Lucero Olio Novello 500 ml

2024 Harvest and Tasting Notes

• Varieties Selected:  Sevillano / Ascolano Blend
• Harvest:  Early November 2024
• Aroma:   Fresh and green
• Flavor:  Low bitterness, with pungent finish
• Finish:  Long lasting and harmonious
• Polyphenols: TBD mg/kg
• Volume:  500 ml / 16.9 fl. oz.
• Shipping weight: 30 oz

Pairing Suggestions

Oils that are this fresh and robust are best enjoyed with the simplest unadorned foods. Plain bread, rice, potatoes, or pasta.

If you're adverse to too many carbohydrates, enjoy this on simply prepared meats or very mild fruits and vegetables (I would not, for instance, recommend using this oil on bitter greens!). I imagine that this would be outstanding on tuna sashimi with a bit of sea salt taking the place of wasabi and shoyu.

These mild or bland foods will do much to highlight positive fruity aromas and flavors and reduce the sensation of bitterness, especially with the introduction of sea salt. Salt has a well documented chemical interaction with food resulting in mitigating bitter compounds. 

Flavor & Enjoyment

Regardless of olive variety or varieties chosen, Olio Novello's characteristics include bright green flavors, high aroma, and a thicker consistency due to the presence of olive flesh which has not been removed. Best consumed fresh, and traditionally enjoyed on toasted bread with sea salt.

To truly enjoy this oil I recommend no vinegar with your bread; let the flavor of the olives come through. If you'd like to be utterly authentic and you have a fire pit, you can replicate what small Italian farmers do at the local community mill: toast some rustic bread over the fire, liberally douse with the new oil and a sprinkle of salt, and raise a nice glass of Italian vino da tavola to another harvest year and to good health.  

About Olio Novello

Each fall the first oils of the year are eagerly sampled to select one or more superior examples to represent Olio Novello, our New Oil. Much like the tradition of enjoying Beaujolais Nouveau young wine in November, Olio Novello celebrates the new harvest with extra virgin olive oil which has not been filtered nor has it been racked of sediment.

Some companies refer to new oil as Olio Nuovo, however, since my olive oil roots are Florentine, I refer to this oil as it was introduced to me:  "Olio Novello". In any event, it is not Olio Nuevo. "Olio" is Italian for oil, "nuevo" is Spanish for new; the Spanish use the Arab derivation for oil "al zeit", literally "the oil". In Spain new oil is Aceite Nuevo.

Regarding the photos

The photos of olives and fresh oils in the mills shown are from the Williams 160 orchard and Lucero Olive Mill a few years ago and are for inspirational purposes for representation. Despite what our instincts tell us, there is not a direct correlation between olive oil color and flavor. I've illustrated two oils, thick and fresh from the mill from harvests past, and although wildly different in color, both were very bright, highly aromatic and pungent oils.  

The photos of bread feature a freshly baked country loaf from a friend. Read about the Quest for Bread in our collection of stories and serving ideas section "Convivial Conversation".