The search for perfection in olive oils: the fine art of blending

Blending is an ancient practice. More than just an innate talent, success also depends on experience, technical ability and curiosity, as well as patience and a desire to experiment. To blend is to combine various flavors and fragrances and thus create something totally new and unique. Something that never existed before. The term, ‘blending’ is widely used in the worlds of wine, whisky, coffee and extra virgin olive oil.

Throughout our history as olive oil producers, our family has managed to transmit from one generation to the next (for a hundred years and more) all the passion and know-how that this trade requires – starting out from the ability to select the very best raw materials. During our oil production campaigns, we seek out the “perfect” oils. We do so personally, first-hand. We consider such perfection in terms of the oil’s organoleptic and chemical properties, and we select on the basis of our desired end results. We work together with trusted olive-growers and owners of oil mills. We select the finest cultivars of the European Mediterranean. On finding products of excellence not just in Italy but also in Greece and Spain, our next stage is a delicate one – that of harmonizing the oils. This is an art. It requires considerable expertise, as well as innate capabilities. We must assess the characteristics of all extra virgin oils, considered singly. We must familiarize ourselves with their nuances and learn how to blend them in the correct, precise proportions. The equilibrium is an extraordinary one. It embodies the character, flavor, aroma and fragrance of the end product. The results that we attain each time are, uniquely, nothing less than our own extra virgin olive oil, whose characteristics are perfectly balanced. We take pride in our unique olive oil, truly worthy of the Carli brand name!

Delicate, Fruity, 100% Italian – more about our blends.

This “talent of selection” is our most precious resource, above all during the difficult years, when there is little good olive oil around. Not much olive oil, but the need to ensure quality remains paramount. Indeed, it is at times like these that we fully realize the importance of our ties with trusted olive-growers − who can guarantee the excellence of their oils, obtained from healthy olives, harvested at exactly the right time, and delivered immediately to the oil mill while still fully intact and fresh.

Today, as in the past, we engage in olive oil tasting personally on a day to day basis. Between November and March we taste in order to select the finest batches leaving the oil mills (on the basis of purity, aromatic hints and gustatory nuances). During the other months we taste in order to control and adjust the dosing of the oils that we have selected.

We do all this constantly, in order to produce the inimitable product in each and every bottle of Carli olive oil!