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IAN & SPAIN

WELCOME TO MY BLOG. HAVING LIVED IN SPAIN FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS I HAVE TRULY MANAGED TO IMMERSE MYSELF IN THE LOCAL CULTURE AND FEEL TOTALLY INTEGRATED. I WILL BE WRITING ABOUT MY PASSION FOR SPANISH FOOD AND DRINK AS WELL AS ITS CULTURE, PEOPLE AND PLACES OF SPECIAL INTEREST. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT.

TOP 5 OLIVE OILS You can find in the supermarket this season
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 @ 7:12 PM

Finding a decent olive oil in a supermarket in Spain isn’t an easy task these days so I thought I would write an article on the top 5 olive oils available on the shelves at the moment. Wanting this article to be useful to the majority of readers I decided to use Carrefour as the chosen supermarket for the review as there is probably one Carrefour close to everyone in Spain being the only supermarket that spans the national territory and the only supermarket apart from the Corte Ingles that really carries decent olive oils. Nonetheless I will comment on other supermarkets, not much though, because there isn’t much to comment on. This review is based on my personal opinion and that of my “olive oil” colleagues after a long discussion the other day when we were deciding who were the best Spanish producers year in year out. The ones that always maintain a high standard and produce great oils every Harvest.

The supermarkets I use on a regular basis are Consum, Mercadona and Carrefour. I can’t talk about any others as I haven’t really used them on a regular basis nor bought oils from them, however I only buy olive oil from Carrefour, as it is the only supermarket that has a real selection of “real” olive oils. I am yet to try a “real” extra virgin from Consum. Every olive oil I have bought over the last year has been an absolute disaster and I have just given up until they start to bring in decent oils. At most I have used it for frying (and that even made me cringe) but I am incapable of using them raw, on salads or drizzling them over meat or fish. So for “raw” oils I will always go to Carrefour. Mercadona is much the same story although better than Consum. But neither offers great olive oils that will really enhance your dishes or give you satisfaction just dipping bread into it.

This review will save you a lot of time and money as you can go straight to the best five olive oils without messing around and enjoy a range of different flavours and intensities. Obviously I haven’t tried every olive oil in Carrefour but I have tried quite a few but I am not a fan of white branded olive oils so I don’t tend to buy them ever as I am yet to have a pleasant experience with one and you never know where it really came from.

So, lets not beat around the bush and let's get on with the oils. I have made a selection of the best 5 oils, which have been available at Carrefour over the last year at least, so they are regular tenants and you shouldn’t have any trouble finding them. There is no point rating them against each other as some are different varieties and different categories altogether, so I have organised them by flavour intensity so it will be easier to choose the right one for you. Personally I prefer robust herbaceous olive oils but others may prefer delicate oils, which are not bitter or peppery in the slightest. The following table will guide you through the oils and the category column displays the flavour intensity and strength of the oil as well as giving an idea of the colour even though that has no relevance to the flavour. I have included photos and the shelf price to help you identify them in the supermarket as well. They are all fantastic olive oils and you can’t go wrong with any of them. They may seem expensive compared to your average supermarket oil but when you taste them you will immediately understand why they cost what they cost. On average 8 to 10 kg of olives are needed to make 1 litre of these olive oils so they are not cheap to make and the quality controls are extensive so when you compare them to the price of a good wine which is drunk in 30 minutes, I would say they are excellent value.

Good luck and get tasting!! (All of them are award winning Olive Oils)

ORO BAILÉN Y MELGAREJO

LAGUNA DE FUENTE DE PIEDRA DAURO

ABBAE DE QUEILLES

Other popular articles by Ian Mackay ©

Go to article: The World of Olive Oil - Introduction-Part 1

Go to article: The World of Olive Oil- Olive Oil Categories-Part 2

Go to article: The World of Olive Oil - How to recognise an authentic extra virgin olive oil - Part 3

Go to article: The World of Olive Oil - Olive Oil Tasting - Part 4

Go to article: The World of Olive Oil - True Virginity - Part 5

Go to article: Can I fry with Oilve Oil?

Go to article: The World of Olive Oil - The perfect Crime Scene - Part 6

Go to article: The World of Olive Oil - Harvesting Olives - Part 7

Go to article: Spanish Cured Ham-What you need to know

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27 Comments

Javier said:
Thursday, April 25, 2013 @ 1:09 PM

Actually, the best valued Olive Oil in Spain Is novecientos. It won the Gold medal this month in the blind tasting New York Olive oil contest. Over 700 olive oils from all over the world, and this one was the best Spanish one and also the 4th highest punctuation. Once you try it, you love it. they sale online to Spain, Europe and America. aceitenovecientos.com

eos-ian said:
Thursday, April 25, 2013 @ 1:17 PM

A great oil without a doubt but you won't find it in Carrefour at the moment. This is not an article of the best oils in Spain but the bestoils available in Carrefour.Hope you eventually sell it in local supermarkets.

eos ian said:
Thursday, April 25, 2013 @ 3:08 PM

For the interest of the readers Oro Bailen and Melgarejo were also awarded Gold Medals in NY this year

Steve Mulrooney said:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 @ 11:20 AM

You do lose your credibility somewhat by making such comments as " aroma of thistle".
It's a bit like the pretentious comments of wine tasters with " a cheeky hint of snowdrop"

eos ian said:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 @ 1:08 PM

Steve the area where this olive oil is made is laden with thistles, it is a local aromatic thistle that grows in Navarra and is not your typical British thistle it is used in cooking as well, unfortunately there is no other translation for it. If you know the aroma you will notice it when you smell the oil. It is a very common aroma for oils from this region. I'm not one for pretentious comments, something I have never really understood from wine tasting but it is the fact that it is so easy to identify the smells in olive oil that makes it so fascinating.

eos_ian said:
Sunday, April 28, 2013 @ 1:18 PM

Steve please try the oil and then get back to me....I think you will be surprised.

James Marsh said:
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 @ 11:38 AM

Thanks Ian for the review I went out and bought the Abbae oil this weekend and I must admit I was totally blown away by it. I had no idea olive oil could smell or taste like that! I could actually smell the banana in an olive oil it was surreal! I will be trying the others shortly! Keep up the good work!

ian jackson said:
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 @ 6:50 PM

A price guide would have been handy. From the photos, it appears that some are half-litre bottles at €16, or more than €30 per litre?

eos-ian said:
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 @ 8:26 PM

The prices are those that appear in the photos. All 500ml bottles. They are not available in larger bottles. Photos were taken a couple of days before posting the review.

eos-ian said:
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 @ 8:28 PM

You sound surprised that olive oil could cost 30 Euros a litre?

eos-ian said:
Tuesday, April 30, 2013 @ 8:29 PM

James I am glad you enjoyed it:)

dan said:
Friday, May 3, 2013 @ 11:49 AM

Could you tell as about Carefour's 5 liter olive oil plastic containers and the 3 litter "extra virgin".
I can't afford expensive oils, but are they at least real and undiluted?
Thanks.

eos-ian said:
Friday, May 3, 2013 @ 12:02 PM

Hi Dan

These oils featured in the article are for eating raw not for cooking so they will last you a long time and you don't need to use much so they are cost effective. None the less I haven't tried Carrefour 5 ó 3 lite batch but I would imagine that it is the same as the 1 litre bottle. I haven'tried it recently but the last time I tried it I wouldn't have classed it as an Extra Virgin but a Virgin. There were some defects in the taste and the nose. Fine for frying. Nothing to worry about from a health point of view so it is fine for eating if you like the taste. Personally I don't. Iwill be doing a review on white brands shortly so I will include it for sure. I will endeavour to find a great cheap olive oil.. a hard task I think... we'll see :)

dan said:
Friday, May 3, 2013 @ 10:56 PM

Thanks lot.I'll be looking forward to hear more about those 5 and especially the 3 liter labled "virgin"olive oil large plastic bottles.I can tell the taste is kind of "rough"and possibly more acidic(??) but mainly needed to know wether they are not mixed with other oils, and if they are cold pressed.

eos-ian said:
Friday, May 3, 2013 @ 11:12 PM

Hi Dan

Acidity isn't something you would notice in taste but if it is rough it has probably slightly fermented from residue being left in during the manufacturing process.This is very common. This isn't bad for you but does taste a bit rough! As far as other oils being mixed in, I would doubt that very much, different varieties of olive,yes.. but different types of oils? Not in Carrefour. At most they try to sell you a virgin olive oil at the price of an extra virgin, but I wouldn't be worried about anything strange going on. At most poor quality in flavor and aroma. Nowadays no oils are cold pressed,if they so so they are probably lying. Traditional cold pressing(rolling stones) produces defective oils by the nature of the system. That was the old tradition. Today it is all machine crushed and centrifuged, it draws more oil out of the olive and allows a better quality control.

trevorh said:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 @ 10:40 AM

Hi Ian
Just got around to reading this, great idea, just what we need, some straight forward guidance on some oils that we can buy easily. We'll try one or two next time we are out in June.

Thanks for the info, we enjoy all your blogs on food and oils even if we don't often say so.

Regards
Trevor

eos-ian said:
Thursday, May 16, 2013 @ 10:47 AM

Thanks Trevor for the comment.Really appreciate it. Glad you are enjoying my blog

George Fee said:
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 @ 7:37 PM

Everyone should look at "Olive oil" on Wikipaedia. The entire business looks to me like a real con. How on earth is it possible to get through all this stuff and buy REAL DOUBLE VIRGIN olive oil, with ALL its goodness?

ian said:
Wednesday, May 29, 2013 @ 8:17 PM

Hi George you are spot on. This is precisely why I write about it. Maybe my other articles/posts will help clear the way for you so you can find the authentic olve oil as there so much fraud in the business.

Beth said:
Thursday, July 18, 2013 @ 10:59 PM

A Taste For Life by far has the best collection of imported spanish olive oil, vinegars and wines.

Ravi said:
Monday, November 10, 2014 @ 11:53 AM

Please also review the olive oils sold at Corte Ingles.

Frank said:
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 @ 8:47 PM

Taking some Olive oils back home, do you have any updates on Carrefour or other supermarket products.

eos_ian said:
Thursday, March 26, 2015 @ 11:22 AM

Hi Frank any of the above are still great if you can find them. I think that Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, Melgarejo and Dauro are still on sale, at least the last time I went they were. Unfortunately Oro Bailen wasn't on sale the last few times I have been and they have replaced it with CASA DEL AGUA from the same mill, only it is cheaper than the 'family reserve' version featured in the article. Casa del Agua is €5,95 if I am not mistaken. I bought some the other day and it is very good. A coupage of Arbequina and Picual, it is fruity and clean so definitely a good buy for the money. To get the family reserve you would have to go to the Corte Ingles. If you can, get it, its worth it. Thanks for reading.

Frank said:
Saturday, March 28, 2015 @ 9:52 PM

Thanks Ian really appreciate your expert advice.

German soro said:
Sunday, May 1, 2016 @ 5:14 PM

Hi ian,

I've been at carrefour however none of the mentioned oils I could find. I bought an extra virgin olive oil 'selection by carrefour" 0,75L for 6usd. there were also luglio, bertolli and some other cheaper brands. Do you have any opinion on those? I need viegin or extra virgin for max 10usd a liter. Thanks in advance

eos_ian said:
Monday, May 2, 2016 @ 8:01 AM

Hi German. Thanks for reading and I'm afraid this article is from about 3 years ago but I do know that all oils are still on the market. However Carrefour every year adjusts its stock. I did however see Laguna de Fuente de Piedra available in tin format for less than 10$/L. Carrefour's own brand is ok but nothing special. That said if you have a Corte Ingles near you will find Bailen d'Oro and most others there too. One of my favourites is on sale there too :Venta del Baron, one of the greats. I think it is about time I did another article updating the top 5! Thanks for reading!

biddypoint said:
Friday, November 23, 2018 @ 11:09 AM

Impressed with your in depth knowledge of the olive oil industry. I need further information can I please contact you via e-mail. My e-mail address is kbaig5665@gmail.com