How to read an extra virgin olive oil label

An olive oil label must show only a few things by law: category, origin, best-before date, batch number. Everything else is the producer's choice, not a legal guarantee. Knowing which lines are regulated and which are not changes how you pick a bottle.

Category: the most important line

Every bottle must state its category: 'extra virgin olive oil', 'virgin olive oil', or just 'olive oil' (a blend of refined and virgin oils). Only 'extra virgin' guarantees acidity below 0.8% and no sensory defects, confirmed by a taste panel. If a label simply says 'olive oil' with nothing else, the product is a lower grade.

Origin: where the olives actually grew

EU law requires the country or countries of origin to appear on the label. Watch out for vague wording such as 'blend of EU olive oils': it means the olives come from several different countries, not necessarily the one printed in large letters on the front.

Our oil is made only from our own olives, grown, picked and milled in Montemurlo, Tuscany, between Prato and Pistoia, about half an hour from Florence. We never buy olives or oil from anyone else, so the label can say this plainly, with no ambiguous wording.

Best-before date and batch number: not just paperwork

The best-before date tells you how recently the oil was bottled, not how long it will last once opened. An oil with a date far in the future was bottled recently; one with a date close to expiry is older, even if still safe to consume.

The batch number allows a producer to trace production if something goes wrong. For a shopper, it is also a clue: different batches can come from different harvests, with different characteristics even under the same label.

What is not required by law

Cultivar, harvest method, milling date, tasting notes: none of these are legally required. When a producer includes them, it is a voluntary step towards transparency, not a legal obligation.

Be cautious of labels using words like 'natural', 'genuine' or 'traditional'. These have no legal definition and guarantee nothing about what is inside the bottle.

Frequently asked questions

what does 100% Italian olive oil mean on a label

It means every olive used was grown in Italy, with no blending with oil from other countries. This is different from 'bottled in Italy', which only indicates where the oil was packaged, not where the olives grew.

how do you know if extra virgin olive oil is good quality from the label

The label alone cannot tell you about flavour, only about category and origin. A recent best-before date, clearly stated origin, and the absence of vague terms like 'blend of EU oils' are useful clues, but final quality can only be confirmed by tasting.

what does cold pressed mean on an olive oil label

It means the oil was extracted at a temperature below 27°C, the legal threshold set by EU regulations. Above this temperature, some aroma and compounds are lost, although the oil remains edible.

why doesn't the label show the harvest date

Because, unlike the best-before date, it is not a legal requirement. Some producers add it voluntarily because it shows more precisely how fresh the oil is than the best-before date alone.

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.