What’s on our supermarket shelves – Colavita Extra Virgin
admin | July 30, 2011Colavita Extra Virgin
Batch: L09322 11:06
Purchased: 23/4/2011 IGA Supermarket, Unley Road, Malvern
Best by date: May 2012 (so presumably packed May 2010)
Price: $AUD 8.67 for 500ml = $AUD17.34 per litre ($US16)
Package: 500ml clear glass, screwcap
Source: Italy
Date Analysed: 23/4/2011
My measurement of FFA: 0.56% (IOC Limit 0.8%)
My measurement of UV232: 2.346 (IOC Limit 2.5)
My measurement of UV270: 0.255 (IOC Limit 0.22)
Tasting notes: .Distinct cheesy fermented characters on nose. Flat greasy palate with ripe fermened olive flavours. There was some pepperyness on the finish which was perhaps the oils only good feature.
Recommended use: None that I can think of.
Comment: The label implores us to store the oil in a cool dark place, but it is packed in clear glass. I just don’t get that. The oil is a clear example of being Italian but not necessarily equating to a high quality product. The UV oxidation meausres suggest that the oil was old – remember that just because an oil was packed in 2010, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the oil was acutally made in 2010. Over a 1/4 of a million tonnes of olive oil is currently stored awaiting improved prices and a market. These 2011 oils will no doubt end up on a supermarket shelf near you possibly sometime in 2013 or 2014 with a best by date of 2015 or 2016.While some will blame the quality of retail storage on oxidation, the oil reviewed here is consistent with samples taken from Californian supermarkets in 2010, where the FFA of three different Colavita samples averaged 0.58%, and the UV measures of primary and secondary oxidation were 2.33 and 0.17 respectively. A tasting panel deemed two of those three samples as being virgin grade, suggesting the existence of a defect in these oils. Clearly these were different batches from that reviewed here, but the pattern of results are consistent.