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A guide to choosing, tasting and storing olive oil
There is a small paradox about extra virgin olive oil: it is one of the foods most often found on our tables and, at the same time, one we know least about. We use it to dress a salad, finish a soup, cook, fry or simply accompany a slice of bread, yet when choosing a bottle we often rely on price, the colour of the oil, label design or beliefs passed down over time. Some are correct; many others are not.
Recognising a quality extra virgin olive oil requires something much simpler: understanding what we are buying and learning to use our nose and palate. There is no need to become a professional taster. Knowing a few fundamental concepts is enough to realise that two apparently similar oils can tell completely different stories.
For us at Case Luparello, this subject has particular meaning. Our oil comes from the olive trees that are part of our farm, and the relationship between plant, harvest, production and tasting is something we want to share with anyone wishing to get to know this world more closely.
In this guide:
“Extra virgin” is not an advertising adjective or an elegant way of saying that an oil is particularly good. It is a precise commercial category, governed by European legislation.
To be classified as extra virgin olive oil, an oil must be obtained directly from olives by mechanical processes and meet specific chemical, physical and sensory parameters. Among these, free acidity must not exceed 0.8%. But acidity alone is not enough: other analytical parameters are assessed, and the oil must pass the sensory evaluation required for the category.
The sensory principle is equally important: an extra virgin olive oil must show fruitiness and an absence of sensory defects. In other words, low acidity cannot automatically make an oil excellent if it has negative characteristics on the nose or palate.
This is the first concept to remember: oil quality cannot be summed up by a single number. It comes from the combination of olive quality, correct processing, chemical analysis, sensory profile and good storage.
A modern mill can process a healthy olive well, but it cannot restore freshness to fruit that arrives deteriorated. That is why the quality of a good extra virgin olive oil begins in the grove.
Olive variety, climate, soil, olive health and ripeness all help determine the final result. Harvest timing also matters: very early harvesting can favour certain aromatic characteristics and greater bitterness and pungency, while as ripening progresses the fruit’s profile changes, and so does the oil’s.
Then comes a very delicate stage: the time between harvesting and processing. Olives are living material, and once detached from the tree, processes begin that can progressively alter their characteristics. Careful management therefore seeks to avoid long waits, improper piling and conditions that encourage fermentation or deterioration.
Quality is not “added” at the end. It is something that must be protected from branch to bottle.
One of the phrases most often seen on bottles is “cold extracted”. Here too, it is more than an evocative expression.
Under European legislation, the indication may be used for virgin and extra virgin olive oils obtained at a temperature below 27 °C through specified extraction processes, such as percolation or centrifugation of the olive paste.
Temperature matters because processing requires a balance: facilitating oil extraction without subjecting the paste to conditions that could harm its more delicate aromatic components.
On the page dedicated to Case Luparello extra virgin olive oil, we describe our product and its sensory characteristics, while the Case Luparello homepage introduces our farming and hospitality activities.
The label cannot tell us everything about an oil’s sensory quality, but it can tell us a great deal about its identity. Learning to read it is probably the first step towards buying more thoughtfully.
The sales designation must be clear. It is useful to check the stated origin, producer or bottler, batch and best-before date. When further information about production or the harvest year is available, it can help us better understand what we are buying.
The container deserves attention too. Oil is particularly vulnerable to light, heat and oxygen. A dark glass bottle helps protect it from light better than a completely transparent container, especially when stored for weeks or months.
PDO and PGI designations can provide specific guarantees about a connection to a region and compliance with particular specifications, but they should not become a mental shortcut: the absence of a geographical designation does not automatically mean inferior quality. To judge an extra virgin olive oil, consider all the information and, where possible, taste it.
Tasting an oil mindfully is much simpler than you might imagine. The most common mistake is to put it straight onto bread: bread is pleasant, but adds its own aromas, textures and flavours. To really understand the oil, we need to leave it on its own for a few minutes.
Pour a small amount into a glass. Professional tasting uses special glasses that prevent colour from influencing judgement; there is no need to own these at home. Simply remember one important point: colour is not a reliable parameter for judging quality.
You can hold the glass in the palm of one hand for a few moments, covering it with the other to encourage the release of aromas. Then bring it to your nose and try to recognise what you perceive without worrying about immediately finding sophisticated words.
Grass? Leaf? Tomato? Almond? A fresh green sensation? Or a flat, unpleasant aroma, perhaps reminiscent of something oxidised? Before giving it a precise name, simply learn to pay attention.
Now take a small sip and spread the oil around your mouth. You can gently draw a little air between your teeth to encourage retronasal perception of the aromas. Then assess its overall character: fruitiness, bitterness, pungency, balance, persistence and any unpleasant sensations.
It is a very simple exercise. After trying it with two or three different oils, the differences begin to become much more obvious.
In professional discussions of virgin olive oil, fruitiness, bitterness and pungency are recognised positive attributes in sensory evaluation.
Fruitiness is the set of characteristic olfactory sensations of oil obtained from healthy, fresh olives. It can take on different nuances depending on the variety, ripeness and many other factors.
Bitterness is perceived mainly on the tongue and can vary in intensity. Pungency, on the other hand, is the tingling sensation that often appears in the throat after tasting.
This is where one of the most frequent misunderstandings arises. A bitter or pungent oil is not automatically defective. On the contrary, bitterness and pungency are among the positive attributes used to describe virgin olive oils sensorially.
This does not mean, however, that “the more it tingles, the better it is”. That would be another oversimplification. Quality is not a race to produce the most aggressive oil: what matters is a coherent profile, the absence of defects and the overall balance of sensations.
1. “A green oil is necessarily better.”No. Colour can depend on the variety, ripeness and pigments in the oil. Professional sensory analysis uses glasses that prevent visual assessment precisely to stop colour from influencing judgement.
2. “If it tingles in your throat, it is too acidic.”No. Free acidity is a chemical parameter and does not correspond to a sour taste in the mouth. Pungency is a sensory attribute of oil.
3. “A delicate oil is always better than an intense one.”No. There are delicate, medium and more robust profiles. It depends on the oil and the culinary use we have in mind.
4. “If oil turns cloudy in the cold, it is pure.”This is not an authenticity test. How oil behaves at low temperatures depends on its composition and can vary considerably.
5. “If oil does not freeze, it is adulterated.”This is false too. Oil is not a substance made of a single molecule with one freezing point: it is a complex mixture, and crystallisation can occur gradually and differently from one oil to another.
6. “The lowest possible acidity automatically means better oil.”Acidity matters, but it is only one of the parameters used to classify oil. A serious discussion of quality also requires the other chemical criteria and sensory evaluation.
7. “Reading extra virgin on the label tells you how it will taste.”The designation identifies a category with precise requirements, but within the extra virgin category there can be very different sensory profiles, origins and characteristics.
This topic deserves a few more lines because a seemingly simple theory keeps circulating: put oil in the fridge and see whether it solidifies. According to this belief, thickening or crystallisation would prove authenticity, while remaining liquid would indicate refined oil or a blend with other oils.
The reality is more complex. Olive oil contains different triglycerides and fatty acids, each behaving differently at low temperatures. Composition varies between oils, and crystallisation can also occur progressively, affecting some fractions before others.
That is why oil’s freezing temperature is not a reliable home method for checking authenticity or quality. If a bottle turns cloudy in the cold, there is no need for alarm; equally, if it stays liquid longer, we cannot conclude that it is fake.
A serious assessment of oil requires analytical parameters, traceability and sensory evaluation, not the household refrigerator.
Tasting is not only a matter of personal preference. For virgin olive oils, an official sensory assessment methodology uses groups of selected, trained tasters.
The panel test identifies the presence and intensity of positive attributes and any defects. European legislation currently refers to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2105, while the International Olive Council maintains specific methods for the sensory analysis of virgin olive oils.
This matters because it clarifies something often forgotten: laboratory analysis and sensory analysis do not compete. They are different, complementary tools. An oil must meet the requirements of its category in both respects.
Learning to distinguish sensory profiles also changes how we use oil. Not because there is a rulebook for pairings, but because different intensities can behave very differently in a dish.
A more delicate extra virgin olive oil can accompany preparations where we want to preserve subtle flavours. An oil with more noticeable fruitiness, bitterness and pungency can support pulses, soups, vegetables, bruschetta or dishes with a stronger structure.
The interesting part is experimenting. Finishing the same dish with two different oils is one of the simplest ways to understand that oil is not merely a cooking fat, but a true ingredient capable of changing the final result.
Even an excellent oil can gradually lose its characteristics if stored badly. Its three main enemies are light, heat and oxygen.
The first rule is therefore very practical: avoid keeping the bottle on a windowsill or beside the hob simply because it is convenient. Choose a cool, dry place, protected from light and away from heat sources.
The cap should be closed properly after every use. As the bottle empties, the space occupied by air inside increases: another reason to choose sizes that match your consumption instead of buying quantities that will remain open for too long.
It is also worth remembering that oil does not improve with age like some wines. Freshness and correct storage are important allies of its aromatic profile.
Extra virgin olive oil is one of the emblematic foods of the Mediterranean diet and contains mainly monounsaturated fatty acids. But in energy terms it remains a fat: like other dietary fats, it provides around 9 kcal per gram.
This is useful to remember because discussing quality does not mean attributing miraculous properties to oil. A good extra virgin olive oil can be chosen as part of a balanced diet for its nutritional and culinary characteristics, but specific health claims must always be assessed against the product’s actual composition and the conditions set by legislation.
This is an important distinction. For us, describing oil means valuing it for what it truly is, without needing to turn it into medicine.
At Case Luparello, our relationship with oil does not begin with a web page. It begins with the trees.
Our property is set in a private olive grove with over 1,000 olive trees planted around forty years ago. On the Case Luparello homepage, we introduce the relationship between hospitality, the grove and olive-growing tradition.
Our oil also has a sensory profile that has been analysed and published on the site: fruitiness 4.4, bitterness 4.0, pungency 4.9 and defects 0.0. These numbers make sense especially after understanding what we have discussed so far: fruitiness, bitterness and pungency are not decorative words, but descriptors used in oil assessment.
On the site, you can explore all the characteristics of Case Luparello extra virgin olive oil directly.
This is also the idea behind the experiences offered at Case Luparello: going beyond putting a product on the table to create a connection between what we taste and the place it comes from. Tastings, olive trees and activities linked to our farm thus become a different way to discover Sicily. Those wishing to turn this experience into a stay can discover our Biancolilla, Moresca, Coratina and Carolea apartments.
If we had to reduce all this information to a single rule, it would be this: do not look for shortcuts.
Green colour is not enough. Tingling in the throat is not enough. Putting the bottle in the refrigerator is not enough. Nor is reading a single number on the label.
Look at the whole picture instead. Seek an identifiable producer and clear information about origin. Check that the oil is properly protected from light. Learn to recognise fruitiness, bitterness and pungency. Pay attention to defects. Store the bottle well once opened. Above all, whenever you can, taste different oils.
The palate needs memory. The more we compare, the more we learn. What initially seems complicated soon becomes intuitive.
Perhaps this is the true meaning of taste education. Not learning difficult words to use at the table, but becoming more attentive consumers.
When we learn to taste oil, we also begin to ask different questions: who produces it? Where do the olives come from? How was it processed? How was it stored? What am I really perceiving?
Direct sales of olive oil gain value when they reduce the distance between these questions and the people who can answer them. Knowing the producer and a food’s place of origin does not magically guarantee that every product is excellent, but it makes something very important possible: understanding what we are buying more fully.
This is the philosophy we want to pursue at Case Luparello.
Bring the plate to your nose. Look for the aroma. Taste. Ask whether you sense something fresh, green, bitter or pungent. Then try another oil and compare.
It is a tiny gesture, but it changes how we look at a product we use practically every day.
Extra virgin olive oil does not need to be presented as a mystery for connoisseurs. Quite the opposite: the more we know it, the easier it becomes to understand what we like and recognise what truly deserves a place on our table.
And when behind that bottle we can also see the trees where everything began, tasting tells us something more: it tells the story of a place.
Get to know our oil, discover its sensory profile and explore the farming world of Case Luparello.