Shop & Tastings
Visit us for a free tasting at our shop and enjoy our full range of olive oils.
Grove Tours
Join one of our tours for an educational, authentic and fun Istrian experience.
EU Webshop
We ship to the EU and guarantee our oils reach you in perfect condition.
WELCOME
My name is Paul and I am the Irish member of the Puhar family and BRIST Extra Virgin Olive Oil is our family business. BRIST is located in Vodnjan, the home of Istrian olive oil and now recognized as the No.1 region in the world for the highest quality extra virgin olive oil.
We are really passionate about:
- family – yours and ours
- producing world-class olive oil
- you having an exceptional experience with us.
Our family, of four active generations, are passionate about farming and its respectful relationship with nature. It is our greatest joy to share with you what motivates us and what we have learned, along the way.
Visit us for a free tasting in our shop, book an awarded tour on our grove, or order some of our oils via our web shop. Also feel free to contact us should you have any questions.
I hope we will have the chance to meet you in person.
Paul.
THE BRIST OLIVE SHOP
Come and enjoy a free guided tasting of our full range of BRIST extra virgin olive oils in the beautiful and historic town of Vodnjan. The town is known as the home of Istrian olive oil because of its uniquely suited micro climate, its history of olive cultivation since Roman times, and its present reputation for world class production.
Opening Times
October – May
- Monday – Friday 10 – 14
- Saturdays 10 – 14
June – Sept
- Monday – Friday 10 – 16
- Saturdays 10 – 14
The Brist Shop is:
- wheelchair accessible
- young kids & family friendly
Shop Location
Address:
- Trgovačka 40, Vodnjan 52215
- (opposite the post office)
We are close by:
- 5 minutes from Fažana
- 10 Minutes from Pula
- 20 minutes from Rovinj
- 30 minutes from Porec
- 40 minutes from Opatija
- 50 minutes from Rijeka
We are open summer and winter. However, as a small family business, sometimes we need to step away from the shop for deliveries, work on the grove or in the cellar. Therefore, during the off season, it is a good idea to call ahead to ensure that we are open for you.
Shop Location
Click here for a direct link to Google Maps navigator, to our olive oil shop.
Parking
Click here for a direct link to Google Maps navigator to best parking location.
Eat Locally
Check out the best local restaurants where you can enjoy Brist in action!
BBC visit Brist
As a family we were greatly honored to be asked by the BBC to represent the olive oil experience in Istria. Such a professional team and really fun to work with, it was so encouraging that they really wanted to get a feel for us as a family and what it means to do something we so deeply care about.
BRIST OLIVE GROVE TOURS
The heart of everything we do is our olive grove located, just 3km from the shop, in the gently surrounding hills of Vodnjan. There is so much to learn about, especially the history of the land, going back to Roman times and before. Perhaps the most magical part is the views over the Brijuni archipelago, especially at sunset.
MORNING GROVE TOUR
Location: Sta Margherita Olive Grove
(optional shop tasting afterwards)
- a morning time olive farm walking tour
- a full education on the the grove processes
- learn all about Istria’s 2000-year olive oil history
- visit to the (13th century) Sta. Margherita Chapel
- see Venetian architecture and Illyrian archeology
- an optional recommended tasting at the Brist shop
- no extra charge for shop tasting afterwards
- (1 extra hour)
SUNSET PICNIC GROVE TOUR
Location: Sta Margherita Olive Grove
(includes light traditional meal and wine)
- early evening olive farm walking tour
- a full education on the grove processes
- learn all about Istria’s 2000-year olive oil history
- visit to the 13th century Sta. Margherita Chapel
- see Venetian architecture and Illyrian archeology
- a guided tasting of Brist ‘Exclusive Selection’ EVOO
- enjoy light traditional Istrian meal with wine
- taste all Brist oils with different foods
- experience sunset over the Brijuni Islands and the stars come out, weather permitting 🙂
Summer evenings are really special occasions. All of us love to meet people and share experiences when the busy part of the day is done. We run tours just a couple of evenings a week as Lena and I have a young family. For us the the days with tours are great and the days without are great too! Getting the balance right is the trick.
Morning
Grove Tour
Active and educational,
shop tasting afterwards.
Early bird get the worm!
Sunset Picnic Grove Tour
Chilled and educational, light picnic meal, good company, candles, stars.
Read Guest Reviews
We ask guests to give us feedback - this helps to learn and be better.
Enjoy a winter tour too...
Autumn, winter and spring are also wonderful times to visit the grove and a real opportunity to see behind the scenes of what olive growing is all about. During the cooler parts of the year we do walking tours with optional full tastings in the shop afterwards. Be ready, when nature takes control, it can get a little wild up there on our olive grove, but the wildness is beautiful…
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BRIST EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OILS
ISTRIA IS SPECIAL
BRIST extra virgin olive oils, are all domestically produced from traditionally native Istrian olive sorts. These olives have been grown for thousands of years on this small peninsula with its uniquely suited micro-climate. The combination of perfect sunlight, light rain, nutrient rich soil and fresh sea salted winds give this small region unsurpassed olive growing conditions and now a growing reputation again for world class oils. It is known that during the time of ancient Rome, Istrian olive oil was considered, throughout the empire, to be the finest.
THE BRIST RANGE
Brist Olive are delighted to present a range of extra virgin olive oils. Brist Oleum is a high quality oil, popular with top restaurants and great for both cooking and finishing dishes. Brist Premium offers a choice of three tasting experiences – delicate, harmonious and intense. Finally, there is Brist Exclusive Selection, created from hand picked and hand selected olives grown on century old trees, seasoned a life time in the perfect growing environment of Vodnjan.
Our new design, launched for harvest 2018, is inspired by guests wanting to know more about our family and the Sta. Margherita Olive Grove, where our olives are grown. More and more guests are choosing to visit our grove to get a real feeling for what olive oil is really all about and why we are passionate about making it.
EU Webshop
We ship to the EU and guarantee our oils reach you in perfect condition.
Analyses
Results from expert panels, sensory, organoleptic and chemical analyses.
Awards
See our full list of national and international awards by clicking here.
INSPIRATION & DESIGN
The challenge for our new designer was to “refreshen” the brand, keep many of its well known elements, but at the same time find a way to connect the oils back to where they come from, while also highlighting each oils special characteristics. We also wanted the bottle to be beautiful, elegant and engaging. If that wasn’t enough, as clients, we are passionate about design so young designer Tina Erman Popović has a big job on her hands, and we think she did great work.
AWARDS
As much as awards can be considered important in the process of assessing the quality of an olive oil, they are just part of the picture. Beside awards is analysis, whether that be chemical or sensory. Most importantly, however for us, is trusting our own instincts and experience, and above all listening openly to the feedback of our guests.
Brist are proud to have been named every year since its beginning in the internationally respected world guide book on extra virgin olive oils – Flos Olei. We also received two “World top 20” awards in 2019 & 2020 and most recently a gold in the prestigious New York olive oil competition in 2020. Come, do a free tasting with us in Vodnjan or visit our grove and learn why this region is so special for olive oil.
National & International Awards
REVIEWS & FEEDBACK
As a family we love sharing our passion for high quality extra virgin olive oil, ethically locally produced food and why these things mean so much to us. It is our great pleasure to share with you, your family or group as much knowledge and insight as we possibly can. We are deeply appreciative of the positive feedback we have received to date and hope that your experience with us will be equally positive, educational and fun.
Read Guest Reviews
We ask guests to give us feedback - this helps to learn and be better.
We are a small family business, and every review really helps especially as it comes from you,
news & MEDIA
Tina Erman Popović wins international award for new Brist design.
Congrats to Tina on all your hard work on our new design. We appreciate your work and the much effort you went to to really get to understand our product range and more importantly what the Brist family business is all about. Well done from the whole team!
Intenso Labels
Dear Guests and webshop clients, Between July 1st and August 19th, in our shop, we had a set of incorrectly labeled 0,5L Intenso bottles. The error was that the labels were from the previous harvest and not from the present one. Please let us assure you that all of our oils, every year, are from […]
Harvest Time
Wonderful Harvest 2019 Harvest is going great, the olives are strong and the first oils are really spectacular. It is gonna be a wonderful year with a beautiful range of balanced oils. Can’t wait to see the reaction at the Vodnjan olive oil fair in November when the new harvest oils are launched…
Nature & Balance
Nature & Balance It always amazes me out of the cold of winter eternally springs new growth. All around our olive is the nature of Istria which is just so beautiful. So important to us, in this part of the world, is a balance of nature. Rather than removing all other nature other than olive […]
Our Shop – Virtual View
Come Visit Us. The shop is beautiful and we would love to have you with us for a full tasting and education.Click here to see a virtual tour of the inside of our shop. We very much look forward to welcoming you.
Manchester Evening News
Paul Smith came to visit us and we all had such a fun time together. It seems that Istria with a bite of ice cream and olive oil, cooled the tongue but ,warmed the heart. Hope to see you with us again soon. Thanks for the wonderful article from the Manchester Evening Times.
Gallery
