Right after the cold mechanical extraction the olive oil has a deep bright green color. The first olfactory sensation is very elegant and well balanced, with delicate fresh fruity notes of cut grass, basil, mint, green almond, cardoons and green tomato refined with sensation of thyme, oregano and sage. While tasting it you can really feel all the flavors of the great island of Sicily. The final note is round, mild and slightly spicy.
To produce an excellent olive oil, the production process is key. The olives have to be harvested at the ideal point, which varies from year to year and also from tree to tree. The olives must be ground within 24 hours. The temperature of the pressing process must be always below 27 degree Celsius (“cold-pressed”). All these procedures we make sure that the quality of the oil is always first-class.
Tenuta Gallinella’s Olive Oil Extra Vergine has a very low acidity level. For the harvest year 2021/22 it was only 0.2%, which is much lower than the 0.8% allowed by law in order to be named “extra vergine”.
Tenuta Gallinella produces 3 different types of olives: Biancolilla, Cerasuola and Nocellara del Belice. Our olive oil is a blend of these 3 olive varieties. The blend mix is an old traditional family recipe, which gives our olive oil a unique first-class taste.
- Biancolilla olives have rather light fruity notes of little to medium intensity. The olfactory sensation is of green almond, light notes of cardoons and Sicilian tomato. The taste is slightly bitter and spicy. Mature olives produce a slightly sweeter olive oil.
- Cerasuola olives, when they are less mature, have a medium to high fruity intensity, with sensations of grass, cardoons and tomatoes. The taste is rather bitter and quite spicy. More mature olives produce an olive oil with notes of mature tomato and thyme.
- Nocellara del Belice olives have a high olfactory intensity when the olives are green. The cardoons and green tomato taste is pleasant. The taste of bitterness and spiciness is quite pronounced.
