[Don Plumley]

It's been said that if all the EV OO that's labeled as coming from Italy were true, the entire country, every acre, would need to be covered by olive trees. So the tankers full of oil passing by Italy to claim origin really flies in the face of DOP (like AOC in France).

It's also been said that while you plant grapevines for your children, you plant olive trees for your grandchildren. It takes a generation for the tree to be making great fruit. For all of the olive trees planted here in wine country, it's an interesting subject. My brother in law's vineyard has olive trees and has bottled. But climatically speaking, the best olives come from a dry climate, and not the temperate/wet Sonoma area IMHO.

I've taken the OO sensory class at UC Davis. You drink it. That was tough at first. A little bit of burn is appropriate - really made my throat raw. So far, I prefer oils from Mediterranean climates, the local oils are a bit too grassy for my tastes.