Delivered Fresh from the Southern Hemisphere A Trio of Australia’s Finest Extra Virgin Olive Oils Ready to Enhance Autumnal Meals and Celebrations

• Meticulously chosen by your Olive Oil Hunter, working hand in hand with the country’s leading artisanal producers.
• Rich in the polyphenols that impart extra virgin olive oil’s unique depth of flavor and hold the secret to so many of its health benefits.
• Rushed to the US by jet to maximize freshness and certified to be 100 percent extra virgin olive oil by an independent lab.

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Come with me to the magical land Down Under! I make the journey to Australia at this time every year to hunt for the freshest olive oil for Club members. Oz has a dynamic New World olive culture with the opposite harvest season from the Mediterranean. Though I’ve been visiting for more than 20 years, I remain fascinated by the sights, sounds, and, of course, the aromas and tastes I encounter. As you savor each of the selections in this quarter’s trio, know that my Merry Band of Tasters and I captured the essence of Oz in these three exquisite blends.

First Stop: Melbourne

Home base for my visits is the enchanting capital of Victoria, the southeastern state with beautiful topographic variety—picturesque coastlines, alpine landscapes, and sandy deserts. The city of Melbourne is a vibrant melting pot of cultures, with impressive Italian and Asian contingents, not to mention the largest Greek community outside of Greece. Reconnecting with our producers who are also dear friends is especially fun, because we often do so around convivial tables at amazing restaurants—meals that inspired the recipes in this Pressing Report, so you, too, can savor the flavors of this country.

John and Marjan Symington of Oasis joined me and my Merry Band of Tasters as we immersed ourselves in the hustle and bustle of the Queen Victoria Market, with its wealth of vegetable and fruit merchants and cheese and fishmongers. At a stand with Australian olives—but no Australian olive oil—Marjan, president of the Goulburn Strathbogie Olive Oil Association, immediately struck up a conversation with the proprietor, suggesting he add it to his offerings ASAP!

With Mick Labbozzetta, the esteemed estate manager at Kyneton, we returned to Brunetti’s on Lygon Street, my favorite “Little Italy” neighborhood on the planet, for delicious pastries and rich coffee. When we passed a shop dedicated to cappuccino makers, we remarked at how the coffee culture in Australia has exploded—just a decade or so ago, it was barely on the radar (by contrast, sweets, as you’ll see in the dessert section of this report’s recipes, have always been top of mind!).

With Melissa Wong, my trusted Aussie advisor, food authority, and Michelin-star restauranteur, we discovered our new favorite Asian restaurant, Old Beijing, and ate our fill of Peking duck, stir fries, soup dumplings, and vibrant Chinese greens. We also indulged in local seafood at the Stokehouse in the St. Kilda Beach section of Melbourne, near Melissa’s home, a meal that starred crayfish with shellfish bisque sauce, yellowfin tuna with tomato dressing, and perfectly grilled King George whiting.

Shortages Span the Globe

While the main event of every visit to Oz is the grand tasting Melissa organizes for us to choose oils and create blends for you, my discerning Club member, that was just the beginning of what turned out to be a seven-day marathon of tastings to perfect our selections.

When I’m in Australia, I always want to check in with Leandro Ravetti, one of the world’s most respected olive authorities, to get his insights into the current season and, most important, his input on the olive oils I’m considering. Longtime friend of the club, Leandro is a master miller who champions the highest standards. He confirmed that the worldwide olive shortage had made its way around the globe and that production at many Aussie olive oil farms was down about 45 percent this season. As we saw in Europe, this has led some producers to leave their fruit to ripen until the olives are black and full of low-quality oil, in contrast to our collaborators, who harvest during the magic window—just the right moment, when the fruit is still green and at the pinnacle of flavor and health benefits. (Mass-market producers also rely on heat in the extraction process for a higher yet inferior-tasting yield.)

“As a counterpoint to Europe, which has experienced three dry years in a row, we had three wet years in a row,” Leandro explained. While he expects conditions to soon normalize, he’s always thinking ahead to avoid future problems. An ongoing concern centers on
frost, which can harm the tiny buds as they start to form. “In countries in the Southern Hemisphere, where winters are not normally very wet, like Australia, the frost risk in early spring is high,” he said.

In some areas, there can be frost at ground level while the air just above, at five to fifteen meters, is warmer. Leandro’s ingenious solution is to use special fans that draw in the warmer air to raise the ground temperature and protect the buds that will become olives. I admire the way Leandro shares his expertise with fellow producers and the deep camaraderie they enjoy—there’s no sense of one-up-manship in this country. I also value how generous Leandro is with his time when I visit, despite his having one of the most demanding schedules I’ve ever seen.

Our Olive Oil Odyssey

The magic window for harvesting was somewhat unusual this year, and certain varieties were staying green on the trees for weeks. This led to numerous tasting rounds—challenging and fun at the same time. To visit the farms we planned to work with—Oasis, Nullamunjie, and Kyneton—we embarked on a wide, 700-mile loop around Melbourne. Being right at the mills is like being a kid in a candy store, indulging in all the sweets with abandon! It’s always pure joy to spend time with the millers, sample each farm’s distinctive olive oils, and work together to perfect our blends. I invite you to taste the fruits of our labor and to catch up with our chosen producers in the pages that follow.

Happy drizzling!

T. J. Robinson 
The Olive Oil Hunter®

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This Quarter’s First Selection

• Producer: Oasis Olives, Kialla, Goulburn Valley, Victoria, Australia 2024
• Olive Varieties: Picual, Coratina
• Flavor Profile: Mild

We’re all connected to our smartphones, but during my time with John and Marjan Symington, John could barely put his down—his cell rarely stopped ringing with people looking for olive oil from his glorious farms. “Because there’s so little olive oil to go around this season, folks like us that did have olives to produce oil are very busy,”
John said candidly. “We’ve got quite a good crop in Kialla—it’s been a good season for us.”

Oasis Olives, the venture he started as a retirement passion project, seems to be keeping John busier than he was during his successful career in information technology. To say that he and Marjan have come a long way in the 14 years since they bought their first groves—on a ramshackle farm with much neglected trees—is an understatement. They recently replanted 40 hectares from the latest farm they acquired, a parcel adjacent to theirs, because a lot of those trees were so neglected. My Merry Band of Tasters and I are already looking forward to the fruit the new trees will bear.

Why is Oasis a perennial award winner? “The biggest factor that can impact the flavor profiles of olive oils is the climate,” John said. “Kialla is an environment where the trees have a very easy life in general, whereas if you go more toward South Australia, it’s a much drier climate. In other areas, where it’s very wet, the oils tend to be more washed out. This year Mother Nature gave us reasonably mild temperatures right through the growing season. We had a dry summer and dry autumn too.” Credit also goes to John and Marjan’s tenacity and their determination to produce olive oils that discerning palates, including our Club members, will love. That their kids are getting more involved in the operation brings the Symingtons a double dose of bliss.

While in Kialla, I had a chance to catch up with Scott Sanders, an international olive oil consultant who joined Oasis in 2016 and quickly became the farm manager. Scott grew up on his own family’s farm in northwest New South Wales and developed a deep love of the land. At the young age of 20, he became fascinated with the world of olive oil and “traveled to Italy and Spain to learn the art of olive oil making,” he recounted. Scott and the Symingtons share a commitment to sustainability—sheep are used to control weeds, olive pomace (what’s left of the olive flesh after milling) is a natural fertilizer for the land, and even the olive pits get a second life as a fuel source.

Because Scott felt that some varietals had it a little too easy this year, he decided to cut the irrigation to the Picual and the Coratina trees destined to be contenders for the Club in order to stress them and, in turn, bump up the polyphenols along with the flavor and aroma. “Stressing the trees also facilitates harvesting. If the trees are too ‘happy,’ they don’t want to let the fruit go,” he explained.

“Scott’s breadth of experience is incredible—he’s worked at olive mills from Australia to Spain to California,” John said. “Scott has seen a lot of different environments, a lot of different olives, so there’s not much that comes up that’s new to him.” He’s also been imparting his wisdom to Antonio and Domenico, the Italian millers who, for the past three harvests, have flown in from Puglia to run the mill. And what an olive oil this talented Oasis team has made exclusively for the Club. For the last few years, I’ve been waiting for an oil that could match the perfect—and elusive— Picual that John crafted for us many years ago. Our mild selection is early-harvest Picual at its best. Enhanced with a touch of Coratina, it hits the mark.

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

This is a highly aromatic blend of Picual and Coratina with amazing flair. The distinctive aromas of grass, tomato leaf, and banana are layered with hints of pear, apple, almond, oregano, sweet basil, baby lettuces, white pepper, and wheatgrass. On the palate, we noted the sweetness of dried tropical fruits and Sungold cherry tomatoes, along with lemon, hazelnut, basil, mixed spring lettuces, and the bitterness and spiciness of baby arugula. Luxurious in the mouth, it has a long, spicy finish.

You’ll love it for mild vinaigrettes, salads with fruits, tomato bruschetta, egg dishes, mild cheeses like brie and goat, yogurt and granola breakfast bowls, nutty banana bread* and muffins, chicken and leek pie, mild fin fish, crispy potatoes, pastas with fresh tomato-based sauces, glazed carrots, squash and pumpkin dishes, smoothies, and tiramisù.

*See the recipe section for bolded dishes.

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This Quarter’s Second Selection

• Producer: Nullamunjie Blend, Tongio, Victoria, Australia 2024
• Olive Varieties: Correggiola, Coratina, Leccino, Pendolino
• Flavor Profile: Medium

The effervescent and unstoppable Annie Paterson has owned, developed, and run the Nullamunjie farm, with its olive groves, vegetable garden, seasonal café, and sheep, since 1998. Born and reared in the Australian ranch country, as a young woman Annie traveled to Greece, where she was mesmerized by the silvery-leafed olive trees she glimpsed through the tour bus window. She dreamt of growing olives in Australia, with its similar climate. Decades later, after she and her husband had raised their four children, Annie acquired land at the foot of Mount Stalwell, in East Gippsland, with the Tambo River running through it, and made her dream a reality.

She is one of the original wave of entrepreneurs who put ultra-premium Aussie olive oil on the map—and, as the Down Under olive oil scene changes, Annie, a true pioneer, remains both stalwart and flexible, maintaining impeccable standards while incorporating innovative techniques to protect her trees and the natural world around them.

To deter cockatoos and other birds from eating olives off the trees, Annie has debuted a new sound cannon, which her crew demonstrated for me with a deep “FOOM!” As we all reflected, though, Annie is such a softie that she’ll say to an individual bird, “Oh, but I like you, you can stay.”

Speaking of staying, Annie made me laugh so hard as she described a wombat that has recently decided to live down the hill from her home. The furry, dog-sized marsupial has carved out a massive burrow beneath an old olive tree—“A cave, a cave it was; I could almost walk into it without crouching down,” exclaimed Annie—with the tree’s roots hanging down “like stalactites.” No word whether Annie is going to charge him rent.

In 2023, Annie purchased the neighboring farm, historically named Tongio Station—“The big old properties in Australia used to be called stations,” she explains—to give Nullamunjie an additional 800 acres. This season, her team planted close to 1,200 baby trees. I couldn’t wait to see them.

On our way to the farm, about four hours from Melbourne, my Merry Band of Tasters and I stopped at Bruthen Bakery to pick up goodies for the team. We brought boxes of vanilla slices and meat pies, including my favorite, a succulent steak-and-pepper pie—essentially pastry-wrapped pot roast.

Upon our arrival, operations manager Riley Nivens hopped into his 4×4 to take us around the new groves as we munched on pastries. The baby trees were almost invisible against the hills behind them, so tiny, so fragile—barely the size of corn stalks. Solar panels, elegantly arranged in a nearby clearing, captured energy from the sun to run the irrigation pumps. These baby trees won’t be mature enough to produce oil for several years, so, right now, the main concern is keeping them vertical. In spite of an electric fence, deer and kangaroos bound out of the surrounding hills and flatten the infant saplings in their path. On a daily basis, Riley inspects the rows and gingerly repositions or replants any trampled trees.

“The wonder that is Riley,” Annie praised, “he saved us all.” She added, in the style of an auto-racing commentator: “He continues to impress.” Annie alluded to the curveball that Mother Nature chucked at Nullamunjie during the growing season: torrential rainfall that knocked the blossoms off the Frantoio trees, which meant no olives. Thankfully, the other varietals—Correggiola, Leccino, Coratina, Pendolino—flowered a few weeks later and benefited from the rain.

Annie’s olives are harvested and pressed together as a “farm blend,” always recognizable as Nullamunjie olive oil, even as the flavor profile takes on different nuances and dimensions from year to year. The unique terroir gives Nullamunjie its special character and soul.

Coratina comes to the forefront in this blend, providing backbone and a hint of bitterness, indicating health-promoting polyphenols, to create a beautifully harmonious and food-friendly oil. When I asked Annie (as I always do) for her latest, greatest recipe using olive oil, she said, “I still think the best way to use olive oil is to put it on a freshly grilled steak.” We concurred that, ideally, this would be a grass-fed steak, with a little extra fat for flavor, and fresh-pressed Nullamunjie oil drizzled generously over the meat as it comes off the grill. Mmmmmmm. I hope you’ll take our recommendation and also come up with your own!

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings 

The fresh aromas of green grass, Belgian endive, Tuscan kale, celery, and fennel perfume this blend of Italian varietals. There are notes of oregano, rosemary, wild mint, green apple, almond, walnut, pine nut, and lemon zest. We tasted radicchio, Swiss chard, baby spinach, walnut skin, vanilla, rosemary, the astringency of green tea and lime zest, and the persistent spiciness of black peppercorns.

It will elevate crusty breads, shaved fennel and citrus salad, cheeses, and charcuterie boards. It will enhance lamb kebabs with mixed grilled vegetables,* pot roast, roasted turkey, prawn and pork fried rice, bouillabaisse, pastas with pesto, pizza, focaccia, barley and farro, lentils, white beans and other legumes, Brussels sprouts, cabbage or cauliflower steaks, vanilla ice cream, sautéed apples, lamingtons, and other desserts with chocolate.

*See the recipe section for bolded dishes.

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This Quarter’s Third Selection

• Producer: Kyneton Olive Oil, Bylands Estate, Victoria, Australia 2024
• Olive Varieties: Frantoio, Correggiola, Coratina, Leccino
• Flavor Profile: Bold

I first visited Kyneton, about an hour’s drive north of Melbourne, in 2009. It’s a beautiful place—I especially love the lake surrounded by palm trees. I remember when, the next year, their state-of-the-art Pieralisi mill was installed. Ever since, it’s been an upward trajectory, as Kyneton’s premier oils have won multiple awards in Australia and abroad. Kyneton is always poised to upgrade the mill and other equipment, but the most recent enhancements added to the beauty of the landscape: a newly built gazebo, wood-fired oven, and fire pit. My only regret was not arriving one day sooner. I was dismayed to learn I’d just missed homemade porchetta sandwiches—dang!

Food—including olive oil, of course—is one of the things estate manager Mick Labbozzetta and I have bonded over. For years, Mick, always wearing his trademark newsboy cap, has introduced me, one by one, to his favorite salumerias, formaggerias, pizzerias, and gelaterias, a reflection of Australia’s large Italian population. Naturally, we bring a bottle of fresh-pressed olive oil to drizzle everywhere we go. (I don’t consider an oil properly vetted unless I’ve paired it with a variety of foods. I urge you to do the same, dear Club member!)

Mick’s love of Italian delights comes naturally. His father was born in Calabria, Italy, and was among a large wave of Italian immigrants who arrived on the Australian continent in the mid-twentieth century. In an ode to his homeland, Papa planted about 20 olive trees on the family’s property. Born in this country and raised in Adelaide, Mick speaks fluent Italian thanks to his dad, whose birthplace Mick will be visiting this fall. Family means the world to Mick, and, though he has no intention of retiring, all his improvements at Kyneton, which include building his impressive team, are with his grandchildren in mind, to bring them into this very special world.

As a boy, Mick picked the olives from his dad’s trees. The olives were then pressed by a neighbor. Today, the Kyneton mill is trusted to press the olives of local farmers. Testament to Kyneton’s skills and
passion for olive cultivation, the team recently took over the management of a nearby olive grove of 14,000 trees, primarily Koroneiki and Frantoio. The owner would bring his olives for pressing, but the yield didn’t match the size of the grove—indicating that the trees needed tending. These are very small trees, Mick told me, that will undoubtedly thrive from the TLC that the Kyneton team will lavish on them—my mouth is already watering in anticipation!

Mick is quick to deflect praise for the estate’s successes to his team, headed by native Calabrian Carmelo Tramontana and the peripatetic Davide Bruno, a master miller who travels from Liguria each year to oversee the harvest. This year, they were joined for the first time by Arturo Morara, another—you guessed it—Italian. With experience working at Italian mills, Arturo explained to me that he had been looking for an opportunity to hone his talents on an Australian olive farm during the harvest, in effect doubling the amount of experience he was gaining each year. Kyneton was a natural fit. I’m convinced this intersection of New and Old World techniques and sensibilities makes Kyneton oils special. “Australian made, Italian heritage” is the company’s very apt motto. The addition of a team member did not manage to reduce anyone’s hours—20-hour days are still the norm during the harvest to create the exquisite olive oils for which the farm is known.

My Merry Band of Tasters and I had a scandalously good time perfecting the blend I’ve selected for you, primarily because we had so many great options to work with this year—small batches of different varietals harvested at different times and blended in different proportions, all fresh from the mill. Davide and his team constantly monitored the trees, identifying which olives were at their peak. Davide has a sixth sense about these drupes, and, on occasion, his intuition even overrides the lab’s ripeness analyses. After five years of collaboration, he understands what flavor and aroma profiles I want for my Club members and in my own kitchen. I can’t wait for you to taste this bold liquid gold.

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

A vibrant blend of Aussie-grown Italian varietals, it entices with aromas of kale, arugula, fennel, chopped culinary herbs, and hazelnut, and hints of green bell pepper, lime zest, green peppercorns, and tomato vine. We tasted fennel, artichoke, Belgian endive, dried banana, green walnut, parsley, thyme, dried chiles, the freshness of wild mint and citrus peel, and the spiciness and bitterness of watercress.

This oil will enhance aged and blue cheeses, Caesar salad, Asian mushroom salad with ginger tamari vinaigrette,* grilled steaks and chops, apricot chicken, pan-seared fish steaks with caramelized fennel, sardines, curries, Tex-Mex chili, pasta Bolognese, stuffed peppers, green beans, kale dishes, holiday stuffings, bok choy and Chinese broccoli, black beans, hearty soups and stews, carrot cake, and nut-based desserts.

*See the recipe section for bolded dishes.

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Olive Oil and Health

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Kudos from Club Members

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Recipes

• Apricot Chicken It’s said that the Australian version of apricot chicken, whose simple ingredients were apricot nectar, a packet of dried French onion soup, and chicken parts, became popular in the 1970s; many adults Down Under grew up on it. My version takes more of a “from-scratch” approach for richer flavor. Ingredients 1/2 cup whole wheat flour… view recipe
• Grilled Prawns and Spicy Papaya Cocktail Sauce Australia’s temperate climates host warm-water prawns (similar to shrimp) and tropical fruits such as papaya. This recipe brings them together and will inspire you to ditch the familiar ketchup-and-horseradish sauce often served in the US. Also good with lobster (called “bugs” in Oz) or scallops. Ingredients For the cocktail sauce: 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive… view recipe
• Curried Cauliflower This is one of the easiest side dishes in my repertoire. Because curry powder is a blend of nearly a dozen spices or more (some of which are fairly exotic), feel free to use your favorite pre-packaged curry powder. Ingredients 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon curry powder 1 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea)… view recipe
• Tiramisù Though tiramisù originated in Italy in the late 1960s, it didn’t take long for it to gain a legion of fans in Oz, especially in Sydney, where it’s said to have first appeared on menus in the ’70s. Because of concern about eating raw eggs, this version leaves them out, but it is no less… view recipe
• Lamingtons This sweet morsel—a vanilla cake dipped in chocolate icing and rolled in coconut—is a beloved celebratory treat in Australia. There are many variations, including spreading a jam filling between two layers of cake, but this version is the easiest to make. The olive oil-based cake is light and airy, a wonderful counterpoint to the luscious… view recipe
• Chicken and Leek Pie The Australian take on American-style potpie gets wonderful flavor from the leeks and onions. Feel free to add 1/2 cup each peas and diced carrots if you wish. Ingredients 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, plus more for rolling the dough 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for the vegetables 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper… view recipe
• Pan-Seared Fish Steaks with Carmelized Fennel Easy enough for a weeknight dinner but elegant enough for guests, this meal, featuring what I like to call “steak fish,” comes together in less than half an hour. Use halibut, tuna, salmon, monkfish, cod, or swordfish. Ingredients Juice of 1 lemon, preferably a Meyer lemon Coarse salt (kosher or sea) 1 teaspoon dried oregano,… view recipe
• Lamb Kebabs with Mixed Vegetables Lamb is an Aussie favorite, and over 90 percent of Australian sheep are grassfed. Most recipes for lamb kebabs call for an overnight marinade. But we prefer a technique called “dry brining.” Meat is seasoned with salt, which mixes with the meat’s natural juices on the surface through osmosis and is then absorbed into the… view recipe
• Prawn and Pork Fried Rice Asian cuisine abounds in Australia, and this dish is one of my favorites! Fried rice is a kitchen-sink kind of meal—a great way to use up veggies and any leftovers you have, so feel free to augment the ingredients with whatever you have on hand. Ingredients 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more as… view recipe
• Crispy Potatoes The only trick to this delicious side dish is to not crowd the potatoes—you’ll get better browning and crisping if you leave some space between the slices. Use two rimmed sheet pans if needed. Ingredients 2 pounds red potatoes, scrubbed and dried 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, more for… view recipe

A Trio of Deliciously Distinctive Chilean Olive Oils from the Country’s Premier Artisanal Producer Perfect for Your Summer Table

• Each olive oil in this collection is a custom blend of outstanding varietals and unique in its own way.
• Created to enhance summer’s bounty, these oils will elevate every one of your seasonal dishes.
• All three were certified by an independent lab to be 100 percent extra virgin olive oil and rushed to the US by jet to preserve their tantalizing flavors and healthful properties.
• These are Club exclusives, available nowhere else.

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After dozens of trips to the Southern Hemisphere over nearly two decades, this intrepid traveler remains fascinated with South America and Chile in particular. Whenever I touch down in Santiago, I’m pleasantly reminded that there’s no jet lag from any time zone change, only the curious feeling of having the season I left up north turned upside down.

This year was quite special for your Olive Oil Hunter, because my wife Meghan and I visited Chile twice. A bucket-list vacation, a cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula, took us there in late January, when I witnessed the emergence of olives on tree branches at Agricola Pobeña, the farm of the Alonso family in Chile’s O’Higgins region—I immediately began to think of them as my babies. When I saw them again in May, they were at harvest plumpness. In between the two visits, an unusual series of natural events occurred, and I fretted about them just as any new parent would.

A Literal Firestorm

Only days after we left the olive groves in January, the worst wildfire in Chilean history burned through 18,000 hectares (roughly 70 square miles) of the Valparaiso, Maule, and O’Higgins regions. It’s hard enough to read about a tragedy of this scale as an outsider, but when you have friends who are directly impacted, it’s devastating. While Juanjo Alonso and his team worried about their neighbors and their land, we worried about them.

The wildfire unfolded against the backdrop of the continuing olive oil crisis raging through Europe, the details of which I have shared with you in my two previous Pressing Reports. I knew that Chilean oils were going to be more in demand than ever before because of the shortage in the Old World, due to the decimated 2023–2024 European harvest.

I also knew the cascading effect this would have: many Chilean olive growers would opt for quantity over quality and take measures like using heat and other mass-market extraction techniques to increase production for a quick profit…but not the Alonso family. I was confident that our close relationship and their commitment to creating the finest olive oils in the country would allow me to secure the liquid gold that Club members adore.

A Step—Many Steps—Above

From day one, more than 15 years ago, Juanjo (short for Juan José) and the team at Agricola Pobeña set their sights on crafting super-premium olive oils. To set themselves apart from other growers, they brought together these essential elements: an expansive farm with numerous microclimates suitable for a very wide selection of olive varietals, top-of-the line equipment, and some of the most skilled agronomists on the planet, led by Juan Carlos Pérez, the man in charge of Agricola Pobeña’s vast acreage. These are the core reasons they’re consistently named one of the top 20 producers in the world by Flos Olei, the bible of extra virgin olive oil.

Just as the wildfire and increasingly peculiar weather patterns would not distract
them from their mandate, neither would the global olive oil shortage. And that’s why, for the second year in a row, three oils from Agricola Pobeña’s olives, each oil distinct, are the Club’s Chilean selections. Together, they represent a luscious range of varietals and reflect the meticulous crafting skills of my trusted Merry Band of Tasters, including EVOO authority Duccio Morozzo della Rocca and Chilean experts Juan Carlos Pérez and Denise Langevin. Longstanding Club members know them well, and you can catch up with them in the pages that follow.

A Food Evolution

In many ways, Agricola Pobeña’s approach to quality mirrors the recent interest in health-conscious eating of many younger Chileans. Thanks to the

Alonso family’s two local olive oil stores focused on educating consumers, you can argue that they’ve helped contribute to the dietary changes. “It used to be that if there wasn’t a protein on your plate, it wasn’t a real meal,” Juanjo told me. “Over the last five years, meat has become very expensive, and that helped open people’s minds to the idea that we don’t need to eat meat every day. We can have dishes like ceviche de porotos negros as a main course.” We enjoyed that dish of marinated black beans (it’s in the recipe section, so you, too, can savor it) at Cervecería Rural, a brew pub you’d expect to find in Santiago proper, but which is in the countryside. A lot of young families left the capital during the pandemic and moved to smaller towns, fell in love with them, and decided to stay. This created new opportunities for restaurants of all cuisines. Of course, Santiago itself is now considered an international food capital.

Sushi, increasingly popular thanks to the region’s abundance of seafood, has been elevated to new heights at the restaurant Karai by Mitsuharu in the W Hotel, known for its Peruvian-Japanese fusion cuisine and some of the best nigiri I’ve ever had—chef Mitsuharu Tsumura is consistently ranked as one of the top chefs in Latin America. Fresh markets are getting a new spin of their own. Just outside of Santiago, the Mercado Urbano Tobalaba, known simply as MUT, is a lively mixed-use building that combines culture, cuisine, and sustainability—there are more restaurants than I had meals in which to try them! All my culinary experiences informed both the classic and the innovative dishes offered in this issue’s recipe section, featuring quintessential Chilean ingredients like beans, potatoes, corn, and avocado. I invite you to savor them with family and friends along with this quarter’s oils!

Happy drizzling!

T. J. Robinson 
The Olive Oil Hunter®

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This Quarter’s First Selection

• Producer: Denise Langevin Exclusive Selection, Agricola Pobeña, Comuna de La Estrella, O’Higgins Region, Chile 2024
• Olive Varieties: Arbequina, Koroneiki
• Flavor Profile: Mild

I always look forward to reuniting with Denise Langevin when I’m in Chile. As most Club members know, she’s an acclaimed international olive oil judge—in fact, she had just received 45 samples to grade and score remotely as one of 12 judges of the Monte Carlo Masters Olive Oil International Competition. Her nose and olive oil sensibility are exceptional, and I find her input when crafting Club selections invaluable. Yet I also enjoy simply spending time with her and her husband Luis and immersing myself in the Chilean way of life.

Denise welcomed us into her home on her late grandfather’s farm, where she raises crops. It’s an idyllic setting about an hour south of Santiago, framed by the snow-capped Andes. This is a rich agricultural area, well known for its cherries, which are shipped around the world. Denise had just replanted alfalfa, explaining that it can grow for five years at a stretch, then needs to be pulled so that the soil can have a yearlong rest. We know how painstaking the process of growing olives can be, but the challenge she faced was a surprising one: her latest farm addition, a sheep dubbed Pio Aurelio, had strayed from his grass-maintenance duties and eaten all the leaves from her newly planted, tender olive saplings. A stern reprimand followed, and his fate as a groundskeeper is currently in limbo.

After a trip to the local market for provisions—one of my favorite things to do wherever I travel—we sat down for a fabulous lunch that showcased land and sea. Denise prepared salmon tartare with lemon juice, chives, and avocado on lettuce, while Luis was in charge of a prime rib. The perfectly roasted meat was accompanied by a wonderful assortment of potatoes. There are 4,000 varieties in the Andes region! We feasted on white potatoes roasted with rosemary and olive oil and also on three varieties Denise had recently brought back from a trip to nearby Chiloé Island, each with its own distinctive flavor: a sweet purple one reminiscent of a Peruvian tater; a fat fingerling with a deep earthy flavor; and a sweet one with almost floral notes. With all three of this quarter’s olive oil selections on the dining table, we lavished them on each dish, noting how well they paired with the food.

Denise’s love of the earth and sustainable farming led her to expand the educational program she developed for local children from one to two primary schools—she teaches youngsters about healthy farm-to-table eating in a fun way they can understand, like growing their own vegetables in boxes made by Luis and visiting farms to learn about different plants, including a nut farm at harvest time. Plans include taking the kids to an olive mill during next year’s harvest to help them develop an appreciation for making fresh-pressed olive oil. It remains to be seen whether the kids will become as consumed as I am with details like the size of Koroneiki olives (I was delighted that this year’s crop had a much higher pulp-to-pit ratio) or how many Arbequinas must be sampled before the best one can be chosen, but, with Denise guiding them, they’re sure to have an early appreciation for their country’s dazzling olive oils.

This quarter’s mild oil embodies Denise’s personality, a gentle oil from a gentle woman—sweet, generous, and harmonious. It’s 90 percent Arbequina, from different parts of the Agricola Pobeña farm, and 10 percent Koroneiki, which brings out the characteristics of the Arbequina and makes for a beautiful, long finish with a crescendo of flavor. When expert tasters are evaluating olive oils, they often communicate with each other using non-spoken language. This is how I always feel when working with Denise. Duccio summed it up well: “It’s a great experience to taste with Denise—when you work with someone who knows how to taste olive oils, you have a different way of communicating. You share sensations and perceptions—you don’t even need words, the discussion is more telepathic, their expressions, their eyes can tell you so much. The collaboration evolves from seeing each other’s reactions.” I know you’ll be as pleased with the results as I am.

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

A deliciously full-flavored mild oil, this is a beautiful expression of Chilean-grown Arbequina and Koroneiki. It embodies the aromas of green grass, banana, Belgian endive, lettuce, walnut, cinnamon, citrus zest, nasturtium, white peppercorns, and fresh mint. On the palate, there’s the nuttiness of walnut, the bitterness of green tea and baby arugula, the sweetness of vanilla, and the lingering spiciness of celery leaf and white pepper.

It will elevate sweet corn gazpacho with avocado crema* and other fresh corn dishes; fruit salads; homemade mayonnaise and aioli; eggs, chicken, and pork; cod and other white fish, shrimp, and lobster; paella and other rice dishes; roasted parmesan carrots and other root vegetables; fruity vinaigrettes; and dulce de leche sundaes and yogurt parfaits.

*See the recipe section for bolded dishes.

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This Quarter’s Second Selection

• Producer: El Agrónomo, Agricola Pobeña, Comuna de La Estrella, O’Higgins Region, Chile 2024
• Olive Varieties: Frantoio, Leccino, Coratina, Nocellara del Belice
• Flavor Profile: Medium

El Agrónomo.” Sounds like the name of a bestseller, a hit movie, or a caped superhero, doesn’t it?

Actually, the latter isn’t far off the mark. This beautiful extra virgin olive oil pays homage to Agricola Pobeña’s heroic agronomist, Juan Carlos Pérez. This is the fourth year in a row we have recognized Juan Carlos’ Marvel-caliber skills with an eponymous oil.

In 2009, the Alonso family closed on the land they purchased near La Estrella to establish a top-tier olive farm. There was so much to be done, as Juanjo Alonso will tell you. One of the first priorities was to hire an agronomist. Now, there’s a long-running joke in Chile that you can’t throw an avocado without hitting an agronomist. What Juanjo didn’t know at the time was that even a weak underhanded pitch over the property’s fenceline could’ve introduced him to one of the most capable and experienced agronomists in Chile. As it was, Juan Carlos (who was literally working on the adjacent farm) made the first move by cold-calling Juanjo. The rest is history. How fortuitous for everyone involved, including us, dear Club member!

Now celebrating his fifteenth year with Agricola Pobeña, Juan Carlos characterizes it as a “successful marriage” and jokes that he’s no longer peeking over fences. Currently, he oversees some 1,100 acres of mixed olive varietals. We imagine he was quite offended when, early in his tenure, a visiting Italian consultant advised diluting all the oils, regardless of variety, to mute and homogenize their flavors for the mass market. (Juanjo told me this story.) Imagine! That would be like seasoning your food with five jars of spice, all of them containing the same flavorless thing. Anyway, Agricola Pobeña’s very distinctive oils were defiantly entered that year into a competition where they won awards. The first of many, I might add. Including inclusion in Flos Olei’s prestigious top 20.

Juan Carlos is justifiably proud of the amazing range of flavors he has been able to extract from the trees by capitalizing on the farm’s many microclimates. (This is how I can select for you three unique oils from the same property. The combinations and permutations are nearly endless.) But the pressure is on, year after year. “Show me the fruit!” succinctly summarizes Juan Carlos’ job. Because only with outstanding olive fruit can you make outstanding olive oils.

This year was peculiar for a number of reasons. Fortunately, the stranglehold of the “megadrought” that’s been plaguing Chile for more than a decade appears to have been broken. (Fingers crossed.) The lake, which holds the equivalent of 400 Olympic-size swimming pools, was replenished by Mother Nature. This gave Juan Carlos water management options he hasn’t had for years, as conservation was always the goal. He seems to know exactly how much water each of his “children” needs to thrive, even concerning himself with the size of the pits—charmingly, he calls them “bones.” The pulp-to-pit ratio of an olive is important, of course.

The Chilean spring was fleeting this year and unusually cool, segueing awkwardly into a hot summer. Temperatures soared to 103 degrees in some areas, enabling catastrophic wildfires, at least two of which reached the farm. (Read more above.)

Because of the abbreviated spring, blossoms were slower to form, delaying the harvest season by two weeks to a month, depending on the olive variety. El Agrónomo tirelessly toured the groves to gauge ripeness: I doubt he got much sleep.

Ever elusive, the “magic window” I chase each harvest season shrank significantly. (“Magic window” is my euphemism for the optimal moment to pick and mill the olives.) I wasn’t sure when to book my travel. As it turned out, my timing was perfect! Though under the threat of frost, my Merry Band of Tasters and I blended and secured for you these stunning and complex olive oils. Thank you, El Agrónomo, and the rest of the incomparable team at Agricola Pobeña! We will think of you as we splash this magnificently fresh oil on summer produce!

Never content to rest on his laurels (or anywhere else, for that matter), Juan Carlos is already looking ahead, eager to plant new tree stock, oversee the digging of new and deeper wells, begin pruning for robust tree health, and start renovations on select tracts of the groves. Always in the back of his mind are the motivating words, “Show me the fruit!”

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings 

This complex blend of Italian varietals has a Southern Hemisphere personality! On the nose, our tasters perceived almond, green apple, artichoke, Tuscan kale, black pepper, and chopped culinary herbs—rosemary, thyme, and oregano. On the palate, we noted the pleasant nuttiness of green almond and hazelnut together with fennel, sage and wild oregano, chicory and microgreens, the bitterness of arugula, and the spiciness of black pepper.

Splash this dazzling oil on pizza; tomato-based pasta dishes; cold orzo, couscous, and whole grains; caprese salad, fennel, oranges and black olives, and salads with nuts; and crudité and charcuterie platters. It will enhance beef, lamb, and duck; quinoa and black bean burgers* and other legume dishes; smashed potato canapes with smoked salmon; crusty breads and focaccia; and chiffon cake batters.

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This Quarter’s Third Selection

• Producer: Alonso, Agricola Pobeña, Comuna de La Estrella, O’Higgins Region, Chile 2024
• Olive Varieties: Picual, Koroneiki
• Flavor Profile: Bold

My Merry Band of Tasters and I always enjoy time spent with Juanjo Alonso, who oversees the family’s extraordinary olive farm, Agricola Pobeña. Juanjo’s positive energy, zest for life, and passion for producing olive oils of the highest quality make him very fun (and inspiring) to be around.

Many Club members may remember how the Alonso family came to be one of Chile’s top olive oil producers: Abel Alonso, the patriarch of the clan, arrived in Chile as a refugee from Spain’s Basque country. He became a successful entrepreneur in his adopted country but retained strong ties to his homeland. Nearing retirement, the father of five dreamed of establishing an olive grove and mill that produced world-class extra virgin olive oils, a legacy for his children and their progeny. But where to start?

Cue Juanjo, who was completing an advanced degree in fine arts and polishing his surfing skills off the California coast. Before you could say, “Hang ten,” Juanjo was home, searching for suitable land. He found it in the fertile O’Higgins region. (Local dowsers confirmed the presence of water, a non-negotiable condition of the sale.)

You might wonder why a young man would sacrifice his own plans for his father’s vision. Loyalty to home, a concept known as exte, is important in the Basque culture. Juanjo and his siblings wanted to make Abel’s dream a reality, come hell or high water. Both arrived this year.

It was a nightmarish scene when wildfires struck the region the first week in February— just after my January visit. (The fires were not unexpected, given the Chilean summer’s blistering hot temperatures and the air’s low humidity.) Juanjo and his team had three hours to prepare for the conflagration. Just after 8:30 p.m., the wind-driven flames reached the farm. Armed with shovels and flanked by tractors towing tanks of water, the men fought the fire all night long and into the next day, building firewalls and frantically beating out errant embers—easy to see in the dark, Juanjo said. Deliriously tired, one of Juanjo’s men (“Jimmy”) mindlessly parked his truck just a few feet from the leading edge of the fire. Alarmed, Juanjo insisted Jimmy get a few hours of rest before returning. “You’re a hero,” Juanjo told him. “You saved the farm!”

While much of the 1,100-acre property was at risk, including valuable 10- to 12-year-old trees, the fire damage was happily restricted to less than 20 acres. At some point on the second day, the flames leapfrogged over the groves. Juanjo then dispatched his team to save local houses.

Always the optimist, Juanjo expects winter rains, like the drought-busting ones that fell on Central Chile this past season, will quickly rejuvenate the scorched trees. The rainfall-dependent farm also needs to replenish its 55-acre lake (see the photo above) and two reservoirs. In the meantime, the family is digging more wells in the bedrock to ensure their precious olive trees have enough water for years to come. The Alonso family is definitely playing the long game.

Juanjo and I discussed this during my last visit to the Pobeña farm. He noted the opportunities for greater profits, now that a global shortage of olive oil has doubled or tripled its prices and producers in his country are being courted by a handful of bulk buyers in Spain and Italy. “The bad guys came to Chile,” he said ominously, meaning that the focus continues to shift from quality to quantity. The Alonso family will continue its unwavering commitment to premium olive oils and valued customers by reinvesting profits, he assured me.

From the very beginning, he said, his father insisted on investing in the best. An example? Juanjo shared the story of his 2009 visit to Italy to check out milling equipment, something he admits he knew nothing about at the time. (An advantage, as it turns out.) But he was most impressed by the oils milled with machinery from Alfa Laval, a high-end Swedish manufacturer. On the trip home, he pondered how to sell this option to his father. (“Because I wasn’t the owner of the money!” Juanjo joked.) But, after asking a few pointed questions, Abel endorsed the purchase—a great one, in hindsight, as the equipment has been issuing award-winning oils for many years. You’re about to taste one of them!

Now approaching 90, Abel (who still visits the farm occasionally) and the rest of the family are extremely proud to know their finest oils are reaching discerning palates like yours, dear Club member. I’m thrilled with this intriguing blend, and can’t wait for you to try it!

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

This vibrant, early-harvest Picual, complemented by a splash of Koroneiki, is a robust expression of these varietals. Its intense, intoxicating aroma is redolent of tomato leaf, celery, wheatgrass, baby spinach, kiwi, pear, parsley, basil, and wild mint. Sense the healthful polyphenols dancing on your palate. This olive oil is rich with notes of celery, kale, rosemary, and walnuts; the bitterness of radicchio and lime zest; the fruitiness of green apple and pear; and the spiciness of Sichuan peppercorns and ginger root…with a long and persistent finish.

It’s perfect with panzanella and other tomato-based salads and sauces; flank steak with avocado chimichurri* and other grilled beef; grilled leg of lamb basted with salt water; tuna, salmon, and octopus; mushrooms, grilled radicchio, and green beans; wild rice; and chocolate-based desserts like mousse and brownies.

*See the recipe section for bolded dishes.

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Olive Oil and Health

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Kudos from Club Members

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Recipes

• Cordero al Asador with Herbed Salmuera (Grilled Leg of Lamb Basted with Salt Water) South Americans usually take a simple approach to their meats. This salt- and herb-based liquid, called salmuera (the precursor to chimichurri), was used by gauchos, the nomadic cowboys of South America, to baste proteins when cooking over live fire. Ingredients 1 1/2 cups water 2 tablespoons coarse salt (kosher or sea) 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly… view recipe
• Eggs with Basquois Piperade Piperade, a vegetable stew–like concoction popular in Basque country (which straddles northern Spain and southern France) is similar to Sicilian caponata or Middle Eastern shakshuka. This version is from the Alonso family, whose patriarch is Basque, though he has lived in Chile for many years. Instead of scrambling the eggs, you can break them right… view recipe
• Brunch Fruit Salad with Honey-Lime-Mint Vinaigrette For a bright brunch dish, serve the dressed fruit salad over thick Greek yogurt or Icelandic skyr. Ingredients 4 cups mixed fruit, such as chunks of melon and mango, sliced strawberries, red grapes, blueberries, and pineapple cubes 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons honey, preferably orange blossom Zest and juice of 1 medium lime … view recipe
• Smashed Potato Canapes with Smoked Salmon We’ve all eaten smoked salmon on bagels or toast points, but for something different, try this delicacy on crispy smashed potatoes. In place of smoked salmon, use salmon roe or another domestic caviar. Elegant! Ingredients For the potatoes: 12 small Yukon gold potatoes, each about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter Extra virgin olive… view recipe
• Bell Pepper “Empanadas” This take on empanadas de queso is perfect when you want melted cheesy goodness but would rather skip the dough. Preferred in Chile is the very buttery queso chanco, a cheese that’s close in taste and texture to our Muenster. Though not traditional in empanadas, merquén adds a nice zest (you can substitute pimentón if it’s… view recipe
• Sweet Corn Gazpacho with Avocado Crema This unusual twist on gazpacho takes advantage of tender sweet corn at its peak. As you’ll see from the recipe, we’re emphasizing corn’s gorgeous yellow color. When buying, look for ears with fresh stems (like cut flowers)—not brown or dessicated. Like flowers, you can recut the ends and store the ears upright in sugared water… view recipe
• Ceviche de Porotos Negros (Black Bean Ceviche) I enjoyed this dish at the wonderful Cervecería Rural in Litueche. It’s a salad of black beans (red kidney beans make a great alternative) dressed in the style of a ceviche marinade. Some versions have all the ingredients tossed together, but Rural’s chef presented it as a beautifully composed salad. Ingredients For the dressing: 1… view recipe
• Roasted Chicken with Mango and Nut Salsa Roasted chicken is the little black dress of the table, welcome on the menu of a dinner party or a weeknight meal. The following bright-tasting salsa is also terrific with fish, a popular entrée in Chile, a country with over 2,000 miles of Pacific coastline. Dice the vegetables extra fine and serve the salsa with… view recipe
• Flank Steak with Avocado Chimichurri To make this lean cut of beef tender, three steps are needed: a long marination, a fast grilling, and slicing against the grain—in the opposite direction of its meat fibers. Ingredients For the steak: 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (kosher or sea) 1/2 teaspoon freshly… view recipe
• Roasted Parmesean Carrots This might be my new favorite way to eat carrots, which, like most vegetables, grow huge in Central Chile’s fertile soil. Marinated in olive oil and spices, then coated in freshly grated Parmesan cheese, the carrots are roasted until tender. They’re great with chicken, pork, or lamb. Ingredients 8 large carrots, peeled and trimmed 3… view recipe

Presenting Andalucían Delights: A Trio of Fantástico Olive Oils—Exquisite Elixirs from Spain

• These Club exclusives, available to no one else, are the finest artisanal oils of the Iberian harvest.
• Redolent with vibrant, herbaceous aromas and palate-pleasing tastes to match, these early harvest Andalucían oils are from award-winning farms and custom blended for you by your Olive Oil Hunter.
• Independently lab certified to be 100 percent extra virgin, they’ve been rushed to our shores by jet at their peak of flavor and to preserve their zesty polyphenols.

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Against all odds. That’s what this year’s hunt for superb Spanish extra virgin olive oil felt like. With every olive pressing there’s an air of mystery, anticipation, and even drama. But this year, as I landed in this beautiful Andalucían country, I felt as though I was walking into a new season of True Detective, rife with intrigue. Olive oil is the heart and soul of Spanish culture and cuisine, and some people will stop at nothing to get their hands on it.

News reports of olive production being cut in half (or worse) because of the continuing drought in Spain were overtaken by front-page stories about the criminal consequences of the shortage: Thieves—ladrones—not only ripped 100-year-old olive trees out by their roots (when they weren’t content with sawing off olive-laden branches) but also stole tens of thousands of liters of oil from tanks in mills (easier, because all the work had been done for them). Some unscrupulous characters passed off seed oil, artificially colored to look more like EVOO. Others supplemented ordinary olive oil with inferior-quality lampante, so named because it was once used to light oil lamps. As an olive oil aficionado, you, my dear Club member, can tell the difference, but people who don’t yet appreciate the unique aroma and taste of ultra-premium, fresh-pressed olive oil may easily fall victim to these scams.

Rest assured that you have in your hands the proverbial cream of the crop—three magnificent olive oils, delivered to your door thanks to the combined efforts of my Merry Band of Tasters and me and our outstanding Spanish producers. Despite the crisis they are living through, with even mediocre oils selling for triple the price of just three years ago, the three masters we worked with on this curated collection came through for us. Indeed, I’ve known two of them for nearly 20 years—since I created the Club, in 2005—and they don’t want to disappoint you any more than I do.

Here Comes the (Burning Hot) Sun

Top artisanal farms almost always use the latest irrigation techniques to compensate for drought conditions and take extraordinary measures to quickly transport just-picked olives from the grove to the mill, keeping them cool at every stage of the process. This preserves their aromas, taste, and healthful polyphenols. But a weather catastrophe happened relatively early in the growing cycle this season—and for many producers, there was no coming back.

When I toured the Finca Gálvez mill with my dear friend Jose Gálvez, he explained that early rains had spurred the growth of fantastic olive blossoms. “Everyone anticipated a great crop, but then at the start of spring we experienced temperatures you would expect to have in early summer. That hot sun burned 70 percent of the blossoms, and they fell off the trees,” he said, adding that Jaén, the Andalucían province where Finca Gálvez is located, experienced the worst of it. “Even though we had relatively normal weather after that, we cannot create new blossoms—we knew that the harvest was going to be only a third of normal.”

In an attempt to satisfy orders, we heard that many commercial mills in Spain opted for heat extraction to get more oil from the fruit, a process that lowers quality because it essentially cooks the olive paste. They also set stratospheric prices for what they were able to produce, telling clients, “Here’s my floor price and I’ll wait for your offers,” just like at an auction—they were announcing a starting point for negotiation. This means that consumers buying EVOO in stores will be paying higher prices for lesser-quality oil.

A Topsy-Turvy Season

Under normal conditions, Andalucía provides 30 to 50 percent of the world’s olive oil. In this upside-down year, rather than exporting its oil to Italy—which, to the surprise of many people, doesn’t produce enough to satisfy local demand—Spain had to buy oil from Italy. Consider, too, that only a third of Spain’s production is extra virgin—premium producers make up only a small niche, and this year, they represented barely a dot. There wasn’t going to be much ultra- premium olive oil to go around. But thanks to the mutual admiration that our partners and I have for each other, the longevity of our collaborations, and your appreciation of their liquid gold, they were ready, willing, and able to allocate their finest for you, dear Club members.

I love that all the trials and tribulations we go through have a silver lining. This quarter it was crafting our exceptional Castillo de Canena Arbequina, our Picual created from olives grown at various elevations at Finca Gálvez to give it a complex taste profile, and our magnificent García Torres Hojiblanco with a healthy addition of the rare Picudo—co-creator Luis Torres describes this season’s Picudo oil as the best he’s tasted in his 23-year career.

Why do certain olives produce a spicier oil from one year to another? It’s all thanks to Mother Nature. Francisco “Paco” Vañó of Canena shared this observation with me when we were able to compare impressions: “If someone promises you the same oil profile every year, don’t trust them—every year you’re going to be surprised by different flavors and aromas from the same olives grown by the same producers.” That kind of surprise is, in fact, a delight to true olive oil lovers.

Happy drizzling!

T. J. Robinson 
The Olive Oil Hunter®

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This Quarter’s First Selection

• Producer: Castillo de Canena, Selección Especial, Jaén, Andalucía, Spain
• Olive Varieties: Arbequina
• Flavor Profile: Mild

Over the years, I have amassed thousands of photos chronicling my many visits to the Iberian Peninsula in pursuit of the finest, freshest extra virgin olive oils. But my most treasured images—call them memories—are in my mind: the massive black metal bulls (originally erected along highways to promote Osborne brandy) that have become iconic symbols of Spain; the fabulous road food at gas stations, such as salty olive oil–roasted Marcona almonds and bocatas (sandwiches); or calçots, elongated green onions charred in ovens fueled with olive wood and served on clay tiles with garlicky romesco sauce.

But the views, my first from the balcony of the Renaissance-era castle known as Castillo de Canena, are among my favorite early memories of Spain. Gazing at the landscape below, I saw nothing but olive trees, draping the hills like sage green corduroy cloth. These storied trees, I thought to myself, are the glory, the very soul of Andalucía.

I first encountered Francisco “Paco” Vaño at the Fancy Food Show in New York City about 20 years ago. He and his sister, Rosa, had recently left high-profile corporate jobs to reimagine their family’s centuries-old olive oil business. (It was founded in 1780.) They dedicated themselves to producing ultra-premium olive oils, a rare and relatively under-appreciated commodity at that time. When we met, Paco had only two olive harvests under his belt, but I made sure I was on site for the third.

I’ve been going back to Castillo de Canena ever since. (The fifteenth-century castle mentioned above is actually the Vaño family’s home. It was declared a National Artistic Monument in 1931.)

When asked recently what he remembered about our first fortuitous meeting, Paco sheepishly revealed he was a bit skeptical when I explained my concept of a Fresh-Pressed Olive Oil Club to him. Though he admired my enthusiasm and passion, he admitted he had quiet doubts that Americans—most raised on the chemically refined oils labeled “light”—would accept the more robust aromas and flavors of premium extra virgin olive oils. “I’m so glad I was wrong!” he exclaimed. Me, too!

From the beginning, Paco and I had the same goal: to introduce discerning palates
to the joys of premium fresh-pressed extra virgin olive oils. He has been a magnificent collaborator and friend for the past two decades, delighting my Club members with exclusive olive oils and never failing to impress me with his monastic dedication to his craft.

He is one of the most knowledgeable and innovative olive oil producers in the
world, constantly developing and/or employing clever strategies to improve his family’s award-winning oils. Though he’s not afraid to make bold changes—like the stunning stucco-and-metal state-of-the-art mill he built three years ago—it might be the smaller, incremental improvements he implements every year that make Castillo de Canena’s oils consistently extraordinary. During this harvest season, Paco added a fourth production line to expedite the handling of just-picked olives (multiple lines also mean opportunities for experimentation) and installed
a water-cooled pipeline that
transports the olive pulp from
the crusher to the malaxer.

The fact that Paco and his team—principally, farm manager Álvaro Pulido Garrido and quality control supervisor Mariela Chova Martínez—were able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat during this challenging harvest year was no surprise to me. Paco estimates that warm temperatures in early spring scorched approximately 80 percent of the flowers in his groves, with the Picual being hit harder than the Arbequina, which formed buds about a week earlier. To preemptively protect the nascent olives that survived, he supplemented the trees’ water ration with water purchased from local rice farmers. This was a first, he said. But it was a brilliant move, as this season’s Arbequina proves.

What I like to call “the magic window”—the opportune time to harvest the olives—was shockingly brief this year, Paco said. Olives, he reported, ripened at unprecedented and accelerated rates, going from green to yellow to black in days. Mariela relentlessly tracked the olives’ sensorial profiles, enabling Paco to direct his harvest team, laser-like, to fruit that was at its peak and eligible for Paco’s premium extra virgin olive oils. One of these—a Club exclusive—is now in your hands.

This Arbequina is not only exquisite but precious—a real Spanish gem. Paco asked me to convey to you how proud he and his family are to share their labor of love with discriminating olive oil lovers like yourselves.

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

This Arbequina leads with a fragrant bouquet of fresh fruit—on the nose you’ll appreciate apple, green banana, citrus, golden kiwi, and pear, along with rich aromas of almond and wild mint, vegetal notes of green grass and lettuce, and a pleasant hint of white pepper. On the palate, it’s very complex and balanced, with intense flavors of almond, grass, and herbs, the elegant bitterness of endive and escarole, and the lingering spiciness of white pepper.

Lavish it on salads with fruit and nuts, such as mixed green salad with citrus and sherry vinaigrette,* eggs, chicken, white fish, delicate pork and veal entrées, roasted carrots, ensalada de remolacha* and other sweet root vegetable dishes, spring green peas, sautéed mushrooms, vegetable paellas, soft-rind cheeses, vanilla ice cream, yogurt parfaits, chiffon cakes, and nut- or apple-based desserts.

*Denotes an original recipe featured in this report.

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This Quarter’s Second Selection

• Producer: Finca Gálvez, Jaén, Andalucía, Spain
• Olive Varieties: Picual
• Flavor Profile: Medium

When I sat down with José Gálvez in the brand-new main building of Finca Gálvez, it was apparent that the family’s 2023 gold-medal wins at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition—one for a Picual and another for a Frantoio—were squarely in the rearview mirror. Many honors have been bestowed on the Gálvez family since José’s father, Francisco, pivoted from the family’s masonry business to artisanal olive oil 25 years ago, but it’s not in their nature to sit back and polish trophies. They’re always looking ahead, setting new goals, and adding to their knowledge of the food world. Indeed, José had recently returned from Madrid Fusíon, an annual culinary symposium, brimming with ideas.

Considering all the countless awards that adorn the walls of their company offices, it’s hard to believe that the family felt any trepidation when they started out, but they knew they would be going head to head with olive mills run by fifth-generation millers. Olive cultivation has been part of the culture of Andalucía for millennia. The Gálvez family were the new kids on the block.

A few years in, José had the idea to distinguish Finca Gálvez from most other farms by crafting early-harvest olive oil from ultra-green fruit—something that almost no one was doing 25 years ago. After getting his diploma in business studies at the University of Jaén in 1999, José had immersed himself in the study of olive oil, first earning a certificate as a “technician in preparation of oils and juices” at the I. E. S. El Valle, then, over the following seven years, a masters in oliviculture and elaiotechnics and the title of expert in virgin olive oil tasting (he knows the learning never ends).

Yet patriarch Francisco wanted to proceed cautiously into this untapped area. “The first year we decided to craft ultra-premium oil, we made only 10 percent of our production in this early-harvest style, and it sold out,” José recounts, noting that I was one of his first buyers because I believed fervently in what he was doing. “So we allotted 25 percent the following year, and it sold out. My father had concerns, but once he saw that every drop was sold, he was fully on board.”

José’s mother, Felisa, who had cooked all her life with ordinary olive oils, was quickly won over by the early-harvest style, much like our Club members are when they first taste it—and there was no going back for her either. “When she’s running low in her kitchen, she’ll call one of us to ask for more!” says Andrés, José’s brother, who joined the business in 2009. Andrés’s first career was as an engineer—a great foundation for managing the workings of a modern olive mill.

Close as children yet with different personalities, Andrés and José remain enthusiastic about working together and view their shared responsibilities not as jobs but as their life. Though their roles are delineated, with José mostly involved in land management and Andrés mostly in production through packaging, they share the same vision, including respect for the environment. I always enjoy hearing Andrés’s perspective when we tour the groves.

José is meticulous about the care he gives his fruit, starting with pruning after every harvest, to get the most flavorful olives—even the best milling operation can’t compensate for inferior fruit, he explains. I love that they refuse to set quotas for the number of liters they will produce each season—they’re guided by the yield of the trees and the quality of that fruit.

This year, our beloved Finca Gálvez Picual is once again our medium selection, yet it’s deliciously unique, a blend of two different batches of early-harvest Picual, both from the same orchard but planted at different elevations and harvested on separate days to create the complex style favored by Club members. We toasted another brillant collaboration over a wonderful meal at Restaurante Payber, with luscious meats, grilled vegetables, and an amazing array of shellfish—fabulous whole shrimp, razor clams, cockles, and a seafood soup. “We’ve been working together for a long time, we grew together, and it’s important to us that Club members are happy,” José told me. With this Picual, you will be!

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings 

The green and grassy aromas of this Picual enchant—inhale chopped culinary herbs such as thyme, oregano, and rosemary, bay leaf, Tuscan kale, baby spinach, and walnut with hints of green apple and kiwi. Taste the flavors of dark leafy greens like kale, along with tomato leaf, basil, micro-greens, wheatgrass, and parsley; the sweetness of pine nuts; bitterness of radicchio and baby arugula; and the spiciness of celery leaves and freshly ground black peppercorns.

It will enhance fried eggs, grilled steak, lamb merguez meatballs,* tuna, salmon, grilled octopus, caprese, tomato salads, salads with radicchio and spring greens, meat sauces for pasta, farro- and barley-based soups, gazpacho, pizza and focaccia, steamed artichokes, grilled vegetables, white beans and bean soups, herbal vinaigrettes, chocolate mousse, and almond orange cake.*

*Denotes an original recipe featured in this report.

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This Quarter’s Third Selection

• Producer: García Torres, Selección Exclusiva, Almazaras de la Subbética, Carcabuey, Córdoba, Spain
• Olive Varieties: Hojiblanca, Picudo
• Flavor Profile: Bold

It’s wonderful to be back in this mystical, magical, almost primeval place, a national refuge for wildlife and ancient olive trees called the Subbéticas Natural Park. It’s a 73,000-acre mecca for rock climbers and spelunkers. But a leisurely walk here might find you dropping instinctively to the ground as Griffon vultures (six-foot wing spans, lest you laugh), peregrine falcons, or many species of migratory birds do overhead fly-bys.

More important to me and my Club members, this extraordinary region is home to one of Spain’s most well-respected olive oil cooperatives, Almazaras de la Subbética. Founded in 2007, this award-winning mill supervises the growth and harvest of many family olive groves in and around the Priego de Córdoba region in southeastern Spain.

Motivated by a tip from international olive oil expert Santiago Botas (see below), who assured me I was likely to encounter there fresh-pressed olive oils that matched my high standards, I first visited the area in 2009. I was enchanted by the municipality’s ancient churches, Moorish ruins, and charming rural towns and villages, their whitewashed outside walls festooned with colorful geraniums. It was in Priego that my Merry Band of Tasters and I met Luis Torres, then the general manager of the small, family-owned co-op Aroden.

Another thing that lured me to this incredible place was the prospect of finding the olive varietal Hojiblanca for my Club members. Its name means “white leaf.” There’s an interesting story behind Hojiblanca: A Spanish olive farmer named Cornelius lived in fear of decrees from Julius Caesar, whose Roman subjects had developed an insatiable appetite for olive oils from Andalucía. The latest imperial writ demanded that farmers increase their olive oil production. Cornelius owned a few olive trees, none too prolific. Then he remembered an olive tree cutting a traveling merchant had given him: Cornelius planted it on a hillside but did not have high hopes for its survival. Amazingly, it thrived. He harvested a few additional cuttings and planted them around the “parent” tree. And a Hojiblanca grove was born!

The affable Luis Torres joined Almazaras de la Subbética after Aroden changed hands. I was thrilled for him, as the Carcabuey-based co-op is also near his family home in Priego. I didn’t want to lose track of Luis, as it often takes years to develop the mutual understanding that allows for inspired collaborations on extraordinary oils for our Club. Luis “gets” me. We’ve known each other for more than a decade. He is one of the most disciplined and talented olive oil tasters I know, often quaffing 20 olive oil samples before most of us have enjoyed our first sip of morning coffee.

Because Almazaras de la Subbética is a larger entity, Luis has more olive oil–educated palates he can trust to back up his decisions, most notably manager Carlos García. Aided by Luis, Carlos is the supremely capable, hands-on conductor of the olive harvest, deftly orchestrating the season’s symphony of olive fruit. It’s been a privilege to work with this duo.

The harvest window was incredibly short this year, requiring the entire crew to work long hours. But everyone has to eat, right? Luis took my team and me to a restaurant we’d enjoyed before—La Pianola. Their baby clams are so succulent. Of course, we always bring our own bottles of olive oil!

Although it comprises only eight percent of this blend, the Picudo varietal plays an important supporting role in the fresh-pressed olive oil I’ve just sent you. Like Hojiblanca, Picudo can be used as a table olive. (Luis still laments that his grandmother’s recipe for cured Picudos has been lost…) It fine-tunes the Hojiblanco, polishing any rough edges. I love it. My Merry Band of Tasters and I tried the blend with varying percentages of Picudo and settled on this ratio.

This Club exclusive is magnificent, a fantastic reason to throw a tasting party. Check out our guide below.

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

On the nose, this blend of Hojiblanco and Picudo sings with grassy and herbal notes of basil, parsley, peppermint, and tomato leaf, which give way to hints of raw carrot tops, celery, rhubarb, Belgian endive, wheatgrass, fennel, and honeydew. On the palate you’ll taste hints of nasturtium and rose, along with green tomato, baby spinach, celery, Asian pear, and the nuttiness of hazelnut, the pleasing bitterness of arugula, and spiciness of a peppercorn mélange.

Enjoy it in asparagus frittata,* pork, lamb, game, cured Spanish meats, salmon, swordfish, grilled calamari, shrimp and other shellfish, zarzuela de mariscos y pescado* and other seafood soups, roasted or baked potatoes, beans, lentils and other pulses, tomato-based dishes like pan con tomate, crusty bread, aged and fresh goat cheeses, hard cheeses like Manchego, vanilla custard, and chocolate desserts.

*Denotes an original recipe featured in this report.

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Olive Oil and Health

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Kudos from Club Members

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This report’s recipes shine a spotlight on a few quintessential Spanish ingredients that you’ll be able to use time and again: pimentón, the country’s smoked paprika; Marcona almonds; piquillo peppers, a unique chile that grows only in northern Spain; Manchego, a firm, mild sheep’s cheese; and cured chorizo, the spicy cooked sausage. Many are readily available at upscale supermarkets and gourmet stores as well as online purveyors of Spanish foods.

Recipes

• Stuffed Pork Tenderloin Its impressive appearance belies how easy this dish is to make, whether for a weeknight meal or guests. Small potatoes roasted in olive oil and our citrus salad make appetizing accompaniments, as does piquillo pepper sauce. Ingredients 1 pork tenderloin, about 1 1/2 pounds Extra virgin olive oil Coarse salt (kosher or sea) and freshly… view recipe
• Zorongollo This colorful salad, popular in Cáceres in western Spain, makes a great starter, light lunch, or midnight snack. Do not confuse it with zarangollo, a dish from Murcia that features stewed zucchini and scrambled eggs. Ingredients 3 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, or a mix 4 Roma tomatoes 1 small head of garlic, the… view recipe
• Bikini Sandwiches Back in the 1950s, the Barcelona nightclub La Sala Bikini started serving croque monsieur, the French grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Because the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco didn’t allow French (or English) words in the lexicon, it was simply called the home sandwich, but patrons soon referred to it as the Bikini. Delicious when made… view recipe
• Lamb Merguez Meatballs Highly spiced lamb merguez is traditionally a dish from North Africa, just across the Mediterranean from Spain. To add a Spanish influence, orange zest is included with the other aromatics, and the finished meatballs are drizzled with a citrus sauce. Ingredients For the spice mix: 2 teaspoons cumin seeds 2 teaspoons fennel seeds 2 teaspoons coriander seeds 4 teaspoons pimentón 1 teaspoon… view recipe
• Chicken Kebabs with Hot Honey (Pinxtos/Pinchos) Is it just us, or does food served on skewers taste better? We have made these kebabs with chicken thighs (our favorite), breasts, and tenders. You could even use boneless pork if that’s what you have on hand. Serve with crusty bread and sliced tomatoes or a green salad dressed with extra virgin olive oil,… view recipe
• Ensalada de Remolacha Beet salad is a centuries-old Spanish favorite. Recent versions cut the prep time by using canned beets, but roasting fresh ones brings out their sweetness. Serve it warm or chilled. To turn it from a side dish into a main course, serve on a bed of greens, such as arugula, and top with hazelnuts and… view recipe
• Zarzuela de Mariscos y Pescado One of the most popular shellfish (mariscos) and fish (pescado) dishes in Spain, zarzuela is actually the name of an eclectic type of musical theater—think variety show. The dish, believed to have originated in Barcelona more than a century ago, bears the name because it’s best made with a variety of seafood. Cook up your… view recipe
• Trinxat de Col (Potato and Cabbage Cakes with Bacon) Think of this as a kind of Spanish potato pancake—comfort food at its best, with potatoes, cabbage (or kale), and bacon. Traditionally, it’s served as a frying pan–sized cake. But individual servings are easier to manage and look beautiful on a plate. Ingredients Coarse salt (kosher or sea) 4 medium-size russet potatoes (each about 10… view recipe
• Oven Roasted Broccoli with Serrano Crisps Many supermarkets now sell broccoli crowns—the top few inches of the bunch. While I don’t mind trimming off and peeling the lower part of the stalks (they’re great in stir-fries), the convenience of the crowns is appealing. A dusting of crisp serrano ham bits takes this easy side dish over the top. Ingredients 1 1/2… view recipe
• Almond Orange Cake This is a very moist, gluten-free single-layer cake topped with sautéed orange slices. A mix of oranges, such as blood orange, mandarin, and Cara Cara, slightly overlapping atop the cake, creates a beautiful presentation. Tip: Zest the oranges you’ll sauté for the topping and use the zest in the batter. Ingredients For the batter: 2 cups almond… view recipe

Straight from the Heart and Soul of Italy, Highly Coveted Artisanal Extra Virgin Olive Oils Rushed to You at Their Height of Flavor and Freshness

• Each of these exclusive olive oils perfectly embodies the flavor characteristics of its region and was meticulously crafted from cultivars nurtured on award-winning family farms.
• The best of the best has been secured just for you, as the world experiences an EVOO shortage never before seen.
• All three oils have been certified by an independent lab to be 100 percent extra virgin olive oil, brimming with healthful and zesty polyphenols to wow your palate.

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Landing in Rome, the Eternal City and my launching pad when hunting for fresh-pressed olive oils in Italy, is something I look forward to every year—visits to historic villages, reuniting with producers who have become friends, and, of course, the food. But I embarked on this journey with some trepidation.

As longstanding Club members know, my search for the world’s greatest extra virgin olive oil is largely influenced by Mother Nature. She determines so many aspects of olive cultivation, right down to harvest dates. But when the consequences of her handiwork make the front page of the New York Times with the headline “Why Olive Oil Is So Expensive Right Now,” well, you can imagine how serious the situation was. Less available fruit, lower yield, higher prices. Every last drop was in high demand, and I knew this quarter that I was going to rely heavily on the relationships I’ve nurtured for nearly two decades. I also knew that nothing would stop me from coming home with the very finest liquid gold for you!

A Year Unlike Any Other

Concerns had been swirling since late spring. To quote master miller, olive whisperer, and perma-member of my Merry Band of Tasters, Duccio Morozzo della Rocca, “There has never been a year as complicated as this one and with as little extra virgin olive oil throughout the entire Mediterranean area—the last few months were unlike any pattern the olive trees were used to.”

The typical growing season goes like this: spring rains lead to olive blossoms emerging in May and June, hot weather through August encourages growth, some rain in September nurtures the trees, and the temperatures cool in October. This year, the spring rains lasted well into June, with heavy downpours knocking many blossoms off the trees—no flowers, no olives. For those growers who did have some olives, the second shoe to drop was the streak of summer-like temperatures lasting well into November. You can’t make flavorful olive oil when the weather and the olives themselves are hot. That’s why recent innovations at top mills have been focused on chilling—cooling down each step of the process to preserve the aromas and flavors when the olives are pressed.

The Fruits of Strong Relationships

The heightened urgency of the hunt set the cadence of our trip—after just one night in Rome, we hit the ground running. Duccio and I had already been in touch with the country’s most highly skilled, award-winning producers. It was heartbreaking to hear how many simply had no oil available, but then a relief to learn that a few had successful harvests because their groves stretched across many microclimates, yielding great fruit and great oil.

As always, though, the proof is in the pudding—would these oils be of the exceptional quality I insist on and you expect? After our rounds of tastings, I’m happy to answer with an emphatic “Yes!” Each one is deliciously unique, and together they represent three very important and distinct olive growing regions of Italy. And our producers were thrilled to know that their precious oil would be enjoyed by people who truly appreciate it—you, my dear Club members.

Making Memorable Oils and New Memories

As my apprehensions faded away, my excitement and joy over being back in Italy swelled with every stop we made. What a pleasure to once again spend time around the table with my producer families, catching up on their news and sharing amazing food—platters of salumi, bowls of fresh pasta, and fabulous meats and seafood, all of it enhanced by just-pressed olive oil.

My Merry Band of Tasters and I first traveled to Penne in Abruzzo, to Frantoio Mercurius, the family operation of my good friend Claudio Di Mercurio. I was happy to congratulate him in person for his recent silver star win at the famed Sol d’Oro competition! Claudio’s dedication to the land and meticulous care of his olive trees has made him a formidable match for Mother Nature. His Dritta varietal, the most consistent grower, is the star of this trio’s bold oil.

Many locals come to Claudio’s frantoio, or mill, with their own olives to press, perhaps none more respected than Luciano Di Giovacchino, one of Italy’s pioneering olive oil scientists. It says a lot that this esteemed expert chooses Claudio’s frantoio to press his own olives, and, although the Mercurius mill is extremely modern, the convivial atmosphere of bringing one’s homegrown olives to a community mill is a centuries-old part of the social fabric of this town as it is in so many others.

Then it was on to the historic town of Trevi, in Umbria, the heart of Italy, to work with the Brunetti family. I’m elated to introduce to the Club not only this amazing producer but also to a wonderful indigenous varietal called San Felice, a highlight of this quarter’s mild oil.

From there it was off to Sicily to reunite with Salvatore Cutrera. He says that each harvest is always a nail biter until the olives are pressed and the beautiful fresh green perfume of extra virgin olive oil fills the air in the mill. This quarter’s medium selection is made with the exquisite Nocellara del Belice, a cultivar from the Valle del Belice area, and it brought only smiles to both our faces.

I invite you to read more about each of these amazing producers and then indulge in the Pressing Report recipes to share with friends and family—you’ll be transported to Italy with every bite.

Happy drizzling!

T. J. Robinson 
The Olive Oil Hunter®

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This Quarter’s First Selection

The excitement was palpable when my Merry Band of Tasters and I departed Abruzzo in Duccio’s car. Our destination? A new producer, the Brunetti family, in the picturesque Umbrian hill town of Trevi, home of an olive tree estimated to be 1,700 years old. It was a two-hour drive, plenty of time to savor how perseverance and carefully tended relationships with the world’s top olive oil experts and producers have favored the Olive Oil Hunter and his Club members during this most challenging harvest year.

Located mid-calf on the Italian boot, land-locked Umbria is known as “the green heart of Italy.” Italians have long lauded the region’s high-quality olive oils and wines, the former resurrected by monks during the Middle Ages after centuries of war, civil strife, and neglect.

Equally as excited to meet us were the Brunetti family and their friendly dog, a truffle-hunting Lagotto Romagnolo named Lilla. (Umbria is second only to Piemonte in its harvest of truffles.) Brothers Andrea and Stefano were proud to show us around their mill and thriving olive groves. To my delight, we toured the farm in a vintage Ape that was small enough to negotiate the groves’ grassy aisles.

Finally, we returned to the mill for the tasting I had so eagerly anticipated. The brothers offered their finest liquid gold to us to “play” with. Duccio and I got right to work—tasting, blending, and re-tasting. Hours later, we hit on an incredible blend of cultivars Moraiolo, Frantoio, Leccino, and San Felice. The latter, a smallish drupe indigenous to the area (one of 550 varietals grown in Italy), is new to the Club’s repertoire. I am so pleased to introduce you to it. I love the spicy and grassy notes it adds—the key to perfectly calibrated flavor and balance.

Like any family producing high-quality extra virgin olive oil, the Brunettis have a story to tell. Andrea and Stefano’s grandfather, Vittorio, owned thousands of trees in the area in the 1950s. But postwar pragmatism led him to sell his groves, retaining about 200 trees for the family’s use. Meanwhile, his son Francesco went to work in the aviation industry. In 1994, Francesco, tiring of the corporate world, steered the family back to its roots and began the long and arduous process of expanding the groves and cultivating amazing olives. Today, his sons care for 45,000 trees spread over three microclimates at varying elevations. The reopened mill, now outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment from Alfa Laval, allows precise temperature control of the olives and olive paste, a critical tool in the hands of any miller intent on producing the highest-quality EVOO. The family’s hard work has paid off, as evidenced by their many prestigious awards—among them inclusion in Flos Olei’s Top 20 and Gambero Rosso’s coveted star honoring a decade of excellence.

There’s nothing like tasting quality olive oils to whet appetites, of course. My favorite meal of the visit was a simple but absolutely delicious pasta e fagioli. Prepared by Stefano’s wife, Marianna, it contained carrots, celery, onion, cabbage, tomatoes, cannellini beans, peas, vegetable broth, and a special pasta from her village called cubetti. This was our first family meal together, hosted in a private room at the back of the mill. It was evident many meals happen around this table; I was deeply humbled to be offered a seat. We ladled the thick, warm soup into our bowls, then lavishly topped them with freshly grated Parmesan and glugs of fresh olive oil. Meanwhile, Stefano’s exuberant two-year-old, Francesco, cavorted happily around us. It was obvious he was very comfortable using the mill as his personal playground.

As a final farewell to Umbria and our new friends and partners, my Merry Band of Tasters and I eagerly accepted an invitation to visit a restaurant in the heart of medieval Trevi, Osteria La Vecchia Posta, with Andrea and his wife, Ilaria. Toting a bottle of our newly created blend, we entered the eatery from the town square, which is dominated by a thirteenth-century watch tower. A highlight of the meal was a seasonal dish featuring black celery, a vegetable unique to Trevi. (Only five local farms are authorized to grow this special celery, which, contrary to its name, is actually green.) When splashed with our Club’s exclusive blend it was a perfect way to close out our time in Trevi. I know this splendid oil will bring much joy to your winter table, too. Buon Appetito! 

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings

From the heart of Umbria, this wonderful oil features San Felice, a prized olive varietal new to the Club. On the nose, we sensed the aroma of freshly cut grass, along with artichoke, green almond, apple, green banana, and escarole. There’s also the sweet scent of fennel, mint, and vanilla. On the palate, this oil comes alive with artichoke, spinach, and rosemary; a bitterness reminiscent of dandelion greens; and a pleasant spiciness that evokes celery leaves and white pepper. 

It will lusciously enhance citrus salads, bean and other legume dishes including soups like pasta e ceci; risottos; potatoes; sauteed wild mushrooms or cabbage; and other cruciferous veggies. Drizzle it over freshly steamed artichokes or cold artichokes in vinaigrette. It’s delectable on grilled octopus or shrimp; on dishes featuring chicken, turkey, rabbit, or lamb; and in baked goods. 

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This Quarter’s Second Selection

Salvatore Cutrera is one of the most driven, provocative characters I’ve encountered during two decades of olive oil hunting. I smile when I remember our first meeting in 2017: evidently testing the palates of myself and my Merry Band of Tasters, Salvatore seeded our inaugural tasting with several unremarkable oils. It was only when we proved ourselves to be very discriminating that he shared his “secret stash” of his finest oils with us. This “vetting” indicated to me that the value Salvatore places on his precious oils cannot be underestimated. He simply doesn’t want to sell them to anyone who can’t or won’t appreciate them. We have made his cut, dear Club member! 

The Cutrera family has been involved in the olive oil business since 1906. In 1979, Salvatore’s father, Giovanni, established an olive mill adjacent to the family home in Chiaramonte Gulfi, a beautiful village in southeastern Sicily that’s been called the “Balcony of Sicily,” thanks to its stunning views of the Hyblean Mountains and the irascible Mount Etna. Salvatore’s wife, son, sisters, in-laws, and other extended family members now staff the business, which comprises some 250 acres of native olive trees and an incredible multi-purpose building about 600 yards from the original mill. Duccio calls it “a cathedral of olive oil.”

Opened in 2021 and encompassing 85,000 square feet, it is a truly magnificent facility, unique in Italy and the world. It features a light-filled classroom for education and tastings as well as top-of-the-line milling equipment from innovative companies Mori and Pieralisi. Dual machinery arrays enable Salvatore and his team to test which equipment works best for individual batches of olives. (No wonder Frantoi Cutrera has won over 700 awards and inclusion in Flos Olei’s Top 20 multiple times!)

Salvatore is especially proud of two high-tech sorters that identify and dispatch with puffs of air any flawed olive specimens (he calls them “mummies”) with ruthless precision. The system is fascinating to me. Salvatore claims Mother Nature herself is the best judge of olive quality, sometimes condemning substandard fruit to the ground with her windy wrath.

Understandably, given the dire olive news coming from Europe the last few months, I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to find the high-quality extra virgin olive oils my Club members expect. But Salvatore gave me hope. He assured me his perfectly green Nocellara del Belice olives were thriving. And, barring catastrophic weather, they would be ready for me and my team. (I love this varietal, also known as Castelvetrano, often seen on charcuterie platters.) But he was one of few Sicilian producers who had exceptional oils this season, and he was being actively pursued by other persistent buyers, many of whom were desperate to buy any oil, regardless of quality. Thankfully, Salvatore honored his commitment to me and to my Club members.

I never expected to use the word “giddy” in same sentence as “Salvatore Cutrera.” In our interactions, he has always been a bit reserved. But during my recent visit, our conversations were often punctuated by his laughter, a delightful and unexpected sound. I believe the successful harvest (after a nail-biting year) and the flawless performance of his new mill lifted anxiety off Savatore’s shoulders and gave him a certain lightness of being.

The last evening of my visit, Salvatore treated me to a memorable dinner at Ristorante U Dammusu, a local place that had special meaning to him: he’d celebrated his 18th birthday there. It’s a homey restaurant decorated with antiques. Because the area is famous for its pork dishes, I ordered gelatina di maiale (pork in aspic). Now I’m hooked, and I intend to recreate this dish at home. Naturally, we brought our just-pressed olive oil and used it liberally on our food. Salvatore seemed so happy and relaxed, and it was a great pleasure to spend time with him. He seems like a man who has realized his dream, yet he still looks eagerly toward the future and the future of his olive trees, always searching for ways to make his award-winning extra virgin olive oils even better. I hope you love this outstanding oil as much as I do. 

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings 

This enchanting Nocellara del Belice is Sicily in a bottle! It tempts with aromas of tomato leaf, freshly cut grass, walnut, celery, baby spinach, lemon peel, and herbal notes of dill and basil. The walnut comes through on the palate as well, along with wheatgrass, celery, the delicate fruitiness of Asian pear, and the lingering spiciness and bitterness of arugula and Szechuan peppercorns. 

This oil belongs in your tomato-based recipes, from sauces to pizza to bruschetta. Use it in homemade focaccia; egg dishes like Italian breakfast strata; noodle dishes like pasta with breadcrumbs; and to braise greens and roast pumpkin, other squashes, and root vegetables. Drizzle it over avocados, rice and other grains, and grain- or legume-based sides and salads, especially those with nuts. Perfect for pork as well as fatty fish like tuna and salmon, and to enhance fruit and veggie smoothies. 

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This Quarter’s Third Selection

When my Merry Band of Tasters and I pulled up to Frantoio Mercurius, near the ancient city of Penne, our dear friend, the gifted producer Claudio Di Mercurio, came out to greet us with open arms, clad in a billowy white linen shirt and white shorts. He looked like a guardian angel wearing “summer casual” on holiday. I was well aware of the unseasonably hot temperatures as I sweltered inside my safari vest, but Claudio’s out-of-sync outfit drove home the crisis conditions facing many Mediterranean olive growers this season. 

Weeks before, I had been ecstatic to receive word from my scouts on the ground that, in this season characterized by uncertainty, Frantoio Mercurius looked forward to an excellent harvest. This marks the sixth year in a row—an unprecedented winning streak—that I have selected a Mercurius EVOO for our Club. Claudio and his family, pursuing perfection from the outset, produced their first ultra-premium EVOO in 2010. In that inaugural season, the farm’s oils reaped regional awards for excellence, an award-winning trend that has only strengthened over the years, including a silver medal at the recent, prestigious Sol d’Oro competition. 

About 70 percent of the family’s groves are planted with a rare varietal native to the Abruzzo region, Dritta (rhymes with Rita), a small, firm fruit with a moniker that translates as “dependable, genial, trustworthy.” When I first visited the Mercurius farm, in 2018, I was astounded to encounter this cultivar I’d never heard of, and even more delighted, over the following years, to learn that it more than lives up to its name. Usually, olive trees alternate between seasons of high production and low, yet the Dritta trees at Frantoio Mercurius have produced consistently stellar fruit year after year.

Claudio attributes the dependable excellence of Mercurius oils to the farm’s location in the Abruzzo region, south of the Appenine mountains, which divide Italy in half along its length. The diminutive, 60-acre farm is nestled in a microclimate among small mountain peaks, with the Mediterranean Sea to its east—natural geographic barriers that help protect against weather extremes. This year, though, the area was nonetheless exposed to the same large-scale trends that affected other parts of Italy. 

After a banner start to the season, with enough moisture in spring to sustain vigorous trees and plenty of initial blossoming, the rain intensified and kept falling until June. The Leccino trees in the grove lost most of their flowers to the downpours. The Dritta trees, in contrast, bloomed later, exactly as the rain was tapering off, so their development was safe. 

The team started the harvest extra early, during a dip in the heat, but temperatures rose again and stayed high. “Hot olives make bad oil with no aromas,” noted Claudio. The team worked when the fruit was cooler—in the early morning, in the evening, on less blistering days, stopping and starting. The technologically advanced mill employs a refrigerated crusher, installed in 2019, which keeps the olive paste cool and helps preserve the precious polyphenols and perfumes in the olives.

Not only does Frantoio Mercurius produce superlative EVOO from its own fruit, it is also where quality-minded growers across the region bring their olives to be pressed. While I was at the mill, eagerly awaiting the Dritta, I was delighted to meet a soft-spoken elderly gentleman who’d come to press his family’s olive oil for the season. His name was Luciano Di Giovacchino (see photo below). Luciano is one of the world’s foremost olive oil scientists, a pioneer in the study of organoleptics (sensory impressions, such as flavor, aroma, appearance, and mouthfeel). For 30 years, he was the director of the l’Istituto Sperimentale per la Elaiotecnica (Institute for Olive Oil Technology Research) in Pescara, where he and his colleagues developed the concept and practice of olive oil tasting panels. And here he was, bringing bins of freshly picked olives to his local olive mill, chatting with me. I felt like I had one foot in the past and one foot in the now, as Luciano told me about scaling ladders to pick olives as a boy. 

I wish he’d been able to help me describe the extraordinary Dritta you have just received, but I think my Merry Band of Tasters and I have evoked it extremely well. Read on to whet your appetite for this fantastic EVOO from Frantoio Mercurius and the little varietal that could. 

Impressions and Recommended Food Pairings 

The essence of central Italy is captured in this oil starring the Dritta olive. On the nose, this oil is redolent of Tuscan kale and Belgian endive, almonds, baking spices, and wild mint, plus the aroma of black peppercorns and sage. Our tasters enjoyed waves of flavor—dark leafy greens; the wonderful bitterness of radicchio, cacao nibs, and green tea; and the spiciness of those peppercorns, plus notes of parsley and hazelnut.

Lavish this oil on brussels sprouts, broccoli, dark leafy greens, and string beans. Drizzle over cheese-and-salumi boards, grilled slices of crusty bread, and sliced grilled steak. Whisk into vinaigrettes for salads like insalata tricolore and artichoke carpaccio. It adds depth to tomato-based meat and sausage sauces; intensity to chocolate desserts, flourless pistachio cake, and ice cream; and zest to your morning granola and yogurt.

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Olive Oil and Health

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Kudos from Club Members

Recipes

• Vanilla and Olive Oil Custard Cream Delicious spooned over the Flourless Pistachio Cake, this custard also makes a luscious pudding you can enjoy on its own. Ingredients 3 tablespoons cornstarch 1/2 cup granulated sugar Pinch of fine sea salt 4 egg yolks 1 1/2 cups whole milk 1/2 cup heavy cream 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons pure vanilla… view recipe
• Chicken with Pistachio Pesto As my team knows, I love pistachio anything. And this version of pesto has earned a place in my repertoire. While my wife Meghan and I enjoy it on skin-on chicken thighs or breasts, it can be used on boneless skinless chicken pieces (or whole birds) as well. Leftovers are amazing on bruschetta, on sandwiches,… view recipe
• Roasted Monkfish with Burst Cherry Tomatoes and Olives Monkfish, sometimes called “poor man’s lobster,” is deliciously meaty. If you can’t find it, substitute grouper, swordfish, halibut, or tuna. Greens sautéed with garlic or a green salad would make a nice accompaniment. Ingredients Extra virgin olive oil 1 1/2 pounds monkfish fillets 1 cup cherry tomatoes 1/2 cup brined Castelvetrano olives, pitted 1 lemon,… view recipe
• Pasta e Ceci This popular Roman soup pairs small tube-shaped pasta and chickpeas. Using broth instead of water, along with a Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind, really amps up the flavor—save your leftover rinds in the freezer to drop in stews as well as soups. You can also adjust the ratio of chickpeas to pasta as you like. Ingredients 2 tablespoons… view recipe
• Baked Acorn Squash with Asiago Flan and Fried Sage Leaves Squash stuffed with a cheesy flan is a beautiful cool weather dish, whether served as a side or as a meatless entrée. Feel free to use other varieties of squash, though baking times will vary according to their size. Ingredients For the squash: 2 acorn squash Extra virgin olive oil Coarse salt (kosher or sea)… view recipe
• Fennel au Gratin A member of the carrot family (though its bulbs grow above ground), anise-y tasting fennel is a popular ingredient in southern Italy. This easy gratin is a good accompaniment to roast meat or chicken. Ingredients 3 large fennel bulbs 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use, plus extra for oiling a casserole dish 2… view recipe
• Shrimp Marsala Marsala is a wine made near the town of the same name in Sicily using local white grapes for a sweet flavor profile. Shrimp are a great alternative to the classic chicken preparation. Ingredients 1 1/2 pounds peeled raw shrimp, rinsed and patted dry 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, more if needed 4 tablespoons extra virgin… view recipe
• Pasta with Breadcrumbs (Pasta con Mollica di Pane) Also known as pasta ca’ muddica in Sicily, this southern Italian dish is rustic food at its best. My version enhances it with walnuts and diced tomatoes. Though the breadcrumbs stood in for cheese when the latter wasn’t affordable, feel free to serve with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano. Ingredients 1 pound linguine 2… view recipe
• Brussels Sprouts Crostini with Pancetta and Balsamic Although they’re named after a Belgian city, this popular member of the brassica family is thought to have been first cultivated in Rome. To shave the sprouts safely, I recommend using the thinslicing disk on your food processor—not a mandoline or knife. Ingredients 12 slices of day-old Italian bread or a French baguette (sliced on… view recipe
• Bloody Mary Nothing sets the tone for a festive day—or a leisurely one—better than a well-made Bloody Mary. It starts with a homemade mix with just the right amounts of spice and acid—so much zestier than commercial mixes. And the bright and bountiful skewers will really impress your guests. Ingredients For the mix: One 46-ounce can or… view recipe