37 Complete Olive Oil Times Sommelier Program in New York

Extra vir­gin olive oil is among the world’s health­i­est prod­ucts, a cul­tural cor­ner­stone and a $20 bil­lion global busi­ness. Yet most buy­ers and con­sumers know very lit­tle about it.

Thirty-seven olive oil pro­duc­ers, retail­ers, enthu­si­asts and entre­pre­neurs are set­ting out to change that after com­plet­ing the week-long Olive Oil Times Education Lab Sommelier Certification Program in Manhattan.

Attendees trav­eled from around the world for the five-day course, which cov­ered olive oil sen­sory assess­ment, pro­duc­tion best prac­tices, health and nutri­tion, culi­nary appli­ca­tions and qual­ity assur­ance.

Among them was Joe Maruca, the co-owner of TRE Olive. ​“I have wanted to enroll for the last few years,” he said. ​“My fam­ily has been in the olive oil indus­try for four gen­er­a­tions, and I wanted to increase my knowl­edge and advance the fam­ily busi­ness.”

The Massachusetts-based com­pany imports extra vir­gin olive oil from its ded­i­cated olive groves in Calabria. Even after win­ning the indus­try’s most cov­eted qual­ity award at the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, Maruca said there is always more to learn.

“I loved the course. It exceeded my expec­ta­tions and has moti­vated me to con­tinue learn­ing,” he said. ​“If you’re not learn­ing, you’re not grow­ing.”

Maruca plans to use what he learned about the sci­ence behind olive oil’s health ben­e­fits to enlighten cus­tomers and his team. ​“Education is the biggest take­away, and I hope to con­tinue learn­ing going for­ward,” he said.

Rafael Buchabqui, the owner of Brazil-based Azeite Torrinhas, was another pro­ducer keen to expand his knowl­edge and net­work with like-minded peo­ple in New York.

“I wanted to explore this mat­ter [the olive oil world] fur­ther to learn more about my prod­uct, dis­cuss with other spe­cial­ized olive oil som­me­liers ways to improve our oils and edu­cate the peo­ple around me,” he said.

Buchabqui said work­ing to iden­tify the vast range of aro­mas and fla­vors in nearly one hun­dred olive oil sam­ples from 14 coun­tries ana­lyzed dur­ing the five-day course was inter­est­ing and chal­leng­ing.

“[With this knowl­edge,] I will be more con­fi­dent dis­cussing our oils with our staff and in a bet­ter posi­tion to edu­cate peo­ple around me,” he said.

Other pro­duc­ers joined the course to gain a global per­spec­tive on the olive oil sec­tor.

“I decided to take the course to learn about the per­spec­tives and opin­ions on olive oil from peo­ple in the U.S. and the Southern Hemisphere and to gain insight into the sit­u­a­tion in the U.S.,” said Bastian Jordan, the owner of Jordan Olivenöl. ​“I aimed to use this infor­ma­tion for my per­sonal devel­op­ment in the olive oil indus­try and to make valu­able con­tacts.”

Jordan, who pro­duces olive oil on the Greek island of Lesvos and imports it to Düsseldorf in west­ern Germany, has been involved in the olive oil busi­ness for all of his pro­fes­sional life. He said he appre­ci­ated the oppor­tu­nity to meet new peo­ple and sharpen his sen­sory analy­sis skills.

“I will bring the insights back to the German Olive Oil Panel, where I am a mem­ber, to dis­cuss the sim­i­lar­i­ties and dif­fer­ences in sen­sory eval­u­a­tions,” he said.

Along with farm­ers and millers, olive oil sales pro­fes­sion­als trav­eled to New York’s Flatiron dis­trict to learn more about extra vir­gin olive oil and its key sell­ing points – fla­vor and health.

“I fell in love with extra vir­gin olive oil while work­ing in my pre­vi­ous role sell­ing O‑Med, and now I’m for­tu­nate enough to rep­re­sent [the Spanish brand] Castillo de Canena on the East Coast,” said Shea Vinson. ​“I enrolled in the course to enhance my knowl­edge of extra vir­gin olive oil so that I could bet­ter com­mu­ni­cate its value to my dis­trib­u­tor, retail cus­tomers and end con­sumers.”

Vinson, who lives in New York City, said the course was com­pre­hen­sive, with engag­ing pre­sen­ters and essen­tial infor­ma­tion in every ses­sion.

“The sen­sory assess­ment por­tion was my favorite, although the food pair­ing sec­tion was a close sec­ond,” she said.

Vinson plans to use her mas­tery to improve sales com­mu­ni­ca­tion and pass the infor­ma­tion on to cus­tomers and the gen­eral pub­lic.

“I’d love to gain enough expe­ri­ence to serve on a tast­ing panel and ide­ally use what I’ve learned to curate my own retail selec­tion,” she said.

Mark Lemmens, the founder of Olicious, trav­eled to New York from the Netherlands expect­ing to expand his tast­ing hori­zons and bring a new breadth of knowl­edge to his cus­tomers in the restau­rant and retail indus­tries.

“I’ve been in olive oil for four years, and I’m on a mis­sion to edu­cate con­sumers, retail­ers and pro­fes­sion­als about the qual­ity and health ben­e­fits of olive oil,” he said. ​“I also expected to learn more about olive vari­eties through the exten­sive tast­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties.”

Lemmens did not leave dis­ap­pointed, prais­ing the course struc­ture and the diverse range of pro­fes­sion­als who instructed each sec­tion.

“It was an awe­some expe­ri­ence to be with so many peo­ple who share the same pas­sion,” he added. ​“In par­tic­u­lar, I highly appre­ci­ated the tast­ing ses­sions as well as the more tech­ni­cal ses­sions about the olive oil pro­duc­tion process. It helped me bet­ter describe pos­i­tive and neg­a­tive attrib­utes dur­ing tast­ing.”

Lemmens said he would employ what he learned in the course to inform his clients and incor­po­rate the knowl­edge into his mas­ter­class courses.

“I can inform cus­tomers bet­ter about the health ben­e­fits and how defects can occur dur­ing pro­duc­tion,” he said. ​“As an olive oil som­me­lier, I earn more trust from pro­fes­sion­als in retail and HORECA.”

Carline Brandao Procell, owner of Bella Nonnas Olive Oil & Vinegar in Shreveport, Louisiana, attended the course to refresh her olive oil knowl­edge and pre­pare to lead some olive grove tours next year.

“I thought the course was extremely infor­ma­tive and cleared up some con­fu­sion on my end regard­ing the har­vest­ing and pro­cess­ing aspects of the olive oil busi­ness,” she said. ​“I espe­cially enjoyed learn­ing more about the health­ful aspects of olive oil, specif­i­cally the polyphe­nols.”

“That is one aspect that I am fre­quently asked about in my store,” Procell added. ​“I find my cus­tomers are increas­ingly try­ing to improve their health. I am for­tu­nate to be a source for them, of not only health­ful oils and bal­sam­ics but also per­ti­nent infor­ma­tion regard­ing their dietary choices.”

Procell enjoys her role as an olive oil spe­cial­ist and can now strengthen her expla­na­tions as to why cus­tomers should choose high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils.

“A win­ery has sched­uled me for a food, wine and olive oil pair­ing class,” she said. ​“One fam­ily has booked me to speak to them at their Sunday din­ner and direct them on order­ing their olive oils. Two cruise lines have asked me to lead tours in the Mediterranean for the 2025 har­vest sea­son.”

While many pro­gram atten­dees are sea­soned olive oil pro­fes­sion­als seek­ing to expand their knowl­edge, oth­ers came to indulge their pas­sion for the prod­uct and inform per­sonal projects.

“I am a for­mally trained archi­tect with a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary design prac­tice, so pro­fes­sion­ally, I am well out­side the indus­try,” said Abir Ali, who trav­eled to New York from Detroit.

“Personally, though, olive oil is a big part of my life,” she added. ​“My mother is Lebanese, and I was raised in a cul­ture where olives and olive oil made daily appear­ances in every­thing from food to beauty to med­i­cine.”

Ali, who grew up with her father’s olive oil-infused Pakistani cook­ing, said she enjoyed the class immensely. She specif­i­cally cited the diver­sity of her fel­low stu­dents and the instruc­tors.

“The tast­ings were my favorite,” Ali said. ​“Challenging and train­ing my sense of smell and taste was such a treat and a wel­comed break from screens and meet­ings.”

Ali plans to uti­lize what she learned in the course to curate her own tast­ing expe­ri­ence.

“My design work, out­side of the olive oil indus­try, revolves around build­ing lit­eral and fig­u­ra­tive tables for peo­ple to meet and exchange,” she said. ​“Now, with the knowl­edge I learned in New York – and much con­tin­ued prac­tice – I can bring peo­ple together through a crafted com­mu­nity expe­ri­ence that revolves around the beauty and power of olive oil.”

Enrollment is open for the next Olive Oil Sommelier Program in London, which will be held in January.