Tenuta del Barone di Montemurlo — Toscano PGI extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany
Blended or single cultivar olive oil: which one to choose
A single cultivar oil comes from one olive variety only. A blended oil, often called a multi-varietal oil, comes from several varieties picked and milled together. Neither is automatically better: they give different character, and the right choice depends on what you want from the oil.
What single cultivar means
A single cultivar oil is made from one olive variety only, picked and milled separately from any other. The label names that variety directly: Frantoio, Moraiolo, Leccino, and so on.
The advantage is clarity: you taste the character of that one variety, with nothing else softening or rounding it out. The limit is that the oil's balance depends entirely on how that variety performed in that particular season.
What blended means
A blended oil combines several olive varieties. This can happen in two different ways: by milling single-variety oils separately and mixing them afterwards, or by picking several varieties together, at the same time, and milling them in one batch. The result is not the same.
In the first case, the producer decides the proportions later, by tasting. In the second, known as a field blend, the proportions are whatever the grove naturally contains, because that is how the trees were planted, not a recipe written on a table.
Why producers choose a blend
Olive varieties ripen at different speeds and respond differently to each year's weather. A blend of several cultivars tends to be more consistent from one harvest to the next, because what one variety lacks in a difficult season, another can make up for.
In many Tuscan groves this is also simply how the land has always been planted, with Frantoio, Moraiolo and Leccino growing side by side. There, a field blend is not an afterthought assembled in a lab, but the way the grove has worked for generations.
Which to choose, in practice
A single cultivar oil suits someone who wants to study the precise character of one variety, for comparison or for a focused tasting. A well-made blend suits everyday use, because it tends to give a more balanced flavour and is less exposed to the swings of a single variety's season.
This is not a matter of one being superior to the other. Quality depends on how and when the olives were picked and milled, not on how many varieties went into the oil.
Our oil is a field blend
In our grove at Montemurlo, between Florence, Prato and Pistoia, in Tuscany, we grow Frantoio, Moraiolo and Leccino together, including trees of the local variety known as Frantoiano di Montemurlo. We pick them by hand in the same window and mill them together, on the same day, at a mill 870 metres from the grove.
We never separate the varieties before milling: what we get is a genuine field blend, not something assembled afterwards. From this harvest come our two oils, Luce and Raccolto, which differ by picking time, not by variety. They are sold directly through our website, with shipping across Italy, the European Union and the rest of the world, delivered to your door wherever you are.
Frequently asked questions
Is single cultivar olive oil better than a blend?
No, there is no quality hierarchy between the two. A single cultivar oil tells the story of one variety, while a blend balances several varieties against each other. Final quality depends on picking and milling, not on the number of cultivars used.
What is a field blend olive oil?
It is a blend made by picking and milling several olive varieties together, exactly as they grow in the same grove, without separating them beforehand. The proportions reflect how the varieties were planted, not a recipe decided after tasting.
Is blended olive oil lower quality than single cultivar?
No. Many field blends, especially in Tuscany, come from historic groves where several varieties have grown side by side for generations. Quality depends on how the olives are grown and processed, not on whether the oil comes from one variety or several.
How can I tell if an olive oil is blended or single cultivar?
Check the label. A single cultivar oil names the variety directly, such as Frantoio or Moraiolo. If no variety is named, or the label says mixed cultivars, it is a blend.
Our oil, from tree to bottle
Two 100% Italian extra virgin olive oils from Tuscany, from a single hand-picked harvest, milled the same day three minutes from the grove. Luce is green, bitter and peppery; Raccolto is round, for every day. We ship across Italy, Europe and worldwide.
Luce — Toscano PGI extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany