Chiappetta Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Organic and First Cold Pressed From the Toe of the Boot

Terroir is usually considered a sommelier term, a way to describe the unique characteristics a wine achieves from the soil, climate and situation in which the vines grow.  But I don't see why olive oil can't be appreciated on a similar level. 

After all, like the grape vine, the olive tree is a crop of biblical proportions, often aging into the hundreds of years, sometimes even thousands.  Long appreciated for its salubrious attributes, there are over three hundred cultivars of olive in Italy alone, making for a multitude of nuances and distinctions in flavor.  Whatever your tastes are, you ought to have a high quality olive oil on hand to enhance both your food and your well-being.   

That said, a lot of Italian olive oils these days, extra virgin or not, are blended; the bulk of the olives come from industrial-scale operations around the Mediterranean and are only bottled in Italy so as to be passed off as Italian.  They are sufficient for cooking, but typically lack the character and quality of those made to be consumed as "finishing" oils. 

Fortunately, Chiappetta Extra Virigin Olive Oil is an artisan product: their Carolea olives are grown organically in San Vincenzo La Costa, Calabria by a family with ninety years of experience.  Being first cold pressed  and extra virgin means that the fruit is ground to a paste and pressed in the traditional method only once, and throughout the process the olives are never heated above 80° F.  Treating them with this level of care keeps the acidity level very low (.8% or below for EV status) and reduces oxidization, which at higher levels will damage the flavor profile of the oil as well as destroy some of its nutritive qualities.  So basically from earth to bottle the Chiappettas do everything right to extract the best possible expression of olives in liquid form. 

The relatively recent appearance of this product on American shores is due to the collaboration of the Chiappetta family, both those still in the Cosenza area and their relatives here in Norwalk, CT and Toronto, Canada.  After years of producing their oil and selling it to larger firms in Italy to be bottled under someone else's label, the family began bottling and selling the oil as their own proprietary product in Italy.

It was when brothers Pat and Frank Chiappetta visited the family's property not too long ago that they realized the legacy and importance of their family's work for so many years.  They wanted to celebrate it and show their appreciation by availing it to more people.  Realizing the boundless market for premium olive oil (and organic to boot) in this country, they worked out the details to begin importing, bottling and labeling it here for retail.  Now it's truly a family business from start to finish, with Pat, Frank and all their children involved to support the growing business stateside.  It's brought the family, despite an ocean separating them, closer together.  The only incongruity now is in how the oil and the family name are pronounced: Kya-pett-a over there, Chya-pett-a here.          

Compared to the more popular Tuscan and Sicilian oils that currently dominate shelves, Chiappetta Extra Virgin Olive Oil is subtle in flavor. Lacking the pungency and pepperiness of Tuscan olive oil, and less direct in the grass and raw artichoke department than Sicilian, Chiappetta's tastes of fresh olives; fruity and with a distinct herbiness.  Pepper on the back of the tongue comes along gently at the finish, making for a very pleasant olive oil mild enough for a range of dishes.

Start by dipping good loaf of rustic bread in it for the litmus test.  From there I'm a big believer in respecting terroir across the board...so if I'm eating a dish akin to something found in Calabria, I'd like a wine and an olive oil from around there too.  A simple but satisfying dish that's Calabrese in spirit, as I mentioned on the Chiappetta website, is comprised of simply roasted peppers, eggplants and onions, garnished generously with this oil at the finish as a flavor enhancer, adding complexity and fullness on the palette. 

Not that you have to wait for Calabria Appreciation Night at home to break out a bottle...the mild fruitiness of this oil is ideal for simply grilled fish dishes where you don't want too much bitterness or pepper, and even white meats like poultry and pork.  Save it for the moment you serve a dish when the oil's aroma intensifies as it hits the other ingredients, producing another layer of flavor.

You can order Chiappetta Extra Virgin Olive Oil from their website, or by visiting the constantly increasing list of stores that sell it throughout Connecticut and New York, where they also host frequent tasting events.  The Kya-pett-as and Chya-pett-as will thank you.