Olive Oil: Taste of Tuscany

Marie-Charlotte Piro brings a nutrient-rich taste of Tuscany to Greenville.

Someone has to live out the fantasy of spending four gloriously sunny weeks every year in the picturesque countryside of Tuscany, surrounded by olive trees—and that someone is Greenville’s Marie-Charlotte Piro, CEO of Olio Piro, her ultra-premium extra-virgin olive oil brand.

Formerly a marketing executive for Cartier boutiques in the French West Indies and a top international luxury real estate broker in Miami for 25 years, Piro’s latest venture aims to enlighten the culinary world about the best-tasting and healthiest olive oil on the market. Hand-harvested and hand-milled from 300-year-old trees every October and November, Olio Piro’s olives from Monte Amiata in Tuscany include leccino, moraiolo, frantoio, and the rare Olivastra seggianese. Piro’s brother and business partner, Romain Piro, owns the groves and tends to the trees year-round.

Olio Piro has racked up a bevy of awards around the world, including the first ever Platinum Health Claim Award in 2018 from the London International Olive Oil Competition, the 2022 Gold Recognition from the Masters of Olive Oil in Monte Carlo, along with numerous yearly Gold Awards for Quality in the Japan, Dubai, and New York olive oil competitions.

Boasting 750-800 milligrams of polyphenols per kilogram (few other olive oils can come close as most hover around 200-300 milligrams), Olio Piro’s oil contains the highest doses of these healthy antioxidants and oleic acids, which benefit the heart, brain, and skin, and are thought to lower blood pressure, boost the immune system, help avoid cancers, and prevent degenerative diseases. As a beauty treatment, the non-greasy oil absorbs quickly on the face and body to moisturize effectively, and a tablespoon can be ingested daily to maximize the anti-aging properties of vitamin E.

But the best news is the fresh and flavorful taste. Peppery, fruity, and bitter, the three flavor profiles work in harmony to achieve an elegant balance. Use the oil to saute, poach, or roast seafood, poultry, beef, or legumes. Drizzle it on salads, soups, and stews—you’ll find grassiness and spiciness with hints of green almonds and tomato leaf. Many Michelin-starred chefs are fans, as is local culinary whiz Alex George at GB&D.

Sealed to prevent oxygen from entering the UV-resistant tinted glass, each bottle is inscribed with the handwritten harvest date and the lot number. Only 10,000 bottles are produced each year, and it’s an annual sellout. This new-to-Greenville entrepreneur is confident that her luxury product will convince you that buying a bargain olive oil is, in fact, no bargain at all.