Olive Oil Times Sommelier Certificate Program Returns to London in March

Summary

The Olive Oil Times Education Lab Sommelier Certificate Program will take place in London from March 9 to 13, offer­ing a com­pre­hen­sive course on olive oil qual­ity and pro­duc­tion. Participants will learn about sen­sory eval­u­a­tion, cul­ti­va­tion prac­tices, culi­nary appli­ca­tions, and net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties with pro­fes­sion­als from around the world.

The Olive Oil Times Education Lab Sommelier Certificate Program will return to London from March 9 to 13, for its inten­sive five-day course on olive oil qual­ity, sen­sory eval­u­a­tion and pro­duc­tion.

The pro­gram will be held at the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) in Bloomsbury, adja­cent to the University of London cam­pus. Previous London edi­tions of the course have attracted par­tic­i­pants from six con­ti­nents.

The cur­ricu­lum includes olive oil sen­sory assess­ment, cul­ti­va­tion and farm­ing best prac­tices, har­vest­ing and milling, qual­ity assur­ance, health and nutri­tion, chem­istry, regions and cul­ti­vars, culi­nary appli­ca­tions and advanced tast­ing tech­niques. Participants eval­u­ate a wide range of olive oils from pro­duc­ing regions world­wide, learn­ing to iden­tify both pos­i­tive attrib­utes and com­mon defects.

Past par­tic­i­pants have described the course as com­pre­hen­sive and imme­di­ately applic­a­ble.

“I found the course excep­tion­ally good — beyond my expec­ta­tions,” said Mehmet Taki, an asset man­ager and olive oil pro­ducer from Turkey. ​“It is a well-bal­anced pro­gram, pro­vid­ing solid infor­ma­tion on every aspect of olive oil, from farm­ing to stor­age.”

Retailers and importers have also empha­sized the value of struc­tured sen­sory train­ing. Birger Vanacker, the owner of an inde­pen­dent del­i­catessen in Belgium, said the course helped him bet­ter con­trol qual­ity and vari­ety in his olive oil selec­tion.

“I can bet­ter inform my cus­tomers and help them choose the right olive oil for their own pur­poses and taste pref­er­ences,” Vanacker said.

Experienced pro­fes­sion­als have like­wise found value in the program’s global per­spec­tive. Guy Hendrickx, an olive oil importer from Belgium, said tast­ing oils from mul­ti­ple ori­gins broad­ened his under­stand­ing of sen­sory char­ac­ter­is­tics beyond a sin­gle pro­duc­ing coun­try.

Producers have cited the program’s empha­sis on evolv­ing best prac­tices. Elizabeth Ward-Booth, a pro­ducer based in Tuscany, said the course rein­forced the impor­tance of atten­tion to detail through­out har­vest­ing, milling and stor­age.

Participants have also pointed to the net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties cre­ated by the inter­na­tional mix of atten­dees. Hedzer Roodenburg Vermaat of the Olive Oil Club said the course enhanced his cred­i­bil­ity and expanded his pro­fes­sional net­work.

The pro­gram has also attracted par­tic­i­pants focused on culi­nary edu­ca­tion. Marilena Joannides, a Cyprus-based culi­nary spe­cial­ist, said the course deep­ened her under­stand­ing of olive oil’s sen­sory and gas­tro­nomic poten­tial.

Nearly 500 peo­ple world­wide have com­pleted the Olive Oil Times Sommelier Certificate Program, form­ing an inter­na­tional net­work of pro­fes­sion­als and edu­ca­tors ded­i­cated to advanc­ing olive oil qual­ity and under­stand­ing.

Enrollment for the March London pro­gram is now open through the Olive Oil Times Education Lab web­site.