Olive oil in Montreal?

[jfl91]

I am freaking out that it's almost impossible to find some well renowed olive oils in Montreal (I mean the brand I want to find).

Armando Manni, Grace Family Vineyards, Araujo Estate, Prunatelli just for exemple are impossible to find here.

I order by internet Armando Manni oils since 3 years already but this is really boring since you have to buy a minimum of 10 bottles per order.

Some other oils are just to difficult to order by internet.

Do you know some private importers?

[Apicio]

Try locating a Spanish or South American store and chances are they’ll carry Spanish olive oil. The Loblaw’s chain here carried them ten years ago under the Dave Nichol’s President Choice label but stopped when their stock sold out so I started checking out the local latin stores. And I found even better ones such as the Blanqueta Extra Virgin that’s excellent for drizzling and inexpensive too.

[wattacetti]

Olive & Olives on Laurier (east) also carries a variety of Spanish oils.

[Lesley C]

You know, there's a ton of great olive oil in the city. But if your heart is set on it, why not ask someone like Rene at Les Douceurs du Marche to special order it for you.

[gruyere]

I would second Les Douceurs du Marche in Atwater Market, 1st floor, North end. They are knowledgeable, very accomodating and have a good selection, although I don't know if they have those on your list. If there are great oils that are not available in the city, the guys at LDduM would likely appreciate knowing this and would probably be inclined to put some on their shelves.

[jfl91]

Thank you for the answers!

Araujo and Grace are vineyards that are producing really good Napa wine and they have a little production of extremely flavorfull olive oil.

Armando Manni oils are considered to be the best olive oil in the world and many of the best restaurants use it such:

Charlie Trotter, The Fat Duck, Per Se, The French Laundry, Jean-Georges, Trois Gros, La Pergola and way more.

So I am really suprise to see that every places I went in Montreal (including LDduM, Olive & Olives) even don't know about this oil.

Prunatelli is just a other really well reputated olive oil from Italy.

[gus_tatory]

Just to add to the list of places you can try:

--there's a shop in the Jean Talon market that's 1/2 Philippe de Vienne spices, and half imported olive oils. they have tastings. it's great.

--Le Petit Milos on Parc and St-Viateur has a wide olive oil selection, although i hear they may be closing<?>.

hope this helps,

gus...

[ItalianFoodJunkie]

beniamino and co. on Mcgill and De la communne, has a nice selection of olive oil from italy, greece and california

[Vinfidel]

Armando Manni is excellent but too expensive for mtl budgets and retailers will lose money beecause nodoboy will buy it. something like 400 euros per liter this is more than petrus!

i also like the american olive oil from napa when it comes from a vineyard... so fruity and intense with the burning aftertaste. also i find that we dont get vineyard balsamico from napa.sonoma probaly another conspirarcy by the saq

[jfl91]

I actually pay 250 euros per litter (10 100ml bottles) for Manni oil. That's what I use since 2-3 years already. I know that nobody import it from mtl because Armando told me. But maybe some mtl shops are just bying it from usa?

[Vinfidel]

i do not know but i doubt it. i have a worker who spends serious money on food/wine and he laugh when i asked him.

250 euros for oilve oil = 375 loonies. i dont even think anyone can afford that in the restaurant biz here, forget about local peoples. if it is good enough for thomas keller it means that it is too expensive for here

[Lesley C]

$375/L of olive oil? What a joke. What are the olives gathered by Brad Pitt, the oil made by Elle McPherson and bottled by the Queen? Even if I had the money -- which I don't -- I would never drop that much on olive oil. Jesus.

Montrealers aren't too poor to buy this oil. They're too smart.

[Vinfidel]

$375/L of olive oil? What a joke. What are the olives gathered by Brad Pitt, the oil made by Elle McPherson and bottled by the Queen? Even if I had the money -- which I don't -- I would never drop that much on olive oil. Jesus.

Montrealers aren't too poor to buy this oil. They're too smart.

←

armando is the queen of olive oil so you are in part correct.

this is a finishing oil or used as a garnish or a dip, you do not use it for patates frites to make poutine.

for those that can afford it, it is a necessity since there is ne plus ultra.

also keep in mind jfl has a special price i think from Armando. I have seen it for sale for 400 euros for the litre, 40 euros for 50ml a bottle thin like a pencil.

that is why i said that there is no market for an importer here in montreal; there are not enough people who will pay that price if they are too poor or to smart it is not germane. maybe montrealers are also too smart to drink petrus that is why they love borsao

[jfl91]

Lesley, this oil is something special. This is not the Planeta olive oil that every people consume here in Montréal. I gave a bottle to Hubert from CC&P recently and he was just freaking out. Also, this oil is so powerfull that you don't have to put the same quantity as normal good oil.

[Vinfidel]

for the record the oil is too expensive for torontonians as well since it is not sold there. we should not feel too bad.

[Apicio]

Relax Lesley C, some of us need better olive oil than others.

[Lesley C]

The best oil I have is from the rare wine company (www.rarewineco.com). If it's good enough for Ducasse, Ed Behr and Steven Shaw, it's good enough for me.

New oil coming soon in December. Excellent oils for $20/500 ml.

[jfl91]

Lesley, www.rarewineco.com is actually importing Prunatelli wich is 1 olive oil I was talking about. Do you know where to find Prunatelli in Montreal or we always need to order from www.rarewineco.com or from Italy?

Prunatelli is a good oil but Manni is just more sofisticated. 100ml bottle is nothing to compare with a 500ml bottle wich is way too big. If you are in a restaurant and you know you will use the bottle in less than a week fine but for personnal use, this is really bad. A open bottle of olive oil will be oxydated really fast, not as fast as wine but still really fast. That's why in small bottles there is less oxygen in contact with oil and you finish it 5 times more quickly. There is also a good synthetic cork on Manni bottles wich is not affecting the oil. I just don't like bottles with real cork (it give sometimes a bad taste to the oil).

Prunatelli is good but this is not Manni, far to be. I tasted both blind and Manni oils kick way more and the retro is so flavorfull, it's just the best.

Ducasse is maybe not willing to spend that much money for olive oil because he use it at large but for personnal use, Manni is just perfect for me. His 2004 oils (Per Me and Per me Figlio) are even better than the 2003.

[Vinfidel]

is this a joking time? stephen shaw? i would not put him in any sentence with ducasse unless it is a juxtaposition. his favorite olive oil i think is canola or maybe bertoli en vrac

this is truly a great year for tuscan oliveoil releases so i think you are right that rarewine will have some nice ones, they are very quality conscious. will they ship to montreal?

but the comparison is very different in terms of quality. i was not kiding when i say that armando manni is petrus or more accurate sassicaia or gaja or ornellaia of wines

it would be nice if i could affford it but this is not the case. it would be nice to organize a party offline with some nice wines and if we share the costs i will bring the manni from one of my visits to the us or europe

what do you say lesley and jf91

will be interesting for those to taste such a jewel

[jfl91]

I have always a box at home of Manni Oils so if you want to get only one 100ml bottle, let me know.

Armando is a really nice guy, already been here during the film festival 3-4 years ago.

www.rarewineco.com ship to Canada.

www.rarewineco.com is the only US importer of Prunatelli, but you can order it from Italy also.

Edited September 17, 2005 by jfl91 (log)

[gus_tatory]

$375/L of olive oil? What a joke...

Montrealers aren't too poor to buy this oil. They're too smart.

←

Lesley C has it right. 375$ for a 1l bottle of olive oil?

even if it *is* the best in the world, i'm sorry, but your priorities in life are really messed up if you spend 375$ for a litre of olive oil.

how much do you give to Amnesty International, the SPCA, and/or Habitat for Humanity yearly, for example, just for starters?

there's wonderful indulgence and enjoying the best of the best, and then on the other hand, there's just show-offy, snobby one-upmanship. i'm afraid i think this oil at this price falls into the latter category.

[Vinfidel]

gus you have a bad attitude

why spend any money on good food and why not give all of your income to the poor and live in a box

people spend $3000+ on a bottle of wine so why not olive oil

if you have it you can spend it why criticize it

[jfl91]

First, it's not 1 bottle but 10 bottles of 100ml for 250 Euro's.

Then Jean Georges and Thomas Keller must be not really smart to use this oil? So at the end, everything really expensive is not appropriate?

Drinking a Romanée-Conti at $4K or a Clos de la Roche ''Leroy'' 10 more expensive than any other Clos de la Roche must be completely stupid?

I don't get it, why we need to talk about money here (this point is not interesting at all and always involves the bad side of the good things)!

[carswell]

For some reason, this and the wine bar thread remind me of a t-shirt I saw the other day. The message on it read

My tastes are simple:

Only the best

Edited September 20, 2005 by carswell (log)

[jfl91]

ahahah

Hey, Prunatelli is not expensive but not available in Montreal.

I was just asking if there is special shops I don't know that keep some of the best olive oils.