Olive oil - I hope I don't kick myself later

I just joined David Rosengarten's "fresh pressed olive oil" club.

I've been a little soured on DR recently, as I was a subscriber to his newsletter, which he changed to an e-newsletter, with little notice. He then ceased publishing it at all, and the onus was on me to make some calls and get the remainder of my subscription fee refunded.
So I'm not exactly his biggest fan right now.

However, I've been somewhat disappointed with the olive oil choices available to me. My "go to" olive oil is an extra virgin that I sell to restaurants - it runs about $25 for a US gallon, and it is good quality. But it is not good enough for finishing quality - those oils I use to dress salad, or drizzle on roasted vegetables, or pasta.
In the past, I've bought some very good oils from Rare Wine Company. But last time I checked, the "vintage" hadn't changed, and I wonder about freshness.

So, for $80 a quarter, including shipping to my door, I will now get three different 250ml bottles of fresh pressed oils from around the globe. I like the idea of getting a variety, and I also like the idea of getting a new shipment each quarter. If I know another shipment is in the pipeline, I'll be freer with the oil, rather than hold back as a protection against anticipated shortage.

So right now, I feel pretty good about it. When I analyze it, spending over $300 per year for the equivalent of 4 wine bottle's worth of olive oil seems a bit extravagant, but I'm hopeful I'll find value in the club.

I know Bernie Roth gets oil from this source. Anyone else here belong to this club?

It's a bit out of my budget, John, but I have a cooking pal who just LOVES the oils she gets from this club. I'll be interested to know your impressions.

Haven't done this one either, John, but please report back on how it works out.

John, I l ost some confidence as the result of a similar experience with the newsletter and a general sense that David was getting to be more and more of a pitch man. I was a member of his club for five quarters as an original subscriber, and we enjoyed the oil.

We also bought from the Rare Wine Company before that and enjoyed their offerings as well.

But, more and more retailers in our area are selling oils with manufacturing dates and from different parts of the world. We can get New Zealand and Australian oils in the spring and European and California oils in the fall three or four of weeks after pressing.

Prices run about a dollar an ounce and we find the different oils fun to explore -- last spring we found one from Chile, for example.

In any event, shipping costs and David's markup ran about two dollars an ounce, and we really don't notice any lack of quality. In fact, we got one bottle that was a bit off, and it was cheerfully replaced by our store.

Would love to hear your experiences.

Best, Bob