How Olio Piro is Raising the Bar | The Olive Oil Professor

Romain and Marie_Charlotte Piro photo credit Vikky Colvin

Marie-Charlotte Piro knew her brother Romain’s artisan olive oil, Olio Piro, would do well at an international olive oil competition in 2018. After more than a decade in the industry, he’d developed a method that combined ancestral techniques of pruning, grassing and handling olives with advanced milling technology to produce a beautifully balanced and aromatic oil.

But neither sibling was prepared for the judges’ response.

“They said we have good news and bad news. The bad news is we will not be able to give Olio Piro the gold medal,” recalls Marie-Charlotte. “You raised the bar so high, your oil is in a new category. We cannot give you the gold medal, we had to create the platinum award for you.”

The competition put Olio Piro on the map, but not just for its flavor. Olio Piro has a combination of characteristics virtually no other olive oil does.

Olio Piro at the table photo credit Vikky Colvin

What Makes Olio Piro Different

Along with a beautiful balance of bitterness, fruitiness, and pungency—the three tastes required for a high-quality olive oil—Olio Piro is extremely high in antioxidants, the molecules that neutralize harmful free radicals in the body. The two qualities are rarely found in the same bottle, says Marie-Charlotte.

“On the market right now, you either find very high antioxidant olive oils which are very very good for you but don’t taste very good or you find very delicious olive oils which are high quality but don’t have the high-antioxidants. We happen to have both,” she says. “At this point, I don’t know of another gourmet olive oil that has the same antioxidant level.”

There isn’t any voodoo magic behind Olio Piro. What Romain does, almost any olive oil producer could do, they just choose not to. The oil is made using only the absolute best techniques at every step of the process, from growing to harvest to milling, no matter how time-consuming or expensive. “When you add them all up, you get Piro, which is virtually a perfect olive oil,” says Marie-Charlotte.

The Old Ways

Olive groves in Tuscany photo credit Vikky Colvin

When Romain first moved to Italy 20 years ago, he set out to learn the craft of olive oil from those who’d spent their lives producing it, hanging out in the village piazza playing cards and drinking espresso during the harvest season to absorb their knowledge. With children and grandchildren who’d abandoned family olive oil-making traditions for the city, they were only too happy to oblige.

Hand harvesting olives photo credit Vikky Colvin

From the region’s elders, Romain learned when to prune, when to harvest and how to maintain the ecosystem to keep 300 to 500 year old olive trees healthy in Tuscany’s nutrient-rich volcanic soil. He learned that encouraging biodiversity makes the polyphenols that carry both antioxidants and flavor more abundant. He learned that olives are not grown in a vacuum, they are part of an entire ecosystem.

There were other lessons, too: How to carefully harvest the fruit to prevent bruising; when to process the olives (within six to ten hours of collection); and at what temperature its polyphenols are best preserved (a max of around 72 degrees).

The New Technology

Just filtered fresh extra virgin Olio Piro olive oil photo credit Vikky Colvin

Romain also discovered that the mill used to process the fruit had a major influence on the oil’s flavor. He’d already been working with a mill versed in the latest technology when the Center of National Research in Italy, an organization Marie-Charlotte describes as the NASA of wine and oil, allowed him to test a prototype triple filter that used extra thin, non-reactive mesh and pressure, not gravity, to press the oil.

The result was an oil so pure, it had never before been attained. Compared to regular olive oil, its clean, elegant flavor is like the sound of live music compared to a recording. Romain and his milling partner were so pleased with the filter’s results that they bought the prototype for themselves.

The Purest Oil

The oil’s extreme purity also means that there is virtually no organic residue left over to oxidize over time. Whereas most olive oils lose flavor the longer they are on the shelf, “if you open a bottle of Piro even a year later, it will taste exactly as it was when we bottled it in Tuscany,” says Marie-Charlotte, fresh and aromatic with notes of fresh green grass, artichoke, almond, and tomato leaf.

Unlike other high-antioxidant oils that lose potency over time, the polyphenols in Piro also remain essentially unchanged on the shelf. Its vitamin E content, alone—an antioxidant that has benefits for the heart and brain, and fights inflammation—provides more than 25% of the daily recommended value.

Since entering the U.S. market in 2020, Olio Piro is now sold in around 200 retailers and direct-to-consumers online—with more retail locations on the way this year. Last year, especially, was a breakout one for the brand. Olio Piro generated so much buzz that they sold out of bottles weeks before the 2023 harvest was ready.

“Some olive oils can be too fruity and don’t really have a kick, some can have too much bitterness and they're not exciting,” says Marie-Charlotte. “What makes Olio Piro very special is its purity, health benefits and the fact that it’s still very delicious.”

Learn more about Olio Piro at https://olio-piro.com