There are tastes that we are born with and there are those that we acquire, and for me, not having been born in the Mediterranean areal, Olive Oil is rather an acquired taste. Yet, a genuinely formidable and of extraordinary quality Olive Oil is a rare catch. Why? Because the never ending hunting for accessible, industrialized and conventional products our modern society has grown into a habit.
We are used that everything has to happen quick and be delivered overnight. When it comes to food however, you cannot speed up ripening a cherry tree or - to return to my point - the olives of an olive tree.
My olive oil journey - the true one(!) - started a few years back, when I felt in love with the olive oil from Cantina Oliena - in the heart of the world’s first Blue Zone - Sardinia, in a small city by the name of Oliena, located in the Barbagia region. I don’t believe in coincidence, I am a firm believer in opportunities that if we embrace, it can forever change our lives and of those around us.
It was the end of summer at the Oliena’s Street Festival, where only the local producers and farmers were proudly exposing their hand-crafted products in a setting meant to simply celebrate crops, life, passion for their work and their results. What fascinated me the most was the human connection and the high energy there, I am sure everyone on earth has felt or is on the quest of such.
Now returning to the olive oil, I tasted there at that festival what is for me the absolute reference, or if I may - the Queen & Kings - of Olive Oil: the oil produced by Cantina Oliena, Ilió.
Again it is no coincidence that this year, the oil received the highest recognition - three gold leaves - in the Italian leading guide - Gambero Rosso - for high quality olive oils, wines and breads.
This is not just a recognition, it is and ode to the joint commitment and passion of around 150 small olive growers in Oliena, who have a common dream of producing an olive oil that best expresses the unique territory of this unique terroir.
I am extremely happy that we, at Tresmundi, sharing similar values and passion with the small producers in Oliena, have the privilege to be the ambassadors of this amazing olive oil in Germany. This makes us a small part of this dream as well ❤️✨❤️
