Everyone needs an olive oil guy.
If you watch Action Bronson’s popular YouTube show, “F That’s Delicious,” you’ll notice that in a few episodes, he tries out restaurants with Nicholas Coleman, an oleologist (olive oil expert) who discusses how different olive oils can enhance dishes. It should become apparent that there is more to olive oils than the bottles found on supermarket shelves.
Here in Richmond, we have our own olive oil guy that can offer advice on what to buy.
Robert Granados is an olive oil sommelier and owner of Richmond Olive Oil Company in Carytown. He started his journey by reading about how to prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A former light heavyweight boxer, Granados was interested in keeping his brain healthy and kept coming across the health benefits of olive oil.
“Then a coworker gave me an idea to start selling olive oil,” he says. “I started out at the farmers market in 2021 and did that for three years. I worked with 20 different producers and made mistakes [then] signed my lease a year ago.”
In order to become an expert on olive oil, Granados took hybrid classes at the Tuscany Olive Oil School over 12 weeks. There he learned about chemistry, food pairing, how to spot olive oil and the food production process. One of the things he quickly realized was how much fake olive oil is on the shelves in grocery stores.
“More than two-thirds of what is in the grocery store isn’t extra virgin olive oil. It’s a roll of the dice in the store,” Granados says. “I lab test all of our olive oil and can tell if there’s a manufacturing defect, if the olives are damaged, if there’s a blend, if the oil is old.”
If your olive oil is purchased from a store, he suggests to look at the label and buy one from Chile, Australia or California, as they have some of the most rigorous production rules. Granados acknowledges that there are so many types of olive oil on the market that deciding which to purchase can be daunting.
“The first time someone comes into the store I give folks a 5-minute class on olive oil tasting and show them a dipping olive oil that has characteristics that are easy to spot,” he explains. “I find people’s comfort zones. They gravitate towards familiar things and branch out, then they buy bigger amounts once they learn what they like.”
Richmond Olive Oil sells about 27 different olive oils and almost all of them are infused with ingredients such as dill, harissa, savory butter, pesto or bacon. Additionally, the store also has about 20 different balsamic vinegars with flavors that run the gamut from bourbon maple and lavender rose to teriyaki and chocolate.
Granados wants customers to walk away with a reassurance they have a quality product and so he puts in the work, does the research, and says he spot checks with producers to make sure the quality is consistent.
“People are getting true extra virgin olive oil and they are getting the freshest kind,” says Granados. “I know that I’m selling something healthy, and I feel good about what I’m selling to the people of Richmond.”
Richmond Olive Oil Company is located at 3545 W. Cary St.
