Fresher does not mean closer
Yes, title seems to be quite obvious but some seems to play with this simple meaning.
Extra virgin olive oils is an alive product without expiry date but with a best by one. It’s a fruit juice that does not need to be chilled to preserve it’s flavor and aroma (but if you do it they will remain longer). There are different factors telling us how long the olive oil would last in the bottle, but in general terms would be for one year at least or, as I like to say, harvest to harvest.
It does not matter if any given extra virgin is coming for your country or not, is the time of the harvest. In the northern hemisphere harvest takes place in winter and spring time almost summer (for northern people) in south part of the globe. So if you live in the States you will enjoy great fresh extra virgins from December on and if you live in Australia will be exactly the same, you might have great olive oils down there but your harvest will not be as fresh as northern oils. Change dates and hemispheres and will be exactly the same.
Transport is making great extra virgin oils available in the market no more than 1,5 month later even if you need to go all over the Earth, some producers place their oils by plane making them available a couple of weeks after production. Having a closer olive oil producer is not making the extra virgin better, is the extra virgin olive oil itself the one making the difference, not the distance to the farm.
Fresher is definitely better, but fresher does not mean closer. Think by yourselves and consider that half true is a true lie. Remember, biggest olive oil competitor is ignorance.
Enjoy!
Alfonso J Fernandez