An extra virgin olive oil is a fruit juice, and it behaves like one: at its best within months of the harvest, green and peppery when it is young, softer and rounder as it ages. We choose oils for freshness before anything else, then for provenance, then for the character they bring to a plate.
The house bottle is Flamingo Estate’s Heritage extra virgin olive oil, pressed from a family farm in Ojai, California: bright, grassy, with the pepper at the back of the throat that marks a properly fresh oil. It is the one to pour over warm bread, white beans, a tomato salad or grilled vegetables. From Provence, Château d’Estoublon presents its estate oil and organic balsamic in two perfume-style atomizers made to be passed around the table. For a gift that should not be forgettable, Drop of Life’s Grand Reserve is a first-harvest oil from Arcadia, Greece, released in limited quantities in a collector’s case.
Keep olive oil closed, cool and out of the light, and finish a good bottle within a few months of opening. For lemon, basil, truffle and lavender oils, see the infused olive oils; for seasoning with a lighter hand, see The Spray Pantry.
