| Producer | Frantoio Romano |
| Crop Year | 2019/2020 |
| Cultivar | Ortice 100% |
| Region | Campania |
| Harvesting Method | Hand-picking and mechanical |
| Extraction Method | Continuous – Cold extraction |
| Tasted on | June 2020 |
Ortice Riserva EVOO – Food pairing advice
Vegetables Cheeses Soup Pizza Fish
The Benevento area is one which for years now has resulted to be very suitable for high quality production in various agri-food areas, including those of wine and olive oil. Frantoio Romano is one of the manufacturers benefitting the most from the strategic importance of the area, and Ortice Riserva is an intense EVOO characterized by a clear presence of green vegetable notes of flavour perceptible in both the olfactory and tasting organoleptic analysis; also, its bitterness and pungency are well balanced and of medium intensity. Ortice Riserva EVO oil is perfect to be paired to vegetable dishes, a combination in which it finely manages to enhance and enrich the taste of the food.
Appearance & Visual Analysis
EVOO Ortice Riserva is of a bright lemon yellow colour.
Scents & Olfactory analysis
Green Tomato Tomato leaf Thistle Artichoke Green Almond Grass Green Olive Black Pepper Fennel 
Thyme Mint Yellow Apple
Ortice Riserva EVOO has a green vegetable imprint which starts with notes of green tomato, shortly followed by a light tomato leaf aroma; it also expresses flavour notes of thistle, artichoke, green almond, grass and green olives. All these vegetable tones are then enriched by black pepper spiciness, notes of Mediterranean aromatic herbs such as fennel, thyme and sweet light mint, and a delicate scent of yellow apple to complete the picture.
Tasting: Aromas & Flavours
Pungency
Bitterness
Chicory Lettuce Green Olive Green Almond Artichoke Walnut Husk Black Pepper Basil
At the tasting, Ortice Riserva EVOO fills up the palate with its vegetable notes, with a prevalence of chicory, lettuce, green olive, green almond, artichoke and fresh walnut among all; then follow spicy tones of black pepper, and an aromatic aroma of basil. All these flavours create a background to the bitterness of this EVOO, a feeling well interconnected and matched by that of pungency.
We love it with…
Learn how to pair EVOO and food on our easy guide: Olive Oil Pairings.
Ortice Riserva EVOO tasty soul makes it excellent in combination with first courses, tasty fish-based preparations, and baked vegetables, seasoned with spices or filled with cheese or meat – in all these dishes, Ortice Riserva manages to connect the flavors of each of the ingredients together, enriching them with its notes of green tomato and boosting the overall flavour of the dish thanks to its bitterness and pungency.
We find it excellent when paired to appetizers such as zucchini or spinach and ricotta meatballs, potato pie (read also our recipe of Savory pie crust with EVOO), semi-hard and hard cheeses (e.g. Pecorino) and stewed cod salad.
Ortice Riserva well combines also with soup and pasta with cheese, cold cuts like pancetta or prosciutto cotto, and vegetables, mainly thanks to its intrinsic well-rounded flavour and rich organoleptic soul; try it on ziti with ragù alla genovese, barley with pumpkin and bacon, or Puttanesca-style pasta.
As for main courses, Ortice Riserva is great when added a crudo on parmigiana aubergines, vegetables au-gratin, grilled fish, and why not, on marinara pizza (read our Pizza dough recipe) with anchovies, too!
We paired Ortice Riserva EVOO to bronze-drawn spaghetti with green pepper cream sauce and Vesuvius tomatoes, enriched by croutons made of Saragolla bread from Benevento. The boost of green tomato flavour and natural pungency given by Ortice Riserva to the dish was just excellent! A tip: toast the croutons without adding any oil for the cooking, but simply season them with EVO oil a crudo, to retain its original flavour at each bite!
Frantoio Romano
Tradition, territory, flavors and fragrances, all mixed up with quality and passion: this is Antico Frantoio Romano. The company was founded in 1840 in Benevento. The experience and expertise gained by Alberto Romano, who dedicates himself to the cultivation of olives and the production of oil, as did his grandfather and his father before him, allows the company to achieve high product quality. The pride of the Frantoio Romano is the Ortice cultivar. All oils are characterized by their traceability, but above they all have the “High Quality “I.O.O.% label, which ensures the high quality and integrity of the product.
Frantoio Romano
Ponte – Benevento
Campania – Italy
ph. +39 0824 874332
Fr. Romano website
Terroir & Region
Campania
Campania is one of the southern regions of Italy with the oldest agricultural history and long enogastronomic tradition. Thanks to the heterogeneity of its soil (most of it of volcanic composition) and its climate, each area of Campania has developed a deep connection to olive groves and its cultivars, so much so that we can find hints to those even in the name of some municipalities.
Read more on regions.
Cultivar / Olive variety
Ortice
Ortice is an olive cultivar particularly widespread in the Benevento area. Its olives can also be consumed as table olives, but today they are mainly used for the production of EVO oils which characteristically have distinctive vegetable flavours of grass, almond, tomato leaf and olive.
Read more about cultivars.