Falling in love isn’t the usual prompt for a new business venture, but for Wairarapa residents Nalini and Colin Baruch, it’s what set them on the road to their successful boutique olive oil business, Lot Eight.

Their story, explains Nalini, began way back in 1997.

“We were in Martinborough for a weekend visit when we fell in love with the region and with the newly planted Martinborough Olive Grove,” she says.

Nalini, a barrister, and Colin, a human resources specialist, put their professional careers on hold and bought a property at the Olive Grove, an olive village consisting of 11 groves and a total of some 5,000 olive trees.

“Our dream was to grow quality olives and produce premium extra virgin olive oils,” says Nalini.

Each year, Lot Eight combines with fellow growers to benefit from collective grove management, olive picking and pressing and have since partnered with other larger groves within the region. 
They’re obviously doing something right, because Lot Eight recently took home the Best in Class award for the second year running at the Olives NZ Extra Virgin Olive Oil awards, one of only two New Zealand producers to ever achieve back-to-back wins.
Judges said they “demonstrated a commitment to consistent high standards of quality and delivery”, winning the award for their Artemesia (Red Label) Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
These latest awards add to a trophy cabinet filled with similar accolades from the UK’s fresh Olive Oil Club and Spain’s Savantes panel.

For Nalini, who still finds personally supervises Lot Eight’s olive picking on each site, the company’s success comes down to passion, commitment and a desire to bring the best of the Wairarapa’s bounty to the rest of the world.
 
“Passion alone won’t get you the results you dream of – and it certainly won’t pay the bills! The biggest success comes when you believe in yourself and what you are doing,” she says.

“It’s important to keep in touch with this, because it will continue to lead your business in the right direction.”