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<pre>Dear all,

I am after some comments on an olive oil I made this year.

A couple of months ago this oil was featured in a tasting of 2005 local
olive oils and it came out looking pretty good. Aromatic, plenty of depth
and flavour. I had high hopes for the oil to win medals at the shows. Then
last weekend the Hunter Olive Show was held and the oil did not score well
at all. It had gone flat and boring. I have since re-tasted it and I agree
with the judges - flat and boring. Not actually faulty, but not at all
interesting. The oil was tested by the IOOC accredited lab in Wagga Wagga
and came out fine as EVOO and no problems.

I have a number of theories that might be the cause of this, and I'd be
grateful for any comments of anybody with similar experience. The oil was
predominantly Frantoio with some Manzanillo, pressed on a small Enorrosi
hammer mill without any additional heating and using the traditional mat
press rather than a centrifuge for extraction. Picked fairly ripe - probably
90% black - by hand, pressed the following day.

Options for what went wrongs are:

1. It is Frantoio, and this is what tends to happen to this variety (the
comments of a very experienced grower)
2. The oil was left too long on its muddy lees (about 4 months)
3. The oil was stored with too much exposure to air (60 litre plastic drum,
half empty for 4 months)
4. The oil was unfiltered and the vegetable matter has contaminated the oil
5. The oil was stored next to table olives in brine and this has affected
the flavours
6. The olives were picked too ripe and the polyphenol level is too low for
stability
7. The sansa was malaxed too long and the oil over-extracted somehow (we got
about 22%)
8. Something else
9. All of the above!

Many thanks,

Mike Wilson
Hunter Valley.
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