1½ liters top quality olive oil, $50 pesos.
Fate is a funny thing. While researching a trip to the olive growing regions of Argentina, my missus and I decided to walk between la casa de Catamarca and la casa de San Juan.
For some reason, we turned off Córdoba onto Riobamba ...and ran across and olive oil shop at 448.
Well... we HAD to go in.
What a find! Quetec is a Buenos Aires storefront for an olive plantation in Mendoza. The small staff demonstrated the mendocino talent for sales and service and there was virtually nothing in the store that we couldn´t sample or weren´t offered.
But we were already on an olive oil mission ...so bring out the THOSE samples. We settled on a liter of golden oil with a floral and fruity nose that tasted of nuts and butter that was wonderfully viscous in the mouth and disappeared into a tasty bitterness then astringency. Dreams of drizzling green leaves danced in our heads. Easily the best Argentine olive oil I´ve tasted ...so far!
The other bottle we took home was decribed to us as "more intense." It was less complex and less floral but big on the ripe olive flavor and walnuts. Even more viscous, a little less of both the bitter and astrigent. I couldn´t wait to get home and sop it up with some good pan árabe and some of my fresh babaganoush.
Fiddy pesos for the both! Maybe cheaper than anything on the supermarket shelf ...and worlds-away better.
Riobamba 448
info@olivaquetec.com.ar
www.olivaquetec.com.ar
www.olivaquetec.com.ar
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