Liquid Gold in the Berkshires

This article was written by Evelyn Battaglia and appeared in Edible Berkshires on September 21, 2024.  Photographs by Christina Rahr Lane.  

Bizalion’s Olive Oil

Opened in 2003, Bizalion’s Fine Foods is favored for its French-style soups, sandwiches, and salads, along with a curated selection of epicurean ingredients. Less well known is its name-brand olive oil, which can be purchased in bottles or on tap at the Great Barrington restaurant/ market. “We started Bizalion’s Olive Oil from the get-go—it’s the crown on each of the foods we serve on our Mediterranean-inflected menu,” says Jean- François Bizalion, who owns the café and market with his wife, Helen. “The market is the Bizalion’s olive oil showroom, where we educate our customers on extra-virgin olive oil, explaining the different flavor profiles and offering tastings.” The olive oil enterprise runs deep for Bizalion, who grew up in Arles, Provence. “I spent my youth either climbing on olive trees or riding my scooter in fields of trees. For me, those fields have always been magical— they are my happy place,” he shares. “Olive oil is to the south of France what butter is to the rest of France. So, I had olive oil all my life and harbored plans to carry on that tradition.” 

ROOTED IN TRADITION

When launching the business, Bizalion tapped into his childhood memories to source his first oils, working with three different growers. Next, he sourced olive oil from a family friend in Chianti, Italy. “We grew from there, adding other regions in Italy and venturing into Spain and Portugal,” Bizalion notes. “We’d pack up and bring the kids along during school vacations, traveling from one area to the next over the course of a few years.”

Bizalion has imported olive oil from Provence, France; Andalusia, Catalunya, and Navarra, Spain; Sicily, Tuscany, and Umbria, Italy; and Alentejo, Portugal. Currently, the market carries olive oils from France, Greece, Spain, and Italy, and there’s talk of including a grower in Morocco. All the oils are produced by the grower or at a nearby facility before being exported.

“We are an olive oil merchant, which means we identify a few growers and market their olive oil in the U.S. under our label, which signifies the specificity and quality of the olive oil we import,” Bizalion explains. “The relationship is based on our mutual trust with our growers.”

To that end, Bizalion scrutinizes his sources based on four factors: the oil’s flavor profile; industry accreditation (such as organic, biodynamic, and regional designations); sustainable and environmentally friendly farming practices (avoiding large conglomerates that harvest with machines that kill wildlife or use chemical fertilizers or pesticides); and the ability to communicate year-round. “We make a point to visit every grower and learn about their groves, farming operation, processing mills, and worker conditions,” he emphasizes. “These people have become friends, and we try to do one trip a year.”

METICULOUS SOURCING

First and foremost is the flavor profile, which Bizalion says is influenced by terroir (similar to wine) and the timing of the annual harvest, which takes place between October and January. Oils made from early-harvest olives tend to have a more robust flavor due to the high level of polyphenols. “The Picual varietal, for instance, carries a potent profile, as does the Arbequina to a lesser extent,” he notes, adding that these are from Spain and bring a spiciness (picual) to the oils.

Some growers harvest the olives later when they are very ripe to achieve a milder flavor; this yields what is sometimes referred to as an “old-fashioned” or “chocolate” style.

Other growers choose an assemblage of olives to create a balanced oil, such as an oil from the Baux area of Provence, made from four or five different olives. “It’s similar to wines, where some are made with just one grape—let’s say Pinot Noir to cite one of my favorites—and then others like a Côte du Rhône might blend Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Cinsault,” Bizalion explains.

Like wine, the flavor vocabulary of extra-virgin olive oil is vast, spanning from pungent and astringent to grassy, buttery, and peppery. The taste can be compared to fresh almond, cut hay, artichoke, tomato leaf, or apple or ripe banana (among others).

The best way to sample oils to find your favorite style? Pour a small amount into a cup and give it a sniff. “Our nose (sensory) radar is far better than our mouth (gustative) radar,” Bizalion says. Then, take a little sip. “You try to splash it within all the walls of your mouth to awaken all your taste buds, and ultimately you swallow it,” he notes. Leave bread out of the tasting experience, he cautions. “If you introduce bread, it compromises your ability to taste the olive oil.” You may think you are tasting a tremendous oil, but it could be that you are simply tasting the bread!

COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Being able to taste-test the oil is one of the advantages of buying from Bizalion’s; another is the sustainability. “We were among the first places in the U.S. to offer olive oil on tap and a refill program,” says Bizalion. “A very good friend of mine put me in touch with a guy in Paris who was doing this in his shop, so we bought these large stainless-steel containers from him, which he shipped to us one by one. We encourage customers to bring their own bottles or we give them empty wine bottles that we have run through our dishwasher.” A returned Bizalion bottle earns the customer $1 to $2 off the next purchase.

Then there’s the growing interest in knowing exactly where our food comes from, especially given misleading mass-market labels that say “bottled in Italy” to make it appear as if the olive oil was produced there. Finally, shopping for oils here is akin to going to a boutique clothing store, where the owners can access artisanal products and employ their expertise to curate the offerings.

Bizalion (the person) is a hands-on presence at the café and is happy to provide guidance on choosing and using the oils. For example, because extra-virgin olive oil loses its health benefits (and characteristic flavor) when heated above its smoke point (around 410 degrees Fahrenheit), he recommends reserving it for lower heat methods, including braising, sautéing, and even pan-frying in a “less aggressive way” than when using peanut oil or grapeseed oil. “French fries cooked in olive oil are delicious because the oil imparts a distinct taste. Frying an egg in olive oil is also a delight,” he says.

Other favorite dishes that showcase the oil’s flavor include ratatouille, which he makes by sautéing and simmering vegetables in successive order and assembling them for a finale. “I also love a runny omelet cooked in olive oil with spinach sautéed in olive oil laid in the fold,” he says. “Grilled or broiled salmon tastes great seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, finely chopped scallions, and lemon and lime juice. And, of course, there are oil-centric sauces such as aioli, pesto, and vinaigrettes.”

For Edible Berkshires, however, the French native leans into olive oil’s fruity side with a recipe for his region’s traditional olive oil cake, named for the town and the sweet, fortified wine produced there. It is often made with grapes during the fall harvest, though you can substitute them with dried figs or apricots, or swap in fresh berries for a spring-to-summer variation.