Renowned Olive Oil Sommelier Program Returns to New York

Summary

The Olive Oil Times Education Lab’s Sommelier Certificate Program will be held in New York City’s Flatiron District from May 19^th to 23^rd, with renowned experts teach­ing par­tic­i­pants about olive oil sen­sory assess­ment, pro­duc­tion tech­niques, health ben­e­fits, culi­nary appli­ca­tions, and more. The course, which has been com­pleted by nearly 500 olive oil som­me­liers, is designed for any­one inter­ested in olive oil qual­ity, regard­less of back­ground, and pre­vi­ous par­tic­i­pants have gone on to win awards, write books, and launch edu­ca­tional ini­tia­tives.

The Olive Oil Times Education Lab’s Sommelier Certificate Program is return­ing to New York City’s Flatiron District for its pop­u­lar flag­ship course from May 19^th to 23^rd.

Over five days, an inter­dis­ci­pli­nary team of renowned experts will instruct par­tic­i­pants on olive oil sen­sory assess­ment, the lat­est pro­duc­tion and milling tech­niques, health ben­e­fits and nutri­tion, culi­nary appli­ca­tions, farm­ing best prac­tices, qual­ity assur­ance and advanced tast­ing tech­niques. 

Nearly 500 olive oil som­me­liers, includ­ing pro­duc­ers, mar­keters, importers, mer­chants, food buy­ers, qual­ity-con­trol man­agers, chefs, jour­nal­ists and lawyers have com­pleted the course.

Alumni have gone on to win inter­na­tional qual­ity awards, launch edu­ca­tional ini­tia­tives, write books, pro­vide con­sult­ing ser­vices and develop pro­grams to improve under­stand­ing of olive oil qual­ity, cul­ture and usage.

While many in the grow­ing inter­na­tional net­work of experts and edu­ca­tors are olive oil pro­fes­sion­als, pro­gram direc­tor Curtis Cord empha­sized that the pro­gram is designed for any­one inter­ested in olive oil qual­ity. There are no pre­req­ui­sites for the course.

At the most recent edi­tion of the som­me­lier pro­gram in London, a diverse class of par­tic­i­pants praised the qual­ity of the instruc­tion and how they would apply their new­found knowl­edge in per­sonal and pro­fes­sional capac­i­ties.

Stefano Chessa of Oliveto Imports joined the course to fur­ther his ini­tia­tive to mar­ket Italian extra vir­gin olive oils in London with greater author­ity.

“The event was excep­tion­ally well-orga­nized,” he said. ​“I now feel much more con­fi­dent in my under­stand­ing of the extra vir­gin olive oil indus­try. I am cer­tain this will enhance my inter­ac­tions with cur­rent and future cus­tomers.”

Even pro­duc­ers with decades of expe­ri­ence found value in the instruc­tion, learn­ing about the lat­est trends in farm­ing, milling and qual­ity eval­u­a­tion.

“I’ve been liv­ing and mak­ing olive oil in Tuscany for 20 years,” said Elizabeth Ward-Booth. ​“Many things per­tain­ing to olive oil pro­duc­tion have changed over these years. Now, mov­ing to a new area within Tuscany with a rep­u­ta­tion for excel­lent olive oil pro­duc­tion, I aim to use my expe­ri­ence and new knowl­edge to pro­duce the best qual­ity olive oil.”

“I believe the wide knowl­edge gained regard­ing olive oil, par­tic­u­larly the impor­tance of atten­tion to detail in har­vest­ing, milling and stor­age, will be invalu­able in pro­duc­ing a fine qual­ity olive oil,” she added.

Registration for the New York pro­gram is open on the Education Lab web­site. Enrollment is lim­ited to 40 par­tic­i­pants.