Pianogrillo Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
500 ml - Sicily, Italy
2021 Harvest
Always one of our favorite oils every year.
Pianogrillo olive oil 2018/2019 harvest tasting notes
An Olive Oil to have!
To the eye it has a yellowish green color with a dark, almost black tint. To the nose it has the green fragrance you dream of and the effervescent smell of olives that is so perfect from a great oil.
Pianogrillo has been a favorite olive oil of ours from the moment it arrived so many, many years ago. And it has been one of the all time favorite oils for our customers as well. It is an oil you need to try at least once in your life! A wonderful representation of what an oil from Sicily can be .
To the mouth this oil, on the tip of the tongue has a wonderful buttery feel. Across the tongue that feel continues and as oil rises and floats up and above the tongue, it moves to the back of the throat as a tingle rolls into an explosion of burn. That burn is dead center at the back of the throat. And as quickly as it explodes, cough ensues and then it is gone leaving this wonderful feeling of joy.
When you smack your cheeks in, there is this wonderful "I have been there" oil feel. Though, perhaps, it is not possible to exactly describe the flavor profile, you do know that it is a pretty personable oil.
This is the 2018/19 just pressed oil and it is wonderful!
Pianogrillo, a true long time favorite of ours and our customer's, it is more mellow this year, with very few bitter notes, if any. A very open, light, cloudy, warm Mediterranean feel comes through.
With a hint of fruit, it’s more artichoke, zucchini and, though buttery is often a word to describe olive oil, this oil is not buttery, it is more summery beach! It’s a drinkable oil this year!
If you “chew” the oil it disappears quickly and you have this wonderful light feel. Use it from toast to popcorn. Perfect for a lentil salad, couscous, pasta with sea salt, it’s pretty gosh darn good! Add Pianogrillo olive oil to your 2017 collection!
Without a doubt one of our favorite estate olive oils from Italy. This gold-green Italian extra virgin olive oil is intensely fruity on the nose, explosive even, with bold notes of green vegetable and green tomato. It opens with a rich butteriness on the lips and tongue before giving way to green olive and green vegetable.
Hints of artichoke, tomato, and a spiciness at the back of the throat give this oil a long delightful finish. It is a full-flavored condiment olive oil with a Sicilian flair.
Try Pianogrillo olive oil on... anything! Start with toasted bread and move on through soup, vegetable, and fish courses, all finished with Pianogrillo Italian extra virgin olive oil.
About the Producer
For centuries, the Piaccione family has owned the Piangrillo farm in the Ragusa district of eastern Sicily. The farm stretches over 50 hectares in the heart of the Iblei Mountains. Lorenzo Piccione has turned the old estate into the modern Pianogrillo farm, thanks to his passion and love for nature and for his land.
The Pianogrillo farm is organic in respect to the EEC rules. Chemical manipulations and pesticides aren't allowed. The olive grove is cultivated using natural products and simple agricultural techniques. The average height of the olive grove is about 350 meters above sea level, and at this height the olive fly is rare and easily controlled.
Most of the olive trees belong to several species: cultivar "Tonda Iblea" (or "Cetrale"), and cultivar "Moresca". There are also "Nocellara Messinese" and, recently, a new olive grove of "Carolea" for pollination.
The olive harvesting for Pianogrillo generally begins in October. Each olive is picked by hand, one by one, directly from the olive tree branches. The pressing is done in a modern frontoio (mill) within 12 hours of harvest.
For more information about olive oil and how to make sure you are buying a good one, ready our article, "The Inconvenient Truth About Extra Virgin Olive Oil" here.
Note about harvest dates: In the nothern hemisphere, olives are harvest and pressed between October and December. Which means the latest harvest is actually "last year". So, for example, if we are in 2020, the latest harvest year is 2019.