Little Aussie Blender
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday June 15, 2004
It might sound unlikely that an olive oil could be different, daring and thrill the taste buds, but an Australian company's first efforts not only have the oil experts in Italy talking, they've received five stars and a glowing report from The Times in London.
Andrew Konowalous , managing director of the company Piquant Blue , and his wine and food experts are the team behind Njoi olive oils.
``What we've hit on is the equivalent of the Australian chardonnay at the beginning of the industry," says Konowalous, who early last year took a range of different Australian olive oils to Europe to see what the food industry made of them. He says tasters were unmoved by the green, grassy olive oils made by many Australian producers because these ``replicate the finest of northern Italy".
``You turn up with one of those and the first thing they say is, `It's a lovely oil, but why am I going to buy it from you when I can get it here at a lower price?' "
Konowalous says he struck gold, however, when he presented an oil made from a Spanish olive variety called picual . In Spain, he says, the variety produces an intense oil that is not particularly pleasant in flavour, so it gets refined and is used as a bulk oil. But when the variety is grown in Australia, it tastes like tomatoes.
``I remember being in London and having chefs, distributors and other people tasting the thing and saying, `Wow, what's this?'," says Konowalous.
As a result, when Njoi released its first two oils, this one was immediately on the agenda. The ``red" oil, as it's known, was praised by The Times in September as ``worthy of star treatment". The ``blue" oil is more bitter, with the grassy characteristics with which Australians are already familiar.
But that was just the start. Piquant Blue which took the unusual step of listing on the stock exchange in January has branched out into Njoi table olives and tinned sardines (in local extra virgin olive oil, naturally). In a few months it will release four new products, each blended from olive oils from a particular region: Margaret River in Western Australia, the limestone coast in South Australia's Coonawarra region, the Murray riverlands (where most of the ``red" oil was sourced) and New England in NSW.
The reason Konowalous knows the what, why and wherefore of different olives and olive oils is that when he joined the industry in 2001, as general manager of Olea Australis (the parent company of Dandaragan Estate), he was determined not to be a backroom boy who dealt only with management. He went overseas and trained with olive oil specialists in Italy and the US, learned to focus his palate to describe oil flavours, and gradually developed a specialisation in olive oil blending.
The people who have since joined Piquant Blue's team include WA chef and writer Don Hancey , viticulturist John Considine and Hazel Murphy , the former head of the Australian Wine Bureau in London, who is widely credited with putting many of our wines on the European map.
Konowalous is taking a wine-style approach to his olive oils by blending them to get the taste he wants in much the same way as wine labels such as Wolf Blass. However, he says he hasn't sought people with wine experience to help him in this part of the venture; they've just come. ``A lot of people with wine backgrounds are getting into olive oil."
It helps that Konowalous is a director of the Australian Olive Association and a member of the industry's national show judging panel. He tastes about 100 olive oils a year, which he puts him in a good position to respond to market demands.
``In theory you should be able to make more money if you grow the trees yourself but if you're a grower with three or four different varieties of tree the style of product you make was largely determined years ago. I'm the only guy in the industry who can turn around and say, `What does the market want? I'll go and make it.' "
Njoi red and blue olive oil retails for about $20 a bottle. For NSW stockists visit www.njoi.com.au and click on ``product", or phone (08) 9389 7666.
© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald