Jan - Thanks for raising a very important point.  In the ideal world, my list would be unnecessary:  labels would accurately reflect what's in the bottles, store managers and shopkeepers would know what fine oils is and how to preserve it, consumers would have wide access to a broad range of excellent oils.  Unfortunately, in today's olive oil market in most parts of the world, this is not the case.  In fact, the exact opposite is the case.

I'm careful to preface my list with a disclaimer:  it does not, and cannot, contain every producer of excellent olive oil, nor every store that sells excellent olive oil.  As time goes on, I hope to include more and more of them, but the list will never be perfect.  Given the murkiness inherent in the olive oil industry right now, the only producers & stores I can include on my list are those I have tried personally, and those which a very small list of trusted advisors have tried.  I can't simply take peoples' word for it.  Sadly, there's a lot of ignorance and downright dishonesty in the business of selling this luminous substance.

Given these limitations, it's inevitable that I'll leave great producers and stores off the list - many of them, in fact.  I regret these omissions, and will do my best to make them good over time.  However, I continue to believe that even a partial list of mills, shops, supermarkets and other sources of great olive oil is a valuable resource, in a market where consumers simply cannot rely on face value.

Do you have a producer or a store to recommend, that you feel I've unjustly left off my list?  I'm always eager to hear suggestions, and try to add them to my list as I'm able to verify their quality.