Imported Olive Oils Bottled for Freshness

Steve Jenkins, a former partner in the Fairway grocery chain who made his name selling fine cheeses and quality olive oils at reasonable prices, has emerged from a few years of retirement with his own olive oil and vinegar company, Olive Oil Jones. He imports his oils in barrels directly from producers in Italy, Portugal and Spain to his warehouse and office in the South Bronx.

Bottles are filled and shipped to order, so they don’t linger and diminish in quality sitting on store shelves. The seven oils Jenkins sells are all extra-virgin and, he says, for the best expression of flavor and the highest levels of antioxidants, also early harvest. “I wouldn’t be caught dead selling oil that’s more than a year old,” Jenkins said.

They range from Spanish Arbequina, the most delicate, to strongly vegetal Tuscan and peppery Baena and Priego de Córdoba from Spain. He also sells a decently made all-purpose balsamic vinegar, a grapey saba sauce and an unusual ruby-colored Lambrusco vinegar to balance a salad with a whisper of sweetness.