Their aromas are light: freshly mown hay and green grass, with background notes of citrus and ripe apple. But they also have enough of the olives' essential bitterness to give them character.
They're pungent, as good oils must be, but they don't deliver the peppery finish that some of the robust Tuscan olive oils do.
Because they're more subtle, Provencal-style oils are perfect to drizzle over fresh goat cheese along with honey; to use in vinaigrettes, even for a salad of assertive greens; for searing scallops and sauteing chard; for mixing into mashed potatoes and finishing vegetable soups; for making bouillabaisse; and for drizzling over fish or pizzas just as they emerge from the oven.
In short, they're good for just about everything. But then I admit to being biased.
In Provence, where I have a home and a seasonal cooking school, I buy oil in bulk from the domaines where it is produced, from my neighbors at the open markets and from a very small producer near my house -- if I can get there before she sells out. I cook with it, season with it, drizzle and finish with it. (See accompanying recipes.)
Lure of Provence
Provence makes a minuscule 0.14 percent of the world's olive oil, and a large amount of it is sold to local customers, with only a relatively small amount reaching outside Provence.
Although I keep other styles of olive oil on hand, including some Tuscan types, I find myself turning most often to the Provencal ones, despite the fact that they're harder to find in the United States.
In California, only a few producers make Provencal-style olive oil. Most California oils are either made in the robust Tuscan style using Italian varietals with fruit picked in varying stages of immaturity; or made from varieties like Mission and Manzanillo, long grown in California.
Bringing home a gallon or two of the French-made oil in my carry-on (no longer in the luggage after a broken bottle ruined shoes and clothes), has proved unwieldy. The most I can manage, along with a laptop, books and various other foods, is a half-liter bottle, a little more than a pint, which lasts about a month.
Local suppliers
Sometimes importers, such as Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in Berkeley, carry Provencal olive oils and I buy them there, but the supply can be irregular. Some oils can be purchased by mail order as well, but often favorites are sold out or not available.
My husband decided that the way to secure a steady supply was to grow his own trees. We now have a greenhouse with 600 rooted cuttings of Bouteillan, Aglandau, Cayette Roux, Grossane and Cailletier that we brought home with us from Provence last winter. Still, producing our own oil is a few years away at best.
In the meantime, we've discovered a few California producers making some very good Provencal-style oils, at the same time some traditional blends of Provencal oils that we like so much may be replaced by oils with the big, robust flavors favored in the international competitions.
Quality factors
According to Paul Vossen, oleoculture expert and the UC Extension agent for Sonoma County, the quality of olive oil is essentially determined by the olive variety and time of harvest.
All olive varieties, and there are more than 2,000 worldwide, have their own varietal characteristics, just like apples or tomatoes. The main Provencal varieties are typically classified as highly or very fruity, with medium bitterness and pungency.
Traditionally, these are harvested when ripe and tend to produce milder, more buttery oil than olives harvested green. The less ripe the fruit, the more bitter and pungent the oil.
I like to compare this to the difference between a fully mature red bell pepper and an immature green one. Both are good, but have distinctly different tastes and uses in the kitchen.
Picking the fruit when immature or partially immature produces a very different oil than the traditional Provencal oils made by producers such as Chateau Virant of Aix-en-Provence, Moulin Jean-Corneille and other mills of the Les Baux, or by Alize of Nice.
Steven Dambeck of Apollo Olive Oil, located in the Yuba County town of Oregon House in the Sierra foothills, has an affection for the Provencal traditions. He's producing Mistral, a blend of Provencal varietals using Aglandau, Picholine, Bouteillan, Salonenque and some as-yet-unidentified French olives grown on a ranch Dambeck is leasing just outside Marysville.
Provencal-style oils are also being produced by Phil Woodward of Woodward Olive Oil, from a blend of olives grown on the Chalone Bench in Monterey County.
Lila Jaeger's Olive Oil, from olives grown in the Napa Valley by Kris Jaeger, daughter-in-law of the California olive oil pioneer, offers a distinctive blend of French varieties Aglandau, Bouteillan and Cayon, plus Italian Leccino and Spanish Farga.
So, until our trees are planted, mature and producing fruit, at least I know there are some California options as well as a few imports.
I may finally be able to give up the risk of an oily carry-on.
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