Villa Magra Grand Cru olive oil

Long before Villa Magra Grand Cru became one of the flagship oils in our collection, I tasted it at a time when De Olijfolie Shop was still young and the range was many times smaller than it is today.

At a special art lunch hosted by artist Michel Poort, the oil was served and incorporated into the menu. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf wrote about it in an article titled “Kunstlunch met olijfolie”.

In that article, I simply called Villa Magra Grand Cru what I believed it to be at that moment: the best olive oil in the world.

Only after that article appeared was I given permission to import Villa Magra Grand Cru. Since then, this bottle has meant far more to us than flavour or awards alone. It is part of the history of De Olijfolie Shop.

We mainly know Grand Cru from the world of wine: a reference to an exceptional site, selection and level of quality. Franci uses the term here for its most exclusive selection from the Villa Magra olive grove.

Only the finest Frantoio olives are selected. The aim is not maximum production, but maximum expression of one cultivar and one exceptional olive grove.

That places Villa Magra Grand Cru in a category of its own within the Franci range. Not an everyday oil, but an oil designed to show what the producer can achieve technically and sensorially.

Villa Magra Grand Cru is produced in limited quantities. Its exclusivity is not merely part of the story – you can literally see it on the bottle.

Every bottle carries its own individual number. This is not anonymous mass production, but a limited bottling that makes clear only a restricted quantity is available.

That also makes it a remarkable gastronomic gift: not because there is a large ribbon around it, but because the contents themselves are rare and individually numbered.

Where Franci's Frantoio DOP is a blend, Villa Magra Grand Cru is entirely about one cultivar: Frantoio.

Frantoio is known for its aromatic green character, freshness, elegance and refined yet distinct pepperiness. With an early harvest and strict selection, however, the cultivar can become far more powerful and complex than the word 'elegant' might suggest.

Villa Magra Grand Cru shows exactly that extreme side: intensely aromatic, firmly bitter, distinctly peppery and yet exceptionally precise in its balance.

One of the most famous stories surrounding Villa Magra Grand Cru dates back to 2003. The oil won an international tasting organised by the Grand Jury Européen for great extra virgin olive oils.

François Mauss, founder of the Grand Jury Européen, was so impressed that a remarkable exchange was arranged: 100 bottles of Villa Magra Grand Cru for 100 bottles of great Bordeaux wine.

Names were mentioned that normally belong to a completely different world: Latour, Lafite, Petrus and Cheval Blanc. There can hardly be a better illustration of how seriously exceptional olive oil can be taken in gastronomy.

Villa Magra Grand Cru is not designed to taste as accessible as possible. Its bitterness and pepperiness are not toned down simply to please a wider audience.

It is precisely this outspoken style, combined with exceptional aromatic complexity and balance, that has brought the oil so much international recognition over the years.

That also makes it fascinating to taste alongside other great olive oils. Not to decide which oil is 'the winner', but to experience just how far flavour and complexity can go in extra virgin olive oil.

Frantoio Franci is based in Montenero d'Orcia, at the foot of Monte Amiata in southern Tuscany. The historic Villa Magra olive grove has played a central role since the early days of the family business.

For the Grand Cru, a particularly strict selection is made from early-harvested Frantoio olives from this area. The olives are processed quickly to preserve their green aromas, freshness and structure as effectively as possible.

This is where the idea of terroir in olive oil becomes very tangible: one producer, one cultivar, one specific olive grove and a selection intended to capture that particular character as fully as possible in the bottle.

Frantoio Franci was founded in 1958 in Montenero d'Orcia. Under Giorgio Franci, the family business developed into one of the best-known names in premium Italian olive oil.

What is impressive is not one extraordinary result, but the continuity. The estate has appeared in major international guides and competitions for many years and belongs to the group of producers that helped demonstrate just how seriously extra virgin olive oil can be taken in gastronomy.

Within that story, Villa Magra Grand Cru is not simply another Franci olive oil. It is the bottle in which Franci tries to show what is ultimately possible.

Villa Magra Grand Cru is expressive and precious enough not to need to please everyone. This is an olive oil for enthusiasts who actively seek intensity, bitterness, pepperiness and complexity – or as a remarkable gift for someone who takes gastronomy seriously.

There are products you buy because they fit well into an assortment. And there are products where, twenty years later, you can still remember exactly how they entered the collection.

Villa Magra Grand Cru unquestionably belongs to that second category for us. The old newspaper clipping, the first tastings and the permission eventually to import it make this bottle personal to us. And fortunately, the olive oil has remained every bit as special as the story surrounding it.

Frantoio is one of Tuscany's great classic olive cultivars. It can produce elegant, aromatic olive oil, but in the hands of a producer such as Franci and with a very early, strict selection, a much more intense expression can emerge.

Once you understand what Frantoio normally brings, it becomes even clearer why Villa Magra Grand Cru tastes so extraordinary.