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Steeped in tradition, Aril Estate offers customers a taste for all things natural.

Sixteen years ago, Andrew Hadjichari and his family sought to purchase a property in the area to harvest olives and pomegranates.

After visiting Mudgee for the first time during their property hunt, the town became the number one pick for the family, which was made clear by every other potential purchase being met with "but it's not Mudgee".

"We had never been to Mudgee before and yet it felt like home," Mr Hadjichari said.

Table olives, olive oils, tapenade, pomegranates, jams, syrups and more are the name of the game for Aril Estate who pride themselves on being "sustainable".

And while their traditional methods of olive fermentation are time consuming, Mr Hadjichari said it's what gives their product the taste.

"It's sustainable how we do it, we use everything we grow," he said.

"It's a human who does most of the labor for us too and I think that's why you get a better product.

"We're traditionalists and the evidence is in the taste. We don't use preservatives, just the good old salt and water for table olives and sugar for the syrups.

"It's not fast, everything is slow. When we pickle our olives, it's a minimum of one year fermentation. Commercially, it could be done in 48 hours.

"We have to have stock in advance. Stuff people buy now is three years old and when I tell them, they don't believe it."

Growing eight varieties of pomegranates each year means picking ripe ones is crucial, which is something that is not as easy as it seems.

"We have a range of pomegranates from white seeds that taste like rosewater going all the way to pink ones with a beautiful sweet and sour taste. Others are a dark magenta type, they end up being a bit more tangy. There are also ones that are very sour but we use those for molasses," Mr Hadjichari said.

"My great uncle who is 80, my mum's cousin who comes up with his wife, they're in their 70s, work for us. The reason we hire those people is because they know the difference between ripe and raw pomegranates.

"No one wants to eat a raw pomegranate, it tastes bland and there's no juice. They look pretty but our customers want ripe ones."

This year, Aril Estate produced 10 thousand litres of olive oil which is quickly becoming "an even bigger business for us".

"We couldn't believe it. I'd say there's still olives on the trees, we've done quite well. It was an early harvest too," Mr Hadjichari said.

Mr Hadjichari and his Aril Estate products can typically be found at various markets in Mudgee throughout the year, including the Mudgee Farmers Market.

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