Meet Artisanal Italian Olive Oil Purveyors: Pogliani Select

By Melissa Esposito | March 29, 2025

For 10 years, Pogliani Select has offered a curated selection of artisanal olive oils, balsamics, and culinary products sourced from various regions of Italy. Founded by Walter Pogliani and his partner in life and business Mike Fish, the pair centered their business around not just retailing fine goods but also offering an educational element to consumers, farmers, and restaurant partners. Their broader mission is to “celebrate the beauty of food as a connection between people, cultures, and landscapes,” and they do so by developing long-standing relationships with sustainable, family-owned farms in Italy to source rare and high-quality ingredients for exquisite products unlike others you’ll find in our upstate region.

We chatted with Pogliani and Fish to learn more about their culinary journey.

INSIDE+OUT: Where are you originally from, and how did you wind up in the Hudson Valley?

Walter Pogliani: My family emigrated from Italy in the late 1950s and settled on Long Island. Italian is my first language, and although my early years were spent with family making memories in the kitchen, I took on a career in menswear fashion, which is how I met Mike…

Mike Fish: I grew up on the West Coast, but media and advertising work brought me to NYC, where I met my now-husband, Walter. We lived in the city but came to the Hudson Valley as “early pioneers” after finding a second home in Greene County in the 1990s. Over time, as our business grew, we made this area our forever home.

Meet Artisanal Italian Olive Oil Purveyors: Pogliani Select

: Photos by Meigan Arnone

What inspired you to start Pogliani Select, and what was your journey?

Walter: The business started in 2015; we wanted to partner with like-minded food producers in Italy to connect with young farms and restaurants in the Hudson Valley. It was my destiny to come back to Italy somehow. Before moving to the US, my family was in the food business in Italy; my grandmother ran an osteria, so I grew up being inspired by such incredible food, learning from a young age the importance of basic ingredients. I later turned my interest to men’s fashion, exporting Italian artistry and tailoring, but over time my culinary interests grew along with my passion for the small farms of both this region and in Italy, so that led to a career change from fashion to food.

Mike: We really started to build a name for ourselves by being present on local farms, especially during CSA pickups or during green markets, as we could show people how to flavor their food with the products we offer. We love having the opportunity to meet and speak with people who love food and farms as much as we do.

What makes living in the Hudson Valley special for you?

Mike: There is a similar energy between the feeling we get in Italy talking to growers and producers that we get with the farmers here in the Hudson Valley; there’s so much passion between farms and their communities. And people here really want to know where their food comes from. There’s also a growing community of entrepreneurialism that’s exciting to see has taken root here.

What is one question you’re constantly asked or the biggest misconception about your business?

Mike: Really, there are two things. One, people don’t often know what to call us: importer, distributor, retailer… but our business is quite unique, as we do sell our products but also focus heavily on education. We’ve been called “modern-day spice hunters” or “Italian concierge,” but we also love the idea of being “purveyors and educators.”

Two, I think a lot of people don’t know that our business is based on the relationships we make with family farms in Italy. We make two to three trips to Italy per year to meet suppliers and attend some of the country’s biggest food shows. For example, one of our first contacts was a family in Liguria, in northwest Italy along the Mediterranean; it’s a steep mountainous region where olives are grown on terraces. Not only are we the first to press their olives into oil in the US, but we are considered ambassadors to the region. The olives from here offer a lovely flavor, very fruitful and delicate, with a lovely aroma. The olives are harvested off the tree and go right into the press; it’s an incredibly fresh oil. But besides Liguria, our three other olive oils come from Tuscany, which produces a grassy, artichoke flavor with a peppery finish; Puglia, which has a very intense flavor; and Croatia, 30 minutes from Italy, that offers flavors of mint and rosemary. We also carry balsamic with grapes grown from the Guisti family, a 17th-generation farm in Italy established in 1605.

What impact does your business have on your community?

Mike: We have a large focus on education; we think it’s important for people to not just know about how to prepare food with our products but also to learn about the different types of olives, the flavors they produce, and the farms from which they come.

Walter: We love to support local farms and help connect farmers to community members or provide another way for consumers to enjoy visiting farms and farm markets. Plus, our tasting room is open by appointment and is within our home. We love the idea of welcoming the community in to learn more about each product and its origins. It gives an immersive take on what we do. You can shop and go at retail stores, but at a tasting room, you can slow down and gain a new perspective. Plus, our home is an 1800s house, so we feel like we connect Hudson Valley history with Italian history in a way that’s really interesting to visitors.

: Photo by Chris Callaway

: Photo by Meigan Arnone

: Photo by Mike Fish

What local businesses do you rely on to be successful?

Mike: We have a great partnership with Via Cassia, an Italian restaurant in Hudson…

Walter: They make incredible housemade pasta and carry our products.

Mike: On the farm side, we have partnerships with MX Morningstar in Hudson, Montgomery Place Orchards in Red Hook, which hosts popups, and Stoneledge Farm in Leeds. In retail, our products are at The Kitchen Cheetah in Margaretville, too.

What is missing in the area that you wish we had?

Walter: I’d love to see even more wonderful restaurants focused on high-quality ingredients and experiences; there are so many great places already, so it’s happening, but I’m excited to see where the food scene goes.

Mike: The Hudson Valley scene is really getting noticed around the world with James Beard nominees, more fine dining options, and more chefs seeing what we see in terms of the quality of farms and purveyors.

Local Love: What local business should we know about?

Mike: Some of my favorites are Subversive Brewing in Catskill, Whitecliff Vineyard & Winery in Gardiner, Julia’s Local in Round Top, and, of course, Via Cassia in Hudson.

Who or what inspires you personally?

Walter: A lot of inspiration comes from my family. I was very fortunate to be able to experience so much to do with food and farms. I could go back to my aunt’s farm in Mantova, spend time at the Adriatic Sea and learn to cook on a wood stove or with a cast iron pot, all of which made me gain a deeper appreciation of the food industry.

What do you do for fun? What are some of your favorite ways to unwind and unplug when you are not working?

Walter: You’ll find me in my garden. It’s my passion: growing food and flowers, planting trees, and working with nature. It’s a place I can go and get lost.

Mike: I love to discover all that the Hudson Valley offers, driving around and discovering farms, stores, food, a winery, or a craft brewery.

What is your current state of mind?

Walter: Gratitude. We both love where we live and what we do. We are very fortunate to travel and experience food, spend time in olive orchards, learn, and eat great food with really fun people. For me, that’s what life is all about.