Bosana
The cultivar of an entire island — over half of Sardinian production — and the highest mean phenol content in Italy’s national monovarietal dataset. It is also, genetically, the same variety as Puglia’s Peranzana.
In the grove
Bosana dominates the centre-north of Sardinia — Sassari, the Nurra, Marghine and Planargia — and is present across the rest of the island. All 260 samples in twenty-one years of the national database came from Sardinia. Ripening is late and staggered with harvest in November and December, and the sources are explicit that early picking gives the better oil.
It is one of the few traditional varieties expressly studied as a cultivar for intensive olive growing, and it is reported as highly resistant to heat and to olive knot. Its practical weakness is nursery propagation: rooting from cuttings is very low. Sources also disagree on whether it is partially self-compatible or outright self-sterile, so pollinators are the safe assumption.
Compared with the other reference cultivars
| Cultivar | Origin | Typical polyphenols | Sensory profile | Best pairing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bosana | Sardinia, Italy | ~415 mg/kg mean | Fruity, firmly bitter and pungent | Pane carasau, lamb, pecorino, fish stew |
| Picual | Jaén, Spain | 300–700 mg/kg | Intensely green, clean bitterness, late-building pungency | Tomato salad, grilled vegetables, bread and salt |
| Coratina | Puglia, Italy | 330–410 mg/kg | Powerfully green and herbaceous, strong bitterness and pungency | Bean soups, grilled meat, bitter greens |
| Koroneiki | Messinia, Greece | Around the Greek mean; Cretan surveys 138–441 mg/kg | Green and aromatic, balanced bitterness and pungency | Greek salad, feta, grilled fish, horta |
| Arbequina | Lleida, Spain | 200–230 mg/kg | Soft, sweet entry, barely bitter, light pungency | Fish, salads, baking, mayonnaise |
| Frantoio | Tuscany, Italy | ~230 mg/kg | Aromatic and grassy, bright green, firmly pungent when early | Ribollita, grilled bread, white beans |
| Leccino | Tuscany, Italy | ~150 mg/kg | Mild and soft, light spice, low bitterness | Fish, delicate vegetables, blending with Frantoio |
| Moraiolo | Umbria, Italy | ~270 mg/kg | Intense and structured, pronounced bitterness and pungency | Legume soups, grilled meat, bruschetta |
Polyphenol figures are the ranges published for each variety, not measurements of any bottle in the library. A single oil's figure depends on when it was picked and how it was milled, and is shown on that oil's own page where the producer states one.