Food and wine Lazio rears its head. And it is increasingly placing itself at the level of other more popular and noble Italian regions from a food point of view such as Tuscany and Piedmont. After the wine, with cases of qualitative excellence such as those of the wineries of Castel de Paolis, Santarelli and Cantine Sant'Andrea, to name a few, Lazio also emerges with oleic productions of all respect and with company innovations.
The production ofExtra virgin olive oil in Lazio has very ancient origins: from the Etruscans who planted the first olive trees in Tuscia to the ancient Romans who developed the cultivation and production of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in Sabina north of Rome and in Ciociaria south of Rome. Currently the Extra Virgin Olive Oil in Lazio is produced in over 350 mills with excellences that have obtained recognition and awards all over the world.
There are two major segments to keep in mind - Michela Becchi wrote in Gambero Rosso - when it comes to Lazio oil: North and South of Rome. To the south, there is the Dop Colline Pontine, in the province of Latina, where the protagonist cultivar is theitrana, characterized by the clear and decisive scent of tomato with its leaf, aromatic herbs and a sharp note of green apple. In the northern part, however, the cradle of olive growing in Ancient Rome and among the first areas in central Italy to know the olive tree, two denominations: Dop Sabina and Dop Tuscia. In rietino, I'm there charcoal from the nuances of aromatic herbs, almond and artichoke, the balsamic vinegar oil mill , raja, all cut grass and bitter almonds, to be the master. In the Viterbo area, the undisputed queen is the canine, with vegetal hints, bitter and spicy, together with brown it. Variety aside, Lazio continues to prove to be an increasingly interesting region, even if last year's productivity proved to be rather varied and unfriendly: the unstoppable growth of the Pontine Hills, superior also for the excellent quality/price ratio, not the excellences in the other two areas are less, where, however, a less marked qualitative increase has been recorded.
In the context of a new protagonist presence of Lazio's extra virgin olive oil in the national olive oil panorama, the case of Antiche Terre Pacella, an olive oil company in the Ciociaria which for some years has been imposing itself on the critics of appreciated sector guides, should be noted. In 2019 the company from Sgurgola (Frosinone) achieved an encore with the highest recognition awarded by the Gambero Rosso Oil Guide, winning the Three Leaves after those received in 2018. The company, also present for 2019 in the Slow Food oil guide and in that "Ai Sapori e Ai Piaceri Ciociaria 2019" of the Republic. It is about to become a Slow Food presidium.
The company Ancient Lands Pacella (www.oliomontilepini.it), with an area of olive groves on the slopes of the Monti Lepini (the Ciociaria version of the Lazio mountain range straddling Frosinone, Latina and Rome) and the claim Made in is guaranteed produces extra virgin 100 % made in Italy through the collection of the Itrana, Leccino, Rosciola, Frantoio, Moraiolo varieties.
The Antiche Terre Pacella oil product is divided into a multicultivar and an “Itrana 100%”. The oleic productions, from laboratory analysis certification, have an acidity value of less than 0,8%, a parameter that allows them to be included in the classification of extra virgin olive oil. The product is obtained by cold pressing, in order to guarantee intact the organoleptic and nutritional value. It is of medium density, more or less cloudy, yellow-green in colour, with an intense olive scent. The flavor is medium fruity with an aromatic texture characterized by energetic hints of slightly ripe tomato and aromatic herbs. The perfect match is with caprese. As for the production numbers the new 2018-19 oil campaign, despite the difficulties recorded at a national level, it was of excellent quality with respectable organoleptic characteristics unlike the harvesting trend in the rest of Italy.
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