The Chianti Classico zone in central Tuscany has long been noted for the exceptional quality of its extra virgin olive oil as well as its famous wine. Nearly all the numerous wine estates cultivate olives and many sell the oil under their own labels. These estate oils are usually bright green immediately after pressing. In time, they turn a clean yellow with greenish reflections. 
       They have distinctive odors and flavors that are attenuated somewhat by heat so they are almost always used as a condiment in dressing salads and adding a further touch of class to raw or cooked vegetables, soups and pastas. The oil is pressed from four principal varieties, alone or together: Frantoio, Correggiolo, Moraiolo and Leccino (a minimum of 80%) and other olives cultivated in the zone (a maximum of 20%). The production area coincides with the zone delimited for Chianti wine by Grand Duke Cosimo III in 1716. The maximum permitted acidity of this DOP olive oil is 0.5%, as expressed in oleic acid. 
       The fruit must be picked directly from the tree and stored in baskets that are perforated on five sides and are no more than 12 inches deep. The regulations limit storage to a maximum of three days and the fruit must be crushed within 24 hours of consignment to the press, which must be located in the production zone. After they are washed with water at room temperature, the fruit is pressed solely with the use of mechanical and physical methods. The temperature of the olive paste during manipulation must not exceed 82.4° F. 
       The Chianti Classico denomination can never be attributed to oils resulting from a mixture with other oils, even extra virgin, that are produced outside the production zone or extracted in the same zone but in preceding years or from batches of olives picked after the date of harvesting stipulated on December 31 of each year. Production of oil cannot exceed 579 pounds an acre in olive orchards with a density of at least 200 trees. The year of production must be clearly indicated on the label.

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