Professional opinions
Vintage 2019: “I have written various times, that in principle I have nothing against olive oils in the shelves of different discounter – if you want to use it to maintain your wooden furniture. To give to salad, vegetable soup, fish and meat dishes as well as pasta creations the ultimate culinary kick, these neutral tasting industrial products are completely unsuitable. Better no olive oil then. I personally prefer the native Tuscan olive oils, for their intense aromas, the delicate bitter notes, the spicy nuances and the pleasant clean mouth-feel. My favourite is the olio extra vergine di oliva of the family business Il Casone 1729 in the hillside of the Versilia, whose vintage of 2019 comes particularly characterful and whose grassy, vegetal aroma remains in the mouth for a long time. Even if superlative is not my style – this olive oil is the best, that I have tasted in a long time. An oil of such quality is rarely available.”
Jörg Teuscher, food journalist, Berlin
Vintage 2017: “Simply stupendous, your olive oil of this year is just fantastic! This vibrant colour, this smell of freshly cut grass and Goldparmäne (my favourite apple), this tingling and dancing on the tongue! This bitterns! Obviously I had to change the menu of this evening: we will sprinkle the new olive oil over freshly boiled potatoes and eat it together with a tagliata, with the last spinach from the garden.”
Martina Meuth, Journalist and TV presenter, Sulz-Hopfau/Schwarzwald
Vintage 2017: “Like every good olive oil also the extra virgin olive oil of estate Il Casone 1729 is recognized by its aroma. The typical cuvée of the traditional Frantoio olives as well as the old varieties Leccino, Maurino and Quercetano has a very pleasant smell and distinguishes itself because of its fresh aroma of green olives, field herbs and cut grass. In the mouth the green oil with intensive fruity notes, unfolds fine bitter notes, in the throat a peppery spiciness that remains like peperoncino. At the same time the excellent quality product from organic agriculture leaves a clean and nice mouthfeel. The flawless fruits come from the most early possible harvest days of the Versilia and contain a high number of nutritious polyphenols. My conclusion: The olive farmers of Il Casone know what they are doing!”
Jörg Teuscher, food journalist, Berlin
“Green gold - the extra-virgin olive oil of Il Casone which was pressed in front of my own eyes, is the most extraordinary experience in oil production. The oil is incredibly intense, as soft as cashmere, as warm as the heart, an incredibly long persistence on the palate. It has been the most fantastic culinary revelation I have experienced in the last few years and I’m so happy to be able to use this marvellous oil. The colour of gold has changed!”
Michael Hoffmann, chef-owner of the Restaurant Margaux, Berlin
“The colour of the young Il-Casone oil is incredibly green. It rises with a grassy artichoke-like freshness up the nose and smells like summer. Before the eyes a daisy field appears. Then the soft bitterness presents itself in the mouth, that nonetheless appears to be powerful and stimulating and leaves the typical pungency in the throat. The oil is hearty, it has the characteristic strength of Tuscan olive oil but it is also very elegant - so soft, that it dances on the tongue. We love it on meltingly tender white beans, with a blod-red steak or just with boiled potatoes with chives and some crumbs of fleur de sel.”
Martina Meuth, Journalist and TV presenter, Sulz-Hopfau/Schwarzwald
“This oil is really excellent! It has, in my opinion, a lot of personality and is more “Tuscan” than in recent years. But it tastes “green” that gives it freshness. It is truly an exceptional product, as always.”
Andrea Mattei, Chef Ristorante Magnolia, Forte dei Marmi
“So it stands before me, the first oil of this year’s harvest: green-yellow colour, with a nice smell of half ripe olives and fresh grass and almonds and with such a taste, that also reminds of artichoke and coffee, and its peperoncino-like spiciness slowly taking effect to underline its already unique character. It may sound to some pathetic, but this Il-Casone olive oil of the year 2013 is a gustatory work of art and a culinary natural treasure. It is authentic and excellent, it is the result of the ethics of sustainable agriculture, natural management of an ancient olive-grove without the use of any chemical aids, the sincerity of its producers and, last but not least, also the result of the modern technology of a nearby oil mill. In few words: This olive oil is strong, honest, typically Tuscan and something for connoisseurs.”
Jörg Teuscher, food journalist, Berlin
“The perfume”
"With the favourite olive oil of the vegetable whisperer (Michael Hoffman), the extremes come through. It already begins with an unusual full and deep green colour, a sign of intensity for those that prefer impetuous oils. It sets itself together with unripe walnut, smoke and a lasting bitterness. But this trait of the, in the beginning of October harvested oil from Tuscany isn’t unpleasant, how Wissler noted. Wissler rated it as a harmonious, “even if it is strong”. It is like a perfume- only to be utilized in dosed quantities.”
Joachim Wissler, restaurant "Vendôme" in Grandhotel Schloss Bensberg, Bergisch Gladbach 2013