`Europe Edition of Olive Oil Times Sommelier Program Concludes in the Netherlands - Olive Oil Times
Enter keywords and hit Go →
enEnglish
enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी
enEnglish
enEnglishfrFrançaiselελληνικάdeDeutscheitItalianozh-CN中文ptPortuguêsesEspañoltrTürkçehrHrvatskija日本語hiहिंदी

Europe Edition of Olive Oil Times Sommelier Program Concludes in the Netherlands

By Daniel Dawson
Oct. 6, 2025 13:01 UTC
Summary Summary

The Olive Oil Times Sommelier Certification Program — Europe edi­tion was com­pleted by 21 pro­fes­sion­als and enthu­si­asts in the Netherlands, focus­ing on sen­sory analy­sis, pro­duc­tion prac­tices, health ben­e­fits, and qual­ity assur­ance. Participants, includ­ing those from Australia and South Korea, found the pro­gram to be com­pre­hen­sive, edu­ca­tional, and valu­able for their careers in the olive oil indus­try, with plans to share their knowl­edge and pro­mote olive oil cul­ture in their respec­tive coun­tries.

Twenty-one olive oil pro­fes­sion­als and enthu­si­asts have com­pleted the debut Olive Oil Times Sommelier Certification Program — Europe edi­tion, co-orga­nized with the Olive Oil Academy in ​‘s‑Hertogenbosch, about 80 kilo­me­ters south of Amsterdam.

Students spent the week-long course exam­in­ing the sen­sory analy­sis of olive oil, best prac­tices in farm­ing and pro­duc­tion, health ben­e­fits, nutri­tion, culi­nary appli­ca­tions, and qual­ity assur­ance.

I enrolled in the course to deepen my knowl­edge of the extra vir­gin olive oil indus­try and to gain expert advice and indus­try analy­ses from lead­ing pro­fes­sion­als in the field.- Joseph Mavrolefterou, Australian olive farmer

An inter­dis­ci­pli­nary and inter­na­tional team of renowned experts led the rig­or­ous pro­gram, which incor­po­rated tast­ings of more than 100 olive oil sam­ples from every pro­duc­ing region.

The first edition of the Sommelier Certification Program — Europe concluded in the Netherlands.

Among the atten­dees was Mariska Stoots, who decided to enroll in the course after begin­ning work as a com­mer­cial man­ager for spe­cialty retailer Oil & Vinegar in the Netherlands.

See Also:Postira Symposium Honors Leaders of Adriatic Olive Oil Renaissance

“The course really exceeded my expec­ta­tions. It was much more exten­sive than I had imag­ined,” she said. 

“One of my favorite [parts was] Simon Poole’s lessons, which cov­ered the health ben­e­fits of extra vir­gin olive oil and how it works in com­bi­na­tion with the Mediterranean diet,” Stoots added. ​“I also really like the inter­ac­tion with the other stu­dents and teach­ers who came from all around the world.”

Mariska Stoots

Stoots said that she will share what she has learned in the course with col­leagues and cus­tomers at Oil & Vinegar, and con­tinue to prac­tice tast­ing olive oils to hone her newly acquired organolep­tic assess­ment skills.

“Only a few peo­ple know what extra vir­gin olive oil should really taste like (and that is not what you will find in the super­mar­ket). And much more can be explained about the unbe­liev­able health ben­e­fits,” she said.

“In my per­sonal life, I will use olive oil even more and con­tinue to edu­cate fam­ily and friends about good qual­ity olive oil,” Stoots added.

While Strooks drove for just 40 min­utes to reach the course each day, other par­tic­i­pants came from much far­ther afield, includ­ing Joseph Mavrolefterou.

Joseph Mavrolefterou (right) networking with his classmates

“My fam­ily and I own an olive grove in the Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia, com­pris­ing approx­i­mately 900 olive trees,” he said. ​“I enrolled in the course to deepen my knowl­edge of the extra vir­gin olive oil indus­try and to gain expert advice and indus­try analy­ses from lead­ing pro­fes­sion­als in the field.”

“Additionally, my intent is to expand and enhance our fam­ily pro­duc­tion of qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil, mak­ing this course an impor­tant step toward achiev­ing that goal,” Mavrolefterou added.

The course also exceeded Mavrolefterou’s expec­ta­tions, with the pro­ducer prais­ing the bal­ance of class­room instruc­tion and prac­ti­cal tast­ing ses­sions, as well as the diverse range of inter­na­tional experts retained to instruct on every aspect of the olive oil world.

“One of the most sur­pris­ing rev­e­la­tions was the gen­eral lack of aware­ness and under­stand­ing that many peo­ple have about extra vir­gin olive oil and what dis­tin­guishes a high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil from the rest,” he said. ​“It sur­prises me how much the indus­try can improve with a lit­tle con­sumer edu­ca­tion.”

Mavrolefterou plans to uti­lize his newly acquired knowl­edge to develop the fam­ily olive grove fur­ther and plant new olive vari­eties.

Participants analyzed over 100 olive oils from every olive oil-producing region in the world.

“Moreover, I aim to edu­cate oth­ers about the extra­or­di­nary health ben­e­fits of extra vir­gin olive oil,” he said. ​“Additionally, I intend to imple­ment advanced pro­duc­tion tech­niques that I learned, ensur­ing our grove meets the high­est stan­dards of qual­ity and sus­tain­abil­ity.”

Fellow pro­ducer Luuk Calboo, who trav­eled from Zeewolde, near Amsterdam, also signed up for the course to increase his knowl­edge about olive oil pro­duc­tion and tast­ing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

“We have had an olive grove in the South of France for many years to pro­duce extra vir­gin olive oil,” he said. ​“We intend to orga­nize olive oil tast­ings as well to increase the knowl­edge of hon­est and qual­ity olive oil and its health ben­e­fits amongst con­sumers.”

Calboo lauded the diver­sity and depth of knowl­edge of the course instruc­tors, adding that ​“a whole new world” was opened up to him dur­ing the tast­ing por­tion of the course.

“The sen­sory eval­u­a­tion train­ing, clas­si­fi­ca­tion and grad­ing is quite a com­plex, well-struc­tured and sub­stan­ti­ated pro­gram,” he said. ​“We will orga­nize our own olive oil tast­ing and food pair­ing pro­gram in the Netherlands to edu­cate, train and share as much of the knowl­edge as pos­si­ble.”

Along with retail­ers and pro­duc­ers, one pro­fes­sional joined the course to help his new dis­tri­b­u­tion busi­ness and foment olive oil cul­ture in South Korea.

James Oh Youngki

James Oh Youngki flew to the course from Seoul. ​“It was a long trip, but worth it because I could join peo­ple from around the world who share the same pas­sion for olive oil,” he said.

Along with the method­i­cal and thor­ough approach to olive oil tast­ing, Youngki said he espe­cially enjoyed the sense of com­mu­nity dur­ing the course.

”The tech­ni­cal knowl­edge was very valu­able, but what sur­prised me most was the sense of com­mu­nity,:” he said. ​“Through Olive Oil Times, I was able to con­nect with pro­duc­ers, tasters, and pro­fes­sion­als from many coun­tries. I real­ized this cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is not only about study­ing, but also about con­nec­tion and build­ing an inter­na­tional career. It was both encour­ag­ing and moti­vat­ing for me.”

Youngki plans to use his newly acquired tast­ing knowl­edge to run courses in his native South Korea and pro­mote olive oil cul­ture in the increas­ingly pop­u­lar des­ti­na­tion for global exporters.

“The course gave me a sys­tem­atic way of tast­ing that I didn’t have before,” he said. ​“One moment I really remem­ber is when I iden­ti­fied the smell of arti­choke for the first time — some­thing I could not expe­ri­ence in Korea. Small dis­cov­er­ies like this made me real­ize how diverse olive oil can be.“

“I plan to orga­nize tast­ing classes where peo­ple can directly expe­ri­ence both the pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive attrib­utes of oils,” Youngki added. ​“I also want to work with health and well­ness com­mu­ni­ties to share the ben­e­fits of extra vir­gin olive oil.”

Pre-enroll­ment is now open for the Sommelier Certificate Program in London, from March 9th to 13th, and the flag­ship pro­gram in New York City, from June 8th to 12th — as well as next year’s edi­tion in the Netherlands.

More articles on:  , ,

Advertisement

Related Articles