The kind you have to go to the producers, have a chat about the neighbours, and probably have a drink or two along the way. Every so often, we “steal” a few hundred litres from their cellars and make them available to the rest of the world.
There are more than a 1000 registered olive oil producers in the North Adriatic region. They produce award winning oils, but because they don't scale and rather work on quality, they mostly sell from their cellars. We source what they produce in small batches straight from the source.
Batch: 100L Sourced: 30L
Bold and expressive, with dandelion, radicchio and freshly cut grass leading the profile. Aromatic spices, tomato leaf and artichoke add depth and complexity. Fruitiness, bitterness and pungency are all pronounced.
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Batch: 300L Sourced: 30L
Herbal and savory, with grass, artichoke and olive leaf aromas supported by almond and fresh tomato notes. Tomato leaf adds brightness, while the finish stays clean and persistent.
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Batch: 100L Sourced: 50L
Fresh and intensely green, with aromas of cut grass, olive leaf and artichoke supported by green almond notes. Hot and aromatic spices build slowly, giving the oil a long and...
Coming next
Among our producers, we look for oils that stand out in flavour, character and story. We then bring them together in carefully curated tasting packs.
Current pack is celebrating our heritage with Istrska belica, the most celebrated sort of Istrian oil making. In the pack, you can find oils from three award winning producers.
Sandi Babič: “People think they know everything and that you only need a machine to produce good olive oil. But if you don’t have healthy fruits (olives), it won’t work out. That many haven’t realized yet.”
Sandi Babič: “I get it, they tell you some story, they have a bottle for 150k euros and they lure you to buy the oil. But what is inside the bottle? That is the only thing that counts.”
Most people have been using rancid olive oil for years, and calling it normal. They’ve been fooled by the word “Italian.” Told not to cook with extra virgin, so they save the good bottle for salads and cook with something worse. Twenty bottles in the aisle, all saying “extra virgin,” “cold-pressed,” “product of Italy,” with no way to tell which one is real. That peppery burn at the back of the throat, assumed something was wrong.
None of that is on you. The industry built it this way on purpose. Check how your olive oil ranks in a few steps.
The workshop is an exercise in tasting. We taste the oils side by side, comparing an everyday supermarket oil with a truly exceptional one, in a way that makes the difference clear even to someone who has never tasted olive oil this way before.
We learn how to evaluate olive oil. What to look for in the aroma, which flavours and aromas reveal themselves in a good oil, and how the taste develops from the first moment you smell it through to the bitterness and pepperiness at the back of the throat.
Stone Roots is a community, a club if you may, of people who like to slow down, eat good shit, drink good shit, and sometimes do good shit.
