44 varieties, read on their chemistry

Mild, sweet and fruity, very low bitterness and pungency versus robust cultivars like Picual or Koroneiki. Dual-purpose botanically though grown industrially overwhelmingly for oil. Matures mid-December to mid-January.

Dual-use, oil is principal purpose per one source. Harvested early to reduce fungal disease risk. Intensely aromatic and fruity, low acidity, per producers.

Not a table olive - a leading Turkish oil cultivar. Fresh, green, fruity, flowery aromatic notes; relatively low fruitiness intensity in one comparative sensory panel.

Heritage: A regional folk claim (Edremit Olive Oil GI organization's website) states 'many olive trees in the region are 300, 500, or even 1000 years old' - no scientific dating cited. Daily Sabah (2019) reports ~2 million olive trees protected since 1941 by mounted guards, but verifies no

Oil-only cultivar, not used as table olives. IOC: oil quality 'somewhat lower than the strong Souri oil and other more delicate European olive oils.'

Medium-fruity, light-to-medium bitterness and spiciness, sweet almond, artichoke, tomato, and fresh-cut-grass notes. IOC confirms oil-only - 'not used for table consumption' - self-fertile, commonly used as a pollinator for the self-sterile Nocellara del Belice.

Described (via a lower-tier aggregator source) as a fruity oil with bitter and spicy notes; matures middle-to-late (November-December).

Harvest-dependent: early, yellowing-stage harvest gives a fresh-smelling oil with pleasant, pronounced bitterness and spice; later, dark-stage harvest gives a sweeter, rounder, less distinctive oil. High oxidative stability.

Producer/regional (non-peer-reviewed) sources describe an intense-tasting oil with ripe fruity notes and good bitter/spicy balance. Primarily an oil cultivar. No peer-reviewed sensory-panel study specific to this cultivar was found.

Heritage: Ground-zero for the Xylella fastidiosa 'olive quick decline syndrome' outbreak, first identified near Gallipoli/Nardò in 2013. Coldiretti (2024, 10-year data): ~21 million olive trees dead/dried across Puglia, 8,000+ km2 (40% of the region); in Lecce province, 3 of every 4 olives

Oil cultivar. Good-to-excellent oil quality despite comparatively low yield (~18-22%). Pronounced biennial alternate bearing.

Primarily an oil variety. Early-harvest oil has intense fruity aroma, slightly bitter and spicy taste; lower oleic acid and higher palmitic acid than many Mediterranean cultivars.

Heritage: A 2025 peer-reviewed genetic-diversity study (Horticuturae/MDPI) genotyped 28 ancient olive specimens across 9 Tunisian governorates and found that, among centenarian/monumental specimens, 'Chemlali Sfax' was genetically identical to another local variety, 'Zalmati' - some of Tun

Oil cultivar, not table. Intense fruity aroma of green almond with pronounced bitterness and pungency/spiciness (IOC).

Primarily an oil variety. Robust, structured oil valued for green/herbaceous aroma, clean bitterness and peppery finish, with fresh grass and dried-fruit notes; 'tendentially less bitter' than Verdeal Transmontana.

Intense, pungent, bitter and peppery monovarietal oil; primarily an oil cultivar. Oleic acid ~77% (IOC).

Heritage: Local sources reference a specific ancient specimen 'Il patriarca Coratino,' which 'some sources' date to the era of Charlemagne (8th-9th century) - unnamed scholars, treat as a vague, unverified local claim. No other named monumental Coratina tree was found.

Primarily an oil variety. Dense mouthfeel, medium-to-intense bitterness and pungency (Montes de Toledo PDO description); high oxidative stability and tocopherol content.

Heritage: One producer, 'Raíces de Gratitud' (Polán, Toledo), markets oil from what it calls 'around 500 centenary olive trees, all Cornicabra variety'. This is a single vendor's marketing claim with no independent age verification found - treat as unverified commercial claim. No other anc

Smooth, sweet and aromatic oil, yellow to old-gold, slight almond notes, no bitterness, only slight spiciness (DOP Bajo Aragón regulatory description). Genuinely dual-purpose: table olive and oil.

Medium, well-defined and persistent bitterness with some spiciness/pungency; fruity aroma with notes of fresh herbs, almonds and green walnut. Primarily an oil variety, not a table olive.

Heritage: The named tree 'La Farga de Arion' (of the Farga variety), at the El Arión estate near Ulldecona (Tarragona), is claimed to be Spain's oldest olive tree - planted c. 314 AD, ~1,700-1,710 years old. The claim was produced by Antonio Prieto, a professor of forest mensuration (dasom

Very intense fruitiness settling to medium; green, grassy, artichoke, green almond and green-tomato notes; medium-to-intense bitterness and pungency with a peppery finish. Credited with 'structure and length' in Chianti Classico DOP blends.

Good, complex sensory oil quality per Portuguese agronomic sources; main commercial drawback is irregular ('alternate') and comparatively low yield. Used for oil and for curing as black table olives.

Heritage: No monumental/ancient-tree claim confirmed as the Galega cultivar specifically. Portugal has well-publicized extreme-age claims in Galega's heartland - a tree at Herdade do Peso (Vidigueira, Alentejo) dated to 3,712 years via a perimeter/hollow-trunk method (UTAD), and an earlier

True dual-purpose cultivar: rated highly as table olive and for oil. Medium-fruity oil with fresh-cut-grass, green-almond and artichoke notes, balanced mild bitterness and gentle peppery finish. IOC: oil yield comparatively low but 'highly prized' for quality; oxidative stability only average.

Rich aroma recalling healthy, fresh, optimally ripe olives and freshly cut grass, characteristic bitterness and pungent tactile sensation (IOC); high oxidative stability.

Per the Colline Pontine DOP spec: intense green to yellow with golden reflections; medium-to-intense fruity aroma with an almond note and fragrant-grass/green-tomato character; light-to-medium bitterness and pungency.

PRIMARILY A TABLE OLIVE. IOC notes it is 'grown chiefly for Greek-style black olives'; ~24% of Greece's table-olive acreage. Oil use is secondary; IOC describes it only qualitatively as 'medium yield of excellent-quality oil rich in polyphenols.'

Not a table olive - used for the PGI 'Lesvos'/'Mytilene' extra virgin olive oil, sometimes 100% monovarietal. Deep-rooted, drought-tolerant.

Heritage: The 'individual trees over 1,000 years old' framing does not cleanly attach to Kolovi specifically: per catsacoulis.gr, Kolovi (with Adramytiani) was deliberately introduced/replanted on Lesvos as a cold-hardy replacement AFTER a catastrophic frost destroyed the island's groves i

Not a table olive - oil only. High oil yield; high oleic acid and oxidative stability (IOC). Generally fruity with noticeable bitterness/pungency.

Mild and notably sweet; low-to-medium bitterness and pungency; almond, green-grass/apple and subtle artichoke notes. Found 'the sweetest' with 'significantly the lowest' fruity/bitterness/pungency intensities in comparative sensory literature. Credited with roundness in Chianti Classico blends.

Small fruit (1.2-2.5 g), oil content 18-20%. Not described as a table olive. Aromatic with a slightly peppery character, well suited to Corfu's humid climate.

Heritage: Corfu tourism/producer sources state Venetian rulers (14th-18th century) systematically encouraged olive planting, expanding groves to a claimed 'millions of trees' by the 18th century. One source hedges 'a few [trees] are estimated to be more than five hundred years old' - an es

Mostly framed as primarily an oil variety. Mild, balanced oil without the sharp bitterness typical of southern Greek green olives, fresh fruitiness, delicately spicy finish.

Genuinely dual-purpose - distinct from 'Manzanilla de Sevilla'. Base variety of DOP Gata-Hurdes; oil is yellowish-green, fruity, sweet, high oleic acid (~78-80%); low-yielding. Several commercial sources say table-olive use is economically dominant in practice.

Both oil and table use documented. Balanced fruity/bitter/pungent character with long shelf life (IOC); green/lemon/grass/almond notes, pronounced bitterness when harvested early.

Medium-intensity fruitiness with artichoke and herbaceous notes; balanced but pronounced bitterness and spicy pungency. Credited with bitterness and pepper in Chianti Classico DOP blends.

Heritage: L'Olivo di Sant'Emiliano (Bovara di Trevi, Umbria) is repeatedly claimed as Umbria's oldest olive tree - but both age and cultivar attribution are genuinely disputed. Age: the same research project (Pannelli et al.) reports 1,599±246 years extrapolated vs only 195±30 years from r

Fruity oil with a noticeable spicy point, slight bitterness, and almond/green-apple flavor notes. One commercial source separately describes 'Morrut' fruit as also used as a standalone table olive, weakly sourced relative to DOP literature which treats it purely as a minority oil-blend variety.

Dual-purpose: picked green for table olives (~September) or ripe for oil (~November). Rich and fruity with a peppery finish; oil content ~23%.

Heritage: Associated generally with ancient West Bank terraced olive landscapes (UNESCO World Heritage-listed terraces of Battir, 2014). The 'Al-Badawi' tree in Al-Walaja near Bethlehem is widely claimed as one of the world's oldest olive trees: two independent teams (Italy and Japan) radi

As oil (DOP Valle del Belice, min. 70%): medium-to-intense fruitiness with green tomato, cut grass, artichoke notes. IOC: oleic acid ~73-75%, total phenol content rated 'low.' IMPORTANT: primary fame is as a TABLE olive ('Castelvetrano olives'), oil being secondary - holds two separate DOPs.

Medium oil content of good quality with medium oleic-acid content and stability (IOC); moderately distinct fresh-olive-fruit flavor with moderate pungency and bitterness.

Heritage: Croatia's two best-known ancient-olive claims sit in Oblica territory, but no source confirms either tree's cultivar identity as Oblica. 'Mastrinka,' Kaštel Štafilić: claimed >1,500 years (Monumentaltrees.com models 1,514±50 years); multiple sources note the tree's variety 'can't

Ogliarola Barese: medium-high intensity fruity oil, bitter and spicy, fresh grass/green almond/artichoke notes. Ogliarola Salentina: medium fruitiness, light persistent pepperiness, light bitterness, comparatively low-oleic/high-palmitic with reduced oxidative resistance.

Heritage: No specific named ancient tree was found for 'Ogliarola' as such. Ogliarola Salentina is repeatedly described as one of the two historic cultivars - with Cellina di Nardò - that made up the bulk of Salento's centuries-old olive landscape, sharing directly in the Xylella-driven mo

True dual-purpose cultivar: table use (Spanish-style green, turning, oxidised, black, Greek-style black); oil use yields high-oleic oil (70-80%) prized for freezing resistance (stays fluid to -12°C).

Oil-only cultivar (not a table olive). Robust, high-stability oil, intensely flavored with strong bitterness/pungency, driven by very high oleic-acid content (~75-82%).

Heritage: The 'Olivo de Fuentebuena' (Arroyo del Ojanco, Jaén) is claimed to be 1,000+ years old and Guinness World Records-listed as the world's largest olive tree; declared a 'Monumento Natural de Andalucía'. News sources (Nov. 2025) state it is 'principalmente' Picual. The age is expert

Regional/nursery sources describe a very fruity, sweet oil, slightly bitter and spicy, with green-apple and banana notes. In tension, a peer-reviewed comparison of nine Spanish monovarietal oils (Reboredo-Rodríguez et al., MDPI Agriculture 2021) found the Sevillenca sample tested had the LOWEST fruitiness score of the

n/a as an independently distinct cultivar. Per IOC's combined record, consistent with the Souri profile.

Dual-purpose (oil and table), primarily valued for oil: strong, aromatic, peppery finish. Oil content up to 25% irrigated, 25-30% rain-fed (IOC).

Heritage: Heavily associated with the 'Sisters Olive Trees of Noah' (Bshaale/Bcharre grove of 16 trees, North Lebanon). Local folklore claims ages of 5,000-6,000+ years tied to a Noah's-flood legend. CONTESTED: a 2024 peer-reviewed study (Camarero, Touchan, Valeriano, Bashour & Stephan, De

Distinctively mild: moderately intense fruitiness tending toward sweetness, low bitterness, low pungency - explicitly framed as gentler than typical central/southern Italian cultivars. Pine nut, raw artichoke, violet, dried fig and almond notes, soft/buttery finish.

Primarily a TABLE olive, unusual in kind: Phoma oleae fungus naturally debitters the fruit on the tree, the only Greek olive with this trait. Minor/secondary oil use is documented but no sensory-panel description or phenolic data for the oil itself was found - oil use is clearly secondary and thinly documented.

Verdeal Transmontana: primarily an oil variety, pronounced vegetal/grassy and dried-green-fruit aromas, very marked bitterness and pungency; highest oxidative stability (16.9 h) among regional varieties in one comparative study. Verdeal Alentejana/de Serpa: dual use - oil-blend component and artisanal green table-olive

n/a - no sourced sensory/tasting-panel description specific to wild-oleaster oil as a category was found.

Heritage: Several named ancient individual oleasters are claimed, with wide, largely unverified age ranges. SARDINIA - 'S'Ozzastru' near Luras: official heritage material states unnamed 'experts estimate' 3,000-4,000 years without citing a method; a regional tourism source is more candid,