Went to an olive oil tasting tonight. That's the way I like to decide on oils, instead

M

Marg CDN

Well-known member
of laying out $30 for a bottle I find out I don't like. My old favourite was there (Basilippo from Spain) and I still like it, although the recent production has a bit of a tomato background flavour. It's always interesting to see what the olives will experience during a year, to change their flavour. Like wine.

Got stopped by police on the way home; the Christmas drinking and driving has started already, I guess. I'm sure the scent of olives was oozing out of every opening in my car but I had to open the car window and I just know, a big blast of olive oil flew out the window at this poor fellow. This woman drinks very strange cocktails.

 
It's fascinating how different olive oils can taste, eh? You nailed it -- like wine, varying

from season to season, region to region. I hate buying olive oil anymore unless I can try it first. The flavors can run the gamut and when they're bad, they're really bad.

 
Yes. These are all estate oils, some bottled by distributors but still the same

consistent estate quality.

Affiorato Biologico from Imperia, Italy. A bit of a spicy after flavour and I found it slightly watery. I think this one is created not by pressing but by specific gravity.

Planeta - Sicily. Oddly lovely for a Sicilian oil. A bit acidic.

Basillipo from Seville. Still my favourite. It's just a really classy oil. Enough of an edge to let it stand out but still delicate. Beautifully balanced.

La Belle Excuse, Verte from Hora Greece. I tend to find Greek oils to be too herbaceous but I found this one delightfully fruity.

Merula from Merida, Spain. A very delicate oil just a delight. This was the other one I bought. I do prefer most of the oils from Spain.

I had not tried the O Olive Oils from California before, with the fruit essences. I just find that I'd prefer to add my own, but it was interesting, nonetheless.

Another all-time favourite is l'Olivier from France. They produce an outstanding lemon o oil that is perfect to drizzle over a lobster tail. But I like almost all of their oils. There is a cepes and truffle oil that they produce that I would like to have tried.

Terra Medi - Peloponnese, Greece. had a 'light, clean' flavour.

I also bought a new truffle oil that I have not yet tried: La Madia from Italy.

And I tried a Moroccan oil for the first time. It had a peppery after-flavour. Desert Miracle. It was quite popular with the group.

And these are just the ones I liked. Is it any wonder that I was a strange encounter for this police officer?

It had not occurred to me before, but I guess the only real way to do a vertical tasting of oils is retroactively and from memory. The Basillipo and Olivier were the only ones of which I could do a form of vertical tasting, only because they are the only oils that I consume regularly. I think a horizontal tasting of olive oils would be difficult as I suspect there is even more fiddling that goes on with olives oils than with wines and of course, the fiddling would vary unreliably from year to year, not just the normal factors.

 
LOL!! You're a party animal Marg for

getting caught while being under the influence of olive oil.

You're very lucky that policeman didn't give you some vertical and horizontal tests!

 
A vertical tasting is a chronological sampling of a specific oil from a specific orchard usually by

order of the year (vintage) it was produced (ie. individual tastes of the Frantoia - Sicilian Extra Virgin Olive Oil from 2005, 06, 07, 08 and 2009 would be a "five year vertical tasting")

On the other hand, a horizontal tasting is done while lying down. Ahem. (Okay, a horizontal is actually a comparison of DIFFERENT oils but made in the same year/vintage.)

 
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