Olive Oil Sommelier Program Returns to New York

Renowned experts will lead par­tic­i­pants on a jour­ney through the world of olive oil in the Olive Oil Times Education Lab’s Sommelier Certificate Program, return­ing to New York’s Flatiron District.

The five-day course includes olive oil sen­sory assess­ment, pro­duc­tion and milling, health and nutri­tion, culi­nary appli­ca­tions, farm­ing best prac­tices, qual­ity assur­ance and advanced tast­ing tech­niques.

The pro­gram direc­tor, Curtis Cord, said atten­dees were in store for an unri­valed edu­ca­tional expe­ri­ence designed to fos­ter a deep under­stand­ing of olive oil qual­ity and appre­ci­a­tion. Cord devel­oped the pro­gram with the late Dorothy Cann Hamilton, founder of the International Culinary Center.

While those who have com­pleted the som­me­lier pro­gram have included such diverse pro­fes­sion­als as pro­duc­ers, mar­keters, importers, mer­chants, food buy­ers, qual­ity-con­trol man­agers, chefs, jour­nal­ists and lawyers, Cord said the course is designed for every­one con­cerned with olive oil qual­ity. There are no pre­req­ui­sites for the course.

Nearly 400 have com­pleted the acclaimed pro­gram, join­ing a grow­ing inter­na­tional net­work of experts and edu­ca­tors. Many have launched their own edu­ca­tional ini­tia­tives, author books, pro­vide con­sult­ing ser­vices and develop pro­grams to fos­ter a greater under­stand­ing of olive oil qual­ity, cul­ture and usage.

In the most recent edi­tion of the pro­gram in London, olive oil pro­fes­sion­als and enthu­si­asts com­pleted a hands-on sen­sory analy­sis pro­gram, mas­ter­ing the nuances of pro­duc­tion and qual­ity eval­u­a­tion to ele­vate their careers and launch new ini­tia­tives.

Dave and Claudia Sadoff trav­eled to London from Sonoma County, California, as they were embark­ing on their jour­ney as olive oil pro­duc­ers at Nomad Groves.

“The som­me­lier course offered us the oppor­tu­nity to learn from and inter­act directly with world-class spe­cial­ists, to explore the attrib­utes and com­plex­ity of fine oils, and to guard against the mis­steps that can lead to defec­tive oil,” they said.

“I will use the knowl­edge I got from the course to improve the expe­ri­ence and inspire more peo­ple to use extra vir­gin olive oil,” said Agelos Bougias, who man­ages a farm-to-table restau­rant and organic farm. ​“I feel the duty to do my best so peo­ple will know more about olive oil pro­duc­tion, and now I can, with higher effi­ciency, edu­cate peo­ple through the tast­ings.”

Sabrina Rea, who flew from Toronto and works as an olive oil importer, said the course ​“pro­vided me with a solid foun­da­tion, refin­ing my exist­ing knowl­edge and offer­ing a struc­tured frame­work to eval­u­ate and select the finest olive oils.”

Registration is open for the New York pro­gram on the Education Lab web­site. Enrollment is lim­ited to 45 par­tic­i­pants.