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OLIVEPRESTIGE

Buy extra virgin olive oil

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil is juice pressed from olives by mechanical means alone, with free acidity of 0.8% or less and no sensory defects when assessed by a trained panel. That is the legal floor. The oils on this page sit well inside it: most arrive between 0.15% and 0.30% free acidity, each carries a harvest date rather than a vague best-before stamp, and every lot is tasted before it is listed. If you are buying EVOO for the first time, start with a medium-intensity bottle in a 500 ml dark glass format, use it within three months of opening, and judge it raw on bread before you judge it in a pan.

Bottles in this selection

What separates real extra virgin from the rest

Grade is decided by chemistry and by a panel. Chemistry sets the boundary — free acidity, peroxide value, UV absorbance — and the panel decides whether the oil actually tastes like fruit rather than like the tank it sat in. An oil can pass every chemical test and still fail sensory assessment for fustiness, winey-vinegary or muddy-sediment defects.

Freshness is not part of the grade, which is why harvest date matters more than the category name on the label. An oil bottled from a two-year-old tank is still legally extra virgin the day it is filled. We publish the harvest on every product page and prefer the current or previous crop year.

Choosing by intensity, not by price

Delicate oils suit raw fish, fresh cheese, steamed vegetables and baking. Medium oils are the everyday choice for dressings, eggs and roasted vegetables. Intense oils built on Coratina, Picual or early Koroneiki carry bitterness and a peppery catch at the back of the throat — both are phenolic signals, not faults.

Bottle size should match how fast you cook. A household finishing one 500 ml bottle a month is better served by two fresh 500 ml bottles than by one three-litre tin that spends half a year open.

Frequently asked questions

What is extra virgin olive oil?
Oil extracted from olives by mechanical means only, with free acidity of 0.8 g per 100 g or less and no sensory defects detected by a trained tasting panel. No solvents, no heat treatment, no refining.
How can I tell if an extra virgin olive oil is fresh?
Look for a printed harvest date, not just a best-before date. Oil from the most recent crop year, kept in dark glass or tin, tastes green and peppery. Flat, waxy or crayon-like flavors mean it is past its best.
Is more expensive olive oil always better?
No. Price reflects yield, cultivar, harvest timing and packaging as much as quality. What reliably predicts quality is a recent harvest date, a named estate or mill, and published analysis.

Read before you buy

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Related selections

Premium Extra Virgin Olive OilFresh Harvest Olive OilOrganic Extra Virgin Olive OilHigh-Polyphenol Olive Oil

The harvest letter

Early access to each new harvest, forty-eight hours before release

One letter a month: tasting notes from our own panel, the estates we are visiting, and first refusal on limited single-tank releases.

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