Our Oils

The Mission and Manzanillo varieties of olives planted by the early Spanish settlers of California and the Ojai valley remain the most common olive varieties used to make extra-virgin olive oil in California to this day. However, they are generally considered to not make the best oil.

At Regalo we produce two exemplary extra virgin olive oils: Amelia and Caterina. All Regalo extra virgin olive oils are estate grown, hand harvested, cold-pressed, unfiltered and pesticide free.

According to old world tradition, our characteristic Italian extra virgin olive oil, “Amelia” (for our daughter Emily), is produced from a unique blend of Coratina, Frantoio, Leccino and Maurino olives. Regalo “Amelia” is a classic Tuscan blend sure to have delighted the discriminating palates of Caesar, Michelangelo and Dante. Et tu?

In Spain, the finest olive oils are pure varietals. Thus our classic Spanish extra virgin olive oil “Caterina” (for our daughter Catherine) is produced from 100% Arbequina olives, the finest Spanish variety for oil making. What could possibly have united Picasso and Generalissimo Franco? Love for great olive oil, like Regalo “Caterina”, of course!

Our 2010 Regalo Tasting
No two pressings of Regalo Extra Virgin Olive Oils are alike. Each year our oils reflect the unique influences of that year's sun and rain, time of harvest, whether Mama Lutrelli is pleased or not pleased with The Don, and other variables both celestial and vulgar too numerous and obscure for mortal man to comprehend. Thus our 2008 pressing of Regalo Extra Virgin Olive Oils is like no other: for Caterina a variation on last year's theme; for Amelia and entirely new melody. The following constitutes The Don's recent ruminations on the matter:

Amelia: As as blend, our unique Tuscan mix of Frantoio, Coratina, Leccino and Maurino olive oils changes year to year, as one variety tends to ripen before another in unpredicatable but delicious ways. This year we harvested a bit later, and with a very small harvest at that. (This year in California many growers of Italian olive varieties produced no olives at all!)  Although small, this year's Amelia is especially good; clean, grassy, with a classic Italian bitter edge and nice peppery finish.

Caterina: Regalo Caterina is famously smooth with a clear note of olive, and remarkably consistent year to year. This year is no exception, but with an especially bountiful harvest!  Once again Caterina is fruity, smooth and buttery, with a definite olive note and peppery finish. Salud!

At Regalo, we believe making great extra virgin olive oil is a passion and an art, not a contest.  Taste is, by it's nature subjective. For instance, there are those who actually love and admire The Don (a perusal of our Regalo "Cuisine" page should clarify). At Regalo, we do everything humanly possible to make the freshest, highest quality extra virgin olive oil possible so that the inevitable seasonal variations, captured in our estate-grown olives, will shine through to your palate. Hand-picking at what we think is just the right moment. Prompt, cold pressing, no filtering and cool storage in stainless steel under nitrogen preserve freshness. Since 2007, organic farming and production. (See our "Quality" page for current testing results which far exceed international standards for extra virgin olive oil). We don't flavor or otherwise adulterate our oils in any way. It is all and everything we can do to present to you what nature has created. Thus, like  each passing year, no two pressings of Regalo Extra Virgin Olive Oils are alike. We think that's beautiful.

Important Olive Oil Health News: In the May 2009 edition of the Archives of Ophthalmology (a journal of the American Medical Association), Chong and associates report that patients studied who were between the ages of 58 and 65 who used 7 or more tablespoons of olive oil weekly reduced their risk of visual loss due to advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration by 50% compared to study subjects who used less than one tablespoon of olive oil weekly. Advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of visual loss and legal blindness in older persons in the U.S. and throughout the developed world.