's order page lists a 250ml gift box for NZ$45 and a 500ml gift box for NZ$85, equivalent to NZ$180 and NZ$170 per litre respectively. It also advertises bulk oil at NZ$105 per litre in 3, 5 or 10 litre containers. Orders are placed by email or telephone and there is no live stock indicator. Duck Creek describes its supply as limited, but no reliable current source confirms that the 2025 release has sold out.

Harvest and processing

Duck Creek is spray-free according to the producer and follows organic growing principles, but it is not documented as certified organic. Prunings are mulched beneath the trees, and the Hollands say they use organically certified soil products. The trees are pruned for airflow, light penetration and wind pollination, an important consideration in Mahurangi's humid growing conditions.

Sally and Derek personally harvest with battery-powered hand-held harvesters and a Pick-a-Pod net that wraps around each trunk. Leaves and visibly damaged, diseased or bird-pecked fruit are removed through several rounds of sorting. Different cultivars may be harvested over approximately two months as they reach the desired ripeness, sometimes late in the autumn; there is therefore insufficient evidence to classify the range as early harvest.

The oil is not processed on the estate. According to the producer's step-by-step processing account, sorted fruit is transported on the day of picking to a local professional processor, where it is washed, cold processed and bottled. Salumeria Fontana is identified as the press house for the 2023 Oliveti-winning Frantoio, but the processor for other releases has not been confirmed.

Release history

Olives New Zealand certified Duck Creek's 2025 Frantoio/J5 Grove Blend, its separate 2024 Frantoio and J5 batches, and its 2023 Frantoio as extra virgin. The 2024 J5 Batch 2 won national Silver and the Frantoio Batch 1 won Bronze. In 2023, the Frantoio won national Silver and then Gold, Best in Class and Best in Show at the Oliveti Northland awards. Oliveti reported a polyphenol value of 222mg/kg for that oil; Extra Virgin Vault has not viewed the laboratory report.

The two 2022 national entries also won Bronze: an intense Frantoio single varietal and a mild Frantoio/J5 blend. The 2021 Frantoio/J5 blend won Oliveti Silver. In 2020, Duck Creek won Oliveti Gold, Best in Class and Best in Show for the second consecutive year. Contemporary local reporting gave a polyphenol value of 360mg/kg for Duck Creek's oil, but the underlying laboratory report has not been reviewed by Extra Virgin Vault.

The earlier 2019 Oliveti Best in Show winner was a medium J5 and Frantoio blend. Duck Creek also received two Silvers that year for a Leccino/Koroneiki/Frantoio blend and a four-variety blend that added J5. The producer records national and regional medals extending back to 2014.

The grove property was offered for sale in 2026 as Sally and Derek prepared to step back. They said the business was not separately included or valued in the property sale, although a new owner could continue the operation. The producer website and order page remain online, but production continuity after a change of ownership is not yet known.