95% of Italian Olive oil is not

[james]

It's all market perception. The biggest thing I see is that "Italian" oils, and oils from the right regions in Italy simply demand a higher price on the world market. We receive offers from time to time for bulk oil -- and we have had quotes for "nice" oils from Sicily, Turkey and Spain, and they definitely cost less.

So I guess the enterprising minds says "lets stick a different label on this and sell it for a higher price."

For years I have thought it would be a great idea for the Spanish gov't to spend a bunch of money on marketing Spanish olive oil to get the price up. Better that than just bulk selling it to Italy. Oh well.

I think it is somewhat similar to wine grapes, where grapes from two adjacent vineyards can cost wildly different amounts based on reputation, sun, exposure, irrigation technique, pruning technique, controlled yeilds, etc. The big difference between grapes and olives is that it is a lot harder to cheap with grapes.

That said, a winery (Folinari I think) was fined a few years ago for putting too many cheap grapes from Puglia in their Chianti. It's funny. They were producing more Chianti than they could from the acreage they owned. Ooops.

James

[JoeT62]

Originally Posted by james

That said, a winery (Folinari I think) was fined a few years ago for putting too many cheap grapes from Puglia in their Chianti. It's funny. They were producing more Chianti than they could from the acreage they owned. Ooops.

James

Reminds me of the old lawyer joke where a 42 year old attorney gets visited by Death who informs him that after a long life, his time was up. "Long life???" he cries, "but I'm only 42 years old!!"

Death responds: "But according to your billable hours you are 103."