[celebdor]

There are many kinds of olive varieties, some of them growing in the span of one or two towns. Saying it is supposed to taste like this or like that without saying from which kind of olives it was made sounds kind of nonsensical.

Another matter is that of honesty. Italy is known to export more olive oil than it produces and it is buying production from quite a lot of towns in my country and then mixing it and packaging it with oils from other places.

If you want good olive oil, try to find small productions, ensure that it was stored in the dark if possible and taste it first (dipping bread on the oil not just sprinkling, it should be quite soaked). Supermarket olive oil of any price is only suitable for frying, that much is known.

[celebdor]

Here in the link you can see for each label of origin they list which varities of olives are more common:

http://www.worldsofflavorspain.com/node/385

(arbequina is a most common variety and more spicy in the aftertaste, but as you can see, like with wine, different varieties produce so different results that talking in generics is rather uneducated).

[mynameishere]

Supermarket olive oil of any price is only suitable for frying

Yeah, yeah.

and both the [eminent] foodies gave a thumbs-up to Unilever's much-derided Bertolli brand.

Same as with wine. It's just a fruit and the variations from its production simply aren't as great as people like to think. Anyway, the best fat comes from bacon.

[celebdor]

I'm just saying how we do it in my oil producing town. The oil you get from your production or from a town producer in the local mill is for salads, toasts, etc. Oil bought in packs of 3-5l in the supermarket (extra-virgin brands) is what we use for frying.

It is so much like that, that now that I live abroad I'm flying with 8l packs of my town's oil at least twice a year.