Olive Oil Review

Introduction to Olive Oil

Olive oil is a global business, in the most literal sense of the word: Italy, Spain and Greece are all major exporters of various olive oil brands to the U.S., as are various smaller countries in Europe and the Middle East. In the U.S., most premium olive oils are pressed in Californian groves, though few of them have wide national distribution. As a result, an enterprising consumer who's willing to go online can choose from among literally hundreds of olive oils, ranging in price from a few dollars to well over $100.

For this reason, it's a challenge to find comprehensive, comparative reviews of bottled olive oils. That's why we're especially grateful to Cook's Illustrated, which has published no less than three olive oil roundups over the last few years (though the results have been a bit contradictory, as we'll explain below). Also ranking high in our All Reviews chart is Good Housekeeping, which conducted a recent taste test of supermarket olive oil brands, and the Australian consumer magazine Choice, which has conducted two major comparative reviews of olive oil over the past four years (again, as with Cook's Illustrated, with sometimes contradictory results). We were also impressed by Consumer Reports, though its 2004 roundup of 18 brands has yet to be updated.

After these major reviews, sources become either less ambitious, or less transparent, about how they go about picking the best olive oil -- or they concentrate on such a small niche that the results aren't pertinent for mainstream buyers. Such is the case with Food & Wine's ambitious taste test of 65 artisanal olive oils from California, or a brief article by About.com's Guide to Greece Travel recommending three Greek (specifically, Cretan) olive oils. The Washington Post, The New York Times, Prevention and Men's Health all weigh in as well, but with less wide-ranging selections. Finally, we consulted the message boards at a popular foodie site, Chowhound.com, for grassroots opinions about the best olive oils.

The top pick in ConsumerSearch Fast Answers for the best olive oil overall, Colavita Extra Virgin (*Est. $9 for 16.9-oz. bottle), is a case study in the perils of identifying the "best" brand in a field of hundreds where personal taste is ultimately the driver. It's true that Colavita is picked more often by reviewers than any other brand of supermarket olive oil, but these same reviewers can also differ in their opinions from year to year. The Australian magazine Choice, for example, rated Colavita near the top of the pack in its 2004 roundup, yet it finished dead last in 2007 (we suspect the editors may have bought a bad batch, since they describe it as "stale" and "bitter," which doesn't match other reviewers' experiences). This inconsistency doesn't apply only to Colavita: Cook's Illustrated top-ranked a similar olive oil, Da Vinci (*est. $7 for 17 ounces), in 2001, but it finished dead last against higher-priced olive oil varieties in 2006.