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Region of origin:
APULIA (PUGLIA)
Flavor category:
STRONGLY FRUITY
Smell:
Cut grass and artichoke
Flavor:
Green olive and fresh fruit; well balanced bitter and quite
strong peppery aftertaste
Size: 5 liter (1.3 gal)
Uses:
Excellent for sauces, very good on grilled meat, cooked
vegetables and soups
In the heel of the Italian boot, on the Adriatic Sea west of Greece, is an area crowned with olives like the Corona extra virgin olive oil it produces. Apulia
(Puglia) produces up to half of all the olive oil in Italy; sometimes 15% of worldwide production. Centuries ago, olive oil was processed in a way unique to
Puglia, in underground mills carved out of the limestone landscape.
On one of the highest hills in Puglia, near the octagonal fortress of Castel del Monte, a group of olive growers banded together and created a cooperative
almost fifty years ago. Since then they have been producing full-bodied Corona extra virgin olive oil, obtained by traditional pressing of the Coratina olives
native to Puglia.
The Coratina olives are hand-picked in October, still green. This is what gives Corona its strong fruitiness. Then the olives are transported from the groves to
the mill -- from the oliveti to the frantoio -- as quickly as possible for processing. The olives are always cold pressed on the same day they are harvested and into the night to ensure the freshest olive oil.
This scrupulous handling produces Corona, with a tantalizing fresh cut grass and artichoke aroma. But this oil is no tease. The pay-off is on the palate:
an extra virgin olive oil that strikes the perfect balance among richly fruity, bitter, and peppery. Corona deserves its crown.
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