Australians love a good olive oil – it’s a common addition to our shopping baskets, with extra virgin in particular being widely recognised as the best for quality, flavour and health benefits. It’s both complex, with many different flavour profiles available, and versatile – we’re drizzling it over salads and pastas, baking it in our muffins and cakes, using it to sautee vegetables, and so much more.
Because not only is extra virgin olive oil, or EVOO, delicious, it’s also good for us. The oil is extracted from good-quality olives by a mechanical process without the use of chemicals or excessive heat, to ensure that it retains its nutritional value.
Among other health benefits, it’s rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, which can help lower your blood LDL (bad) cholesterol when they replace saturated fats in your diet. And studies have shown that extra virgin olive oil may have additional beneficial effects on blood pressure and chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
The oil is extracted from good-quality olives by a mechanical process without the use of chemicals or excessive heat, to ensure that it retains its nutritional value
The sheer variety of olive oil brands available in the supermarket, online and from specialty retailers is another good indication of how much we love consuming the stuff. And with prices ranging from just over a dollar per 100mL up to $4.40 per 100mL, there are options for different budgets.
To help you find the best extra virgin olive oil, we selected 30 of the top selling varieties and put them through a variety of sensory and chemical tests, first to determine if they all meet the criteria for extra virgin olive oil, and secondly, to find out which oils taste the best.
Australia produces a small fraction of the world’s olive oil, but our oil and producers have built a solid reputation for freshness, quality and consistency. Of the 13 oils we are recommending in this review, seven are Australian. If you want to support local growers, these are the top scoring Aussie oils in our testing.
Cobram Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil Classic Flavour
CHOICE Expert Rating: 80%
Price: $25 for 750mL ($3.33 per 100mL)
Tasting notes: “Fruity herbaceous aromas transfer well to the palate. Buttery mouthfeel. Late building chilli pungency that lingers.”
Need to know: A consistently high-quality oil, Cobram Estate Classic was recommended when we last tested oils in 2021 and 2017. It’s available in 375mL, 500mL (Aldi only) and 750mL bottles, as well as a 3L tin.
Mount Zero Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil
CHOICE Expert Rating: 79%
Price: $19.50 for 500mL ($3.90 per 100mL)
Tasting notes: “Delicate dry herb aromas carry through to a buttery mouthfeel, with sweet almond notes softening the herbaceous edge, creating a balanced and pleasant finish.”
Need to know: This premium boutique oil from Victoria’s Grampians region is available online directly from the retailer or via specialty food stores.
Aldi The Olive Tree Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil Classic Flavour
CHOICE Expert Rating: 78%
Price: $13.99 for 750 ml ($1.87 per 100mL)
Tasting notes: “Delicate herbaceous aroma transferring to a more medium intensity on the palate. Notes of tobacco leaf, menthol, with a sweet creamy mouth feel. An element of astringency with a pungency lingering to a ginger twist.”
Need to know: Not only is this oil one of our top scorers, it’s the cheapest Australian EVOO we tested. It was also recommended last time we tested olive oil back in 2021.
Many Australians have grown up with Mediterranean food traditions and may like to choose Spanish or Italian olive oils. Spain is the world’s largest olive oil producer, and its scale allows many Spanish oils to be sold at very competitive prices. For shoppers looking for a good-value everyday oil, imported products can sometimes offer a lower cost per litre than premium Australian oils.
Monini Classico Extra Virgin Olive Oil
CHOICE Expert Rating: 88%
Country of origin: Italy
Price: $22 for 750 ml ($2.93 per 100mL)
Tasting notes: “Delicate floral aromas are evident on the nose. Fresh green notes and salad leaf characters lead to spice and pepper on the palate. Creamy and smooth, with good transfer and a thick, well-balanced mouthfeel. A variety of flavours linger harmoniously, resulting in an elegant and abundant oil.”
Need to know: Available at Coles and Woolworths, this is our top scoring oil and the only one in our review to receive a Gold medal level rating.
Villa Rossi Extra Virgin Olive Oil
CHOICE Expert Rating: 83%
Country of origin: Italy
Price: $35 for 1L ($3.50 per 100mL)
Tasting notes: “Aromas of fruit, flowers and grass combine in a light to medium nose with other elements of olive fruit and lemon on the palate. Good length of persistence with balanced bitterness and pungency. Harmonious.”
Need to know: Available at Harris Farm.
Moro Primero Extra Virgin Olive Oil
CHOICE Expert Rating: 78%
Country of origin: Spain
Price: $27 for 1L ($2.70 per 100mL)
Tasting notes: “Subtle hints of tropical fruit and wild mint. Good transfer with clean creamy mouthfeel. Balanced bitterness and pungency with white pepper lingering.”
Need to know: The performance of this oil has dramatically improved since we last tested it in 2021 when it received a CHOICE Expert Rating of just 54%.
Carbonell Extra Virgin Olive Oil
CHOICE Expert Rating: 78%
Country of origin: Spain
Price: $26 for 1L ($2.60 per 100mL)
Tasting notes: “Aroma of tropical fruit, passionfruit, pineapple transfer well to the palate, with hints of sage and eucalyptus. Menthol and astringency that subsides while the pungency builds; a lingering peppery finish.”
Woolworths Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil
CHOICE Expert Rating: 78%
Country of origin: Spain
Price: $9 for 500 mL ($1.80 per 100mL)
Tasting notes: “Native mint and some meadow grass carried through to palate. Nice balanced bitterness and pungency. Short clean finish.”
Best value extra virgin olive oil
Olive oil can be pricey, so if you’re going through a few bottles, you may like to consider these picks that we rate as best value in our test. They score at least 75% in our review and all cost under $2 per 100mL.
Woolworths Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil
CHOICE Expert Rating: 78%
Country of origin: Spain
Price: $9 for 500mL ($1.80 per 100mL)
Woolworths Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
CHOICE Expert Rating: 76%
Country of origin: Australia
Price: $19 for 1L ($1.90 per 100mL)
Aldi The Olive Tree Australian Extra Virgin Olive Oil Classic Flavour
CHOICE Expert Rating: 78%
Country of origin: Australia
Price: $13.99 for 750 ml ($1.87 per 100mL)
What makes olive oil ‘extra virgin’?
For an olive oil to be classified as extra virgin it must meet certain chemical criteria and be free from taste defects as determined by an accredited sensory panel, according to the International Olive Council (IOC).
A spectrophotometer is used to measure UV absorption.
We carried out sensory analysis and three different chemical tests of the oils using IOC-approved methods – tests that are designed to check for signs of:
fruit damage
poor harvesting operations
poor storage of fruit or oil before processing or bottling
refining (such as bleaching or deodorising)
deterioration due to ageing
deterioration due to poor storage of the bottled oil.
Any of these issues could mean the oil isn’t of extra virgin quality when you buy it – even if it’s within its labelled best-before date.
More about our testing
Our test was carried out for CHOICE at the Oil Testing Service (OTS), NSW Department of Primary Industry Laboratory Services, Wagga Wagga. The OTS chemical testing laboratory and olive oil organoleptic (sensory) panel are accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) and the International Olive Council (IOC).
The OTS purchases the olive oil samples directly from retailers according to strict purchasing protocols, which include keeping samples out of direct sunlight and avoiding temperature fluctuation during transit and delivery.
Once received at the lab, samples are maintained in a controlled environment according to best practice guidelines. At the time of testing each oil has a minimum of five months to go before its best-before date indicated on the label.
Oils undertake both chemical and sensory tests, and need to pass both to be classified as extra virgin olive oil. The sensory tests include a show judging-style tasting, where four trained tasters taste the oils ‘blind’ and award points for aroma (olfactory sensations), flavour/palate (gustatory sensations) and overall impression.
Each oil is graded as Gold (excellent oil), Silver (very good oil), Bronze (good oil) or no medal, which correspond to the CHOICE Expert Rating score in our review.
Buy the freshest oil you can. Where possible, purchase from stores likely to have a high turnover, and look for a “harvested on” date, as best-before dates aren’t necessarily a good indicator of freshness.
Don’t buy oils from stores where they’ve been displayed near heat sources (such as refrigerator motors) or in a shop window where they’re exposed to direct sunlight.
Store in a cool dark place at home (i.e. not next to the stove/oven/window).
Keep your oil tightly stoppered, avoiding exposure to air as much as possible.
Use it in a timely manner, preferably within six months of opening. As a rule of thumb, buy a container size that matches your monthly consumption.
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Pru Engel is the Audience and Engagement editor at CHOICE. Her job is to ensure as many Australians as possible know about the great work we do at CHOICE.
She works closely with our testers and experts to find the gems of information in our data and research that will resonate with Australian consumers and help them make the best decisions, whether they're purchasing an air fryer, looking for a new mattress or trying to find the cheapest car insurance. She also helps to drive meaningful change for consumers by collaborating with our Campaigns team on content covering issues such as grocery pricing, product safety and scams.
Prior to CHOICE, Pru worked as an editor at many of Australia's leading food and lifestyle titles.
Pru has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Journalism) from the University of Technology, Sydney.
Find Pru on LinkedIn.
Pru Engel is the Audience and Engagement editor at CHOICE. Her job is to ensure as many Australians as possible know about the great work we do at CHOICE.
She works closely with our testers and experts to find the gems of information in our data and research that will resonate with Australian consumers and help them make the best decisions, whether they're purchasing an air fryer, looking for a new mattress or trying to find the cheapest car insurance. She also helps to drive meaningful change for consumers by collaborating with our Campaigns team on content covering issues such as grocery pricing, product safety and scams.
Prior to CHOICE, Pru worked as an editor at many of Australia's leading food and lifestyle titles.
Pru has a Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Journalism) from the University of Technology, Sydney.
Find Pru on LinkedIn.
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