Twenty-Eight New Olive Oil Sommeliers Certified in London

Summary

The Olive Oil Times Sommelier Program in London trained 28 par­tic­i­pants in sen­sory analy­sis, pro­duc­tion, qual­ity, and pro­fes­sional eval­u­a­tion of extra vir­gin olive oil over five days, adding to a net­work of pro­fes­sion­als seek­ing to deepen pub­lic under­stand­ing of olive oil. Participants from diverse back­grounds gained a dis­ci­plined under­stand­ing of olive oil qual­ity and prac­ti­cal skills to apply to their work, with plans to improve pro­duc­tion, edu­cate cus­tomers, and enhance tast­ing expe­ri­ences in the indus­try.

Twenty-eight par­tic­i­pants com­pleted the Olive Oil Times Sommelier Program in London after five days of inten­sive study focused on sen­sory analy­sis, pro­duc­tion, qual­ity, nutri­tion and the pro­fes­sional eval­u­a­tion of extra vir­gin olive oil.

Super pro­fes­sional, inter­est­ing, inspir­ing and a tremen­dously use­ful course.- Michel Megas, France

The March 9 through 13 ses­sion added a new inter­na­tional cohort to a grow­ing net­work of trained tasters, edu­ca­tors, retail­ers, pro­duc­ers and food pro­fes­sion­als work­ing to deepen pub­lic under­stand­ing of olive oil.

As in pre­vi­ous ses­sions, the London pro­gram drew par­tic­i­pants from a wide range of pro­fes­sional back­grounds. Some enrolled to improve the oils they pro­duce, while oth­ers sought to strengthen cus­tomer edu­ca­tion, develop tast­ing expe­ri­ences or build a more rig­or­ous tech­ni­cal foun­da­tion for careers in food and hos­pi­tal­ity.

For many in the group, the week’s most sig­nif­i­cant take­away was a more dis­ci­plined under­stand­ing of olive oil qual­ity. Through guided tast­ings and for­mal instruc­tion, par­tic­i­pants learned how to iden­tify pos­i­tive sen­sory attrib­utes, rec­og­nize defects and con­nect pro­duc­tion deci­sions to the char­ac­ter­is­tics of the oils they eval­u­ated.

Participants analyzed nearly 100 olive oils from 12 countries during the 5‑day program. (Photo: Michael Seder)

That prac­ti­cal empha­sis res­onated with atten­dees already work­ing in the sec­tor. Rainer Nagel, who divides his time between Munich and Greece, said he plans to apply what he learned to the pro­duc­tion and mar­ket­ing of high-qual­ity organic Koroneiki and Manaki oils in the PDO Kranidi area. ​“Our goal is to pro­duce and mar­ket the best pos­si­ble qual­ity,” he said, adding that he also hopes to encour­age nearby small pro­duc­ers to pur­sue higher stan­dards and bet­ter prices.

Nagel described the London ses­sion as ​“a tremen­dously pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence,” cred­it­ing ​“com­pe­tent as sym­pa­thetic experts” and ​“a group of ener­getic par­tic­i­pants with hugely diverse back­grounds and high ambi­tions in the space.”

Others arrived with a retail focus. Katie Dobie, who oper­ates an olive oil shop and tast­ing room in British Columbia, said the course gave her the tools to become a more effec­tive olive oil edu­ca­tor and to guide cus­tomers ​“through the jour­ney of the olive,” from grove man­age­ment and prop­a­ga­tion meth­ods to the final oil in the bot­tle.

Dobie said the pro­gram also strength­ened her con­fi­dence ​“to tell the story of olive oil” and to high­light ​“the her­itage and hard work behind every drop,” along with the nutri­tional value and culi­nary uses of high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil.

Michael and Denise Seder took the course to support an olive farm in Santa Ynez, California and improve product quality.

In California, Mike Seder took the course to sup­port an olive farm in Santa Ynez and improve prod­uct qual­ity. He said the train­ing would help him cre­ate ​“an olive oil edu­ca­tion plat­form and tast­ing envi­ron­ment,” giv­ing con­sumers a deeper under­stand­ing of the prod­uct.

Maria Blackburn, based in the United Kingdom, said the hands-on for­mat stood out. She described the pro­gram as ​“well-struc­tured and engag­ing,” adding that the tast­ing ses­sions and expert instruc­tion ​“strength­ened my con­fi­dence and improved my under­stand­ing of olive oil qual­ity and sen­sory analy­sis.” She said she plans to apply what she learned by edu­cat­ing cus­tomers and devel­op­ing tast­ing expe­ri­ences.

Mark and Maria Blackburn distribute a Greek olive oil brand in the U.K.

The course also attracted culi­nary pro­fes­sion­als seek­ing greater rigor around an ingre­di­ent they use every day. Mansour BouKaram, a chef whose brand focuses on Mediterranean food, said he enrolled because olive oil is ​“the ingre­di­ent I use most in almost every­thing I cook,” and he wanted a deeper under­stand­ing of its role in fla­vor, bal­ance and iden­tity.

Taken together, the par­tic­i­pants’ responses sug­gest that inter­est in olive oil edu­ca­tion con­tin­ues to broaden. Formal train­ing is attract­ing not only pro­duc­ers and spe­cial­ized buy­ers but also retail­ers, chefs, entre­pre­neurs, and com­mu­ni­ca­tors look­ing to bridge the gap between tech­ni­cal knowl­edge and every­day use.

That shift is sig­nif­i­cant because extra vir­gin olive oil remains widely con­sumed but often insuf­fi­ciently under­stood. Many con­sumers know what they like, but fewer under­stand how cul­ti­var, har­vest tim­ing, milling prac­tices, stor­age and fresh­ness shape what ends up in the bot­tle.

The Olive Oil Times Education Lab fac­ulty brings together a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary group of inter­na­tion­ally rec­og­nized experts in olive oil edu­ca­tion, sen­sory analy­sis, pro­duc­tion, health and culi­nary appli­ca­tion. The team includes Curtis Cord, founder of Olive Oil Times and exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Education Lab; Carola Dümmer Medina, an NYIOOC panel leader and jour­nal­ist; Pablo Voitzuk, a mas­ter miller and con­sul­tant; Simon Poole, a physi­cian and author known for his work on the Mediterranean diet; Antonio Jesús Puentes Campos, an agri­cul­tural engi­neer and sen­sory analy­sis expert; and Daniel García Peinado, a chef and olive oil ambas­sador. Together, they offer par­tic­i­pants a broad and prac­ti­cal per­spec­tive that con­nects olive grow­ing and milling with tast­ing, nutri­tion, com­mu­ni­ca­tion and pro­fes­sional use.

Daniel García Peinado, chef and olive oil ambassador, connects sensory knowledge with the practical use of extra virgin olive oil in professional kitchens.

That breadth of exper­tise is a defin­ing strength of the pro­gram. Rather than approach­ing olive oil from a sin­gle angle, the instruc­tors reflect the full scope of the sec­tor, from orchard man­age­ment and pro­duc­tion meth­ods to sen­sory eval­u­a­tion, pub­lic edu­ca­tion and culi­nary excel­lence. The result is a learn­ing envi­ron­ment shaped by pro­fes­sion­als with deep field expe­ri­ence and inter­na­tional cred­i­bil­ity, giv­ing par­tic­i­pants direct access to the knowl­edge and stan­dards that define high-qual­ity olive oil today.

Over the course of the week, par­tic­i­pants worked through the tech­ni­cal and sen­sory frame­work needed to assess oils more pre­cisely, while also explor­ing food pair­ing, nutri­tion and the role of edu­ca­tion in expand­ing appre­ci­a­tion for qual­ity.

By the end of the ses­sion, what began for many as per­sonal curios­ity had evolved into a clearer pro­fes­sional direc­tion. The newly cer­ti­fied som­me­liers will take that train­ing back to groves and mills, shops and tast­ing rooms, kitchens and con­sumer out­reach ini­tia­tives in mar­kets stretch­ing from California and Canada to Greece and the United Kingdom.

The March ses­sion marked another step in that effort, with 28 new som­me­liers leav­ing London pre­pared to apply a shared vocab­u­lary and a com­mon foun­da­tion to busi­nesses and projects across the olive oil sec­tor.

The next ses­sion of the Olive Oil Times Sommelier Program will be held in New York from June 8 through 12.