The Lucchesia has long been famous for the high quality of its olive oil. More recently it has developed a great reputation for wine, especially in the area round Montecarlo and Fubbiano. Although I’ve had my fair share of wine tasting I’ve never been to an olive oil tasting. I was, therefore, intrigued to find there was a session on olive oil at the Terme Hotel – the one next to Bagni di Lucca’s famous hot springs.
I’ve spent a night at the hotel in 2012, when I won a poetry competition held there, and on several occasions have swam in its small but delightful thermal pool complete with hydro massage. However, I don’t remember having visited this hall with its magnificent timber truss ceiling, beautiful floor complete with marble mosaic and elegant dining furniture. In fact, the hall has only recently been completed and is to be inaugurated as a restaurant and venue centre very soon.
Our oil tasting session, conducted by a true professional, started with the technique of how to taste the quality of the oil. Clench your teeth. Then take a drop of the previous oil. Breathe in through your teeth (making a slight spluttering noise) and the oil enters your palate. Three separate sensations follow in this order. First, there’s the actual taste of the oil which should have a catching bitterness about it. Second, there’s a spicy taste which can even make you cough. If you cough twice then the oil has to be of really good quality! Finally, there’s a seductive sweetness that envelops your taste buds. The quality of this sweetness will finally decide on the excellence of the oil.
We were given five different olive oils to taste in order. The first one didn’t seem that bad to me but when we got to the fifth I realised that the first one I’d tasted was little better than motor oil. The finest had a pungent spiciness and the sweet aftertaste was quite sexy. In fact, we savoured some of Italy’s best olive oil which is found in selected parts of Sicily.
Our professional oil taster stressed to us to the importance of reading the olive oil bottle label very carefully before buying. There are at least three main types of oil: virgin, extra virgin and DOP (i.e. very special). The quality depends on which pressing from the mill the oil is taken from. Obviously ,the extra virgin is the first pressing which oozes the most exquisite oil.
Clearly you get what you pay for. It’s no good going to a supermarket and obtaining the cheapest olive oil and thinking you’ve got a bargain. What does the label say? ‘Product of the European union’. Ugh! Some of the oil might be OK drizzled on pasta but the real test of whether an olive oil can make or break your cuisine is simple: spread some of it on a boiled potato or cannellini beans. Do they really taste better? That is the real test.
Unlike wine, which may improve with age and become a classic vintage, olive oil has a relatively brief period when it is of the highest quality. After about a year it’s only good enough to be used for frying and after a few years more it may help lubricate your bicycle chain at best.
Since the Lucchesia is so famous for its olive oil it’s a pity there aren’t more olive oil tasting sessions. Only then can visitors to the area discern what a really fine olive oil savours like. And if it does cost a little more to buy who will complain when a drop of the precious liquid will not only radically improve the taste of your salad but will also improve your health, especially your skin complexion, and your bone joints? Indeed, a massage with fine olive oil must clearly be one of the most luxuriously sensual experiences one can have on this planet!
Which reminds me: look out for the Festa dell’olio at nearby Valdottavo. It takes place during the first week-end in April. You can read my account of it in 2017 at