Extra virgin olive oil: the Gambero Rosso Guide rewards the best in Italy

Sicily, Tuscany and Sardinia win the palmares of the best light, medium and intense fruity oils. In Puglia the best quality/price oil. 840 extra virgin labels evaluated and described in the guide 465 manufacturing companies

Sicily, Tuscany and Sardinia win the palmares of the best extra virgin olive oils in the Gambero Rosso 2023 oil guide of Italy out of 465 companies and 840 oil labels the guide's experts awarded the best light fruity oil of the year the Lorenzo N°3 Dop Val di Mazara Monocultivar Biancolilla Bio - Awarded Barbera Oil Mills - Palermo (Sicily). Best medium fruity and result the Laudemio Antico Podere La Costa Monocultivar Oil Mill – Count Guicciardini – Poppiano Castle – Montespertoli (Tuscany). Best intense fruity was rated Cuncordu Bio – Masoni Becciu – Villacidro (Sardinia) and the best organic Monocultivar Siracusana Bio – Tenuta Cavasecca, Noto (Sicily). Also to be mentioned is the award for the best quality/price oil that went to thePrincipe Monocultivar Peranzana Oil – Principe Oil Mill – Torremaggiore (Apulia).

The new edition of the Guide Oils of Italy of Gambero Rosso, in paper and web version come to his XIII edition it is in dual language (Italian and English) both to accompany the best Italian extra virgin olive oils on foreign markets, and to provide foreign enthusiasts and buyers, as well as Italian ones, with a tool for understanding and evaluating the oil vintage.

840 extra virgin labels evaluated and described in the guide 465 manufacturing companies

They are 840 extra virgin labels evaluated and described in the guide; 465 manufacturing companies, each with its own file that tells them; 236 companies offering hospitality or catering. A work that embraces all Italian regions from which it emerges that even in areas traditionally less suited to olive growing by now the olive tree is making a comeback and conquering more and more enthusiasts, both on the production front (as in Piedmont, for example) and if that of consumers who are increasingly attentive both to the health properties of extra virgin olive oil and because they are attracted by the sensory experiences that this main product of the Italian agri-food sector guarantees.

The past year cannot be defined as brilliant from a quantitative point of view, but it stood out for the qualitative level of some specific areas. Northern Italy, and in particular the regions bordering Lake Garda, has returned to offering the elegant aromas typical of varieties such as Casaliva and Grignano from the best vintages. But the lion's share went to regions such as Sicily and Sardinia which, although suffering from a decline in quantity, gave away exciting oils from a sensorial point of view. Not least the Apulian Coratina which as always stood out for its intensity and pleasantness.

Production collapse but the quality level is excellent in some areas

Overall the 2022-2023 oil campaign has again recorded a drop in production in the most active areas which led to a 37% drop compared to the previous campaign. So much so that Italy has to beat Greece for second place among the producing countries, following the Spain which also experienced a decline between 30 and 50% compared to last year. The production crisis, linked to adverse climatic factors, has particularly affected Puglia (-52%), or the region from which on average half of the Italian olives come. Calabria is also bad with -42% and Sicily, where a quarter fewer olives were harvested than in the 2021-2022 campaign. All in a dramatic moment for agriculture in which we are witnessing sharp increases in the prices of energy, fuel and other production factors. Practically all of Southern Italy is under a big red sign. In the Centre-North, Tuscany, Umbria and Liguria are saved, which have had a clear increase in production and which have also scored excellent results in terms of quality of the labels presented.