"Unscrupulous vendors turn the situation to their advantage. In China, nouveau-riche status-seekers are spending small fortunes on counterfeit Bordeaux. A related scenario exists here vis-a-vis olive oil. "The United States is a dumping ground for bad olive oil," Langstaff told me. It's no secret among European manufacturers that Americans have no palate for olive oils. The Olive Center--a recent addition to the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, on the campus of the University of California at Davis--aims to change that."