See below for what happened.........

An Olive Oil Tasting

The Metropolitan Detroit Chapter of the American Wine Society invites you to a revisit of a tasting of oils from around the world offered 10 years ago.  We will taste 10 olive oils originating from, Italy, Crete, Spain, Greece, Jordan, Lebanon, and California. 

The oils will be accompanied by bread morsels, which will be used to dip into the oil in order to facilitate tasting and evaluation.  In addition to the aperitif there will be wines, which will accompany the olive oils.  They will serve to cleanse the palette as well as to enhance the olive oil flavors. An appetizer made with olive oil will be served which was especially chosen to intensify olive oil flavor.

A specially developed score sheet will be provided to evaluate the olive oils just as we do for wines.  So, plan on attending to sample some very fine olive oils from around the world and find out which is best.  

 Please bring your own wine glasses.  No smoking or strong fragrances please. 

Attendees recognize they will consume alcohol and assume responsibility of having done so.

Reservation deadline is Tuesday, October 13, 2009.

Members  $14.00            Guests   $16.00

What Happened.........

This tasting was organized and presented by Bob Bilenchi and Rosemary Lauder, and Jon and Joan Reed.  Thirty one attended at the Yacht Club, a very nice setting.

While the purpose was olive oil tasting, there was also some pleasant wine, (but not interfering with the tasting of the oils), from Trader Joe’s.

            Vintjs Sauvignon Blanc, Napa, 2008

             Gaetano D'Aquino Orvieto, Italy, 2007

             Trader Joe’s Chenin Blanc, California, 2008

The tasting was conducted by Bob Bilenchi, who has had a life-long love for them in his cooking. Baskets of bread morsels were on the table, and our tasters could dip into bowls of oil to compare and judge, using a sheet that he developed to help us focus on their flavors and characteristics.

Midway through the tasting a bean dish was served from Bob’s kitchen, a very simple dish of old Italian character that enhanced the taste of the olive oil that was in the dish.

We were very fortunate to have Maria El-Haddad, an importer of Lebanese olive oils from her family’s farm under the ZéTüne brand, to provide a wealth of information and to answer a great many questions.  Maria is from Lebanon and her village there is the source of her product.  Many of the trees are nearly 1000 years old, and produce high quality oil.  Chemicals and fertilizers are not used.  They are harvested tree ripened, immediately processed, and macerated gently to avoid heat and unwanted bitterness.  Her oils from the hillsides are sold as the standard brand, and the superior oils from the river areas are sold as a Reserve. They are available in the Detroit area.

Maria, who is educated in culinary science, sees olive oil tastings as useful in understanding their character and flavors, and providing quality information to producers and purchasers, as is commonly done with wines.

There were 10 olive oils from many regions tasted and the results were as follows. 

1          Jordan's Treasure (Jordan)                    13.07

2          Bellino (Italian organic)                          12.09

3          ZéTüne (Lebanon)                                11.36

4          Columel (Spain)                                     10.76

5          Kirkland (Italian,Tuscany)                        10.43

6          ZéTüne (Lebanon, Private Selection)        10.33

7          Elea (Greece)                                        10.24

8          Rachael Ray (Italian)                                9.05

9          Agia Triada (Greece,Crete)                        8.38

10        Ceago (California)                                    5.57

Itwas noted in analyzing the results that the variation in the ratings was high enough to make the precise rankings suspect for much of the group.  For example, the second place oil could easily have been in fourth place, were it not for an inconsistently high score from one table.

 This was an interesting and informative tasting, much appreciated by our chapter.  There were cookies and coffee to close the tasting.