Roi Olive Oil

On the Italian Riviera, delicacy, not strength, brings an oil acclaim and honor.

Roi is one of the best Ligurian extra virgin olive oils I’ve tried. It’s been made in the mountain town of Badalucco, perched on steep slopes between the Mediterranean and the mountains. (If you saw the sweeping vistas of the steeply sloped olive groves featured in the opening of the Fat episode of the Netflix show Salt Fat Acid Heat—those were the Roi groves.) The Boeri family has been making oil here since 1900, exclusively from the thumbnail-sized Taggiasca olive. Taggiascas thrive in the challenging conditions, where there's only a thin layer of soil above the rocky mountainside. The trees do so well, in fact, that the Roi groves include trees that are more than 200 years old. As Franco Boeri puts it, "Taggiasca is only a small part of all Italian olive oil. But since it's very sweet, very delicate, it's somewhat considered like Champagne among wines."

This oil is the favorite of many of our crew. I regularly recommend it to folks who are beginning their olive oil education. At home, I love to pour Roi on freshly baked whole fish (half an hour at 350 degrees for a fish that weighs a pound).

Extra virgin olive oil
Taggiasca olives
Light and delicate flavors
2023 Harvest. This oil smells and tastes sweet and buttery. It has a delicate green olive flavor, with a whisper of mouth-warming pepper in the finish that gently fades.