The olive mill NICOLAS: Historical of a passion, the past and the future
Foundation in 2004 :
The olive mills NICOLAS were born from a passion: the olive oil
They continue and develop themselves thanks to the sharing of this passion and by the trust of its customers : you!
Rooted in its region, the familial enterprise opened its first mill in 2004 in the city of Beaucaire, with an extraction chain of 700 kg of olives per hour and produced that year the first AOP (originally protected name) vintage « Huile d'olive de Nîmes », obtaining for its first campaign nothing less than the great prize of the professionals.
In 2008, the mill get equipped with a chain of 200 kg of olives per hour in order to grind the little packs of 80 kg of olives for the individual who wishes his/her personnal press.
This activity is, since then, a real success.
The productions are wrapped with customizable labels.
A support of the field by purchases to Gard-based olive growers:
On the other hand, the oil mills NICOLAS have, since their creation, bought each year between 40 and 70 tons of olives to the local olive growers to produce their variety vintages: «Picholine», «Aglandau», «AOP huile d'olive de Nîmes», and the last one «Lucques», as well as the vintage of the mill : the «Mireille» assembling which pays tribute to the first girl and inhabitant of Beaucaire named «Mireille» who was the niece of Frédéric Mistral: Mireille Roumieu.
These vintages, all labelled «Sud de France», symbol of the Occitanie region are selled in mass distributions and to the particulars, as well as in exportations to the United States, thus supporting the local production.
Buying eco-friendly high-tech material :
In 2015, the obsolete chain of 700 kg per hour was replaced by a newly created one with a capacity of 2 tons of olives per hour which uses less energy. In order to do this, the enterprise received a subvention from the Europe (Feader) and from the Occitanie region.
Olive groves to master the quality :
Simultaneously, and in order to compensate the critical lack of fruits which was due to consecutive attacks of the olives by flies, especially during the year 2014/2015, the mill started to buy olive groves in the Gard-based township of Cabrières, birthplace of the olive queen of Gard which gives a burning and herbaceous juice: the «Picholine» (or «Coliasse») which is the main olive of the AOP «huile d'olive de Nîmes».
Meanwhile, the mill took in farm abandoned olive groves and planted saplings to end up in 2018 with 8 hectares of olive trees in production.
A second mill in the middle of plantations : The oil mill NICOLAS
In 2019, the second oil mill NICOLAS opened in october in the countryside of Cabrières, between its olive groves and its farms of Marguerittes, Bezouce and Saint Gervasy.
At the center of this region of production where 50 hectares of olive trees AOP of Nîmes have been planted, and always with the support of both the region and the Europe, the mill has been equipped with the biggest extraction chain of France with a capacity of 6 tons of olives per hour in order to gain speed and quality.
The goal of the oil mills NICOLAS is, with their Gard-based colleagues, to help with the acknowledgement of the Gard as a major place of production of olive oil by reminding that this department was, before the freeze of 1956, the first olive oil producer department in France. Less known than Provence, which yet comes in the Gard to buy the precious « Picholine ». The Gard must retrieve its original place and the consumer, who is looking for quality products with direct distribution won't forget to help us with it.
The future is in the redeployment of olive groves in « Bio » (organic) which is occupying our mind while a wise and reasonable agriculture has already started for years.
The drynesses curse which continue and look alike compensate by reducing drastically the pesticide treatments against the olive fly, which are useless when the temperature stays too high.
A fun and pedagogical tour link with the making of olive oil :
The future is also and most importantly in our youths, who need to be educated about local and healthy food which creates jobs and is good for health.
That is why the mill has started to prepare a pedagogical olive grove made with twelve different essences and will turn this into a pedagogical tour in 2020.
Once again, the project has been financially suppported by the township of Cabrières, the intercommunality of Nîmes métropole, the Occitanie region (leader) and controlled by the GAL of «de Garrigues en Costières».
