How to become an olive oil sommelier.

Just like with wine, extra virgin olive oil has a range of profiles and flavours—as well as defects that can be uncovered. So it makes sense that we now have olive oil sommeliers trained in the specificities of what makes a good oil and how best to use it. 

A guide from the tasting table, by the founder & head olive oil sommelier at Citizens of Soil, Sarah Vachon.

I often explain to people that diving into the world of olive oil felt like going into the world of wine, only somehow more romantic and certainly more spiritual.

This magical, functional, flavourful ingredient transforms the way your meal tastes. But not every oil is the perfect pairing for every dish. And, let’s be honest, not every oil is even good.

The specific olive cultivar, the region, the climate that year, how it was farmed and processed—it all has an impact on the final product.

There’s also a colossal amount of fraud in the olive oil industry going back to antiquity. This means that we need robust supply chain measures in place, lab analysis, and of course—the expert taster.

Enter the olive oil sommelier. 

When I first started mapping out our business plan for Citizens of Soil with our dear family friends in Crete, I knew I needed to learn everything I possibly could about extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). From having spent more than a decade already working in food & drink, and having worked with products like coffee, tea, and spirits—I assumed there must be parameters for quality. And having done a WSET course in wine, I started to seek out something similar in olive oil.

Having now spent years doing harvest across the olive oil world, learning directly from award-winning producers on their groves and at their mills, as well as soaking up as much as possible from the top-tier of experts and international judges in this space—here’s what I can share about becoming an olive oil sommelier…

What is an olive oil sommelier?

An olive oil sommelier is a trained professional who can evaluate olive oil using their sense of smell and taste, as well as technical knowledge—much like a wine sommelier, but with its own rigorous methodology.

Olive oil sommeliers are trained to:

• Assess the aroma, flavour, and mouthfeel of an olive oil (as well as colour and clarity).
• Identify positive attributes versus defects. 
• Distinguish freshness, cultivar, origin, process, and harvest details.
• Understand sensory markers (polyphenols, bitterness, pungency).
• Decipher lab analysis for indicators of quality.
• Pair flavours of EVOO with other ingredient flavours to complement and elevate both.
• Advise on the ideal storage and handling practices, including across bottling and transport.

• Translate olive oil into language that shoppers, chefs, and buyers can trust.

While anyone can start tasting olive oils and learning more, it’s important for any professional to be trained in internationally-recognised protocols set by organisations such as the International Olive Council, which governs the category worldwide. 

The reason for this is that even if you really refine your tasting abilities to pick up flavour notes, not knowing basic facts—like how the colour of olive oil has nothing to do with the quality—will lead you on a path to mislead people. I cannot tell you how I see on social media someone talking about olive oil and incorrectly stating things that are just basics you’d learn on day one of a tasting course.

The outcome is that it creates confusion, distrust, and often poor purchases, which do not reflect the quality or nutritional components the shopper is looking for. 

This industry has been, since ancient times, extremely deceptive and downright corrupt, so getting certified with an internationally-respected method is crucial.

Now, saying that, I’ve learned a lot more by just working in the industry, asking tons of questions to experts, and travelling to meet top-tier producers. But the baseline you get from education is crucial.

What does an olive oil sommelier do?

Despite the romance, the work is precise. It’s mainly about understanding the organoleptic properties of virgin olive oil, and determining its quality or defects. Here’s a breakdown of the typical parts of the job:

Sensory evaluation & tasting.

Using official azure blue or dark tasting glasses (to eliminate colour bias), sommeliers assess oils for:

• Fruitiness.
• Bitterness.
• Pungency.
• Balance and harmony. 
• Presence of defects (e.g. rancid, fusty, musty, winey). 
  

This skill is foundational. Without it, everything else is noise. You can see my full guide to how to taste EVOOs here.

Quality control & buying.

This is why I actually pursued the certification. It was about ensuring that what I bought was not only the real deal, but exceptionally high-quality. I wanted to be able to tell from sensory checks and lab reports just how long this oil might also stay fresh and flavourful—since it might taste nice in the moment, but how will it evolve through its natural degradation over the full shelf life?

For this, you might work with:

• Importers and retailers.  
• Restaurants and chefs. 
• Producers seeking feedback at harvest.

• Shoppers directly under your own brand.

Part of the role is to also protect the quality before it ever reaches the shelf (with the right packaging and handling), as well as advising on which oils will work best for different uses and how best they’ll hold up over time.

Education & storytelling.

Probably the biggest hurdle in the industry, and why so many programmes are now cropping up, is the lack of education. Even for producers who come from these multi-generational olive oil families—they sometimes don’t have any formal education and can mislead customers (for example, saying things like unfiltered oils are best, or that an oil needs to make you cough simply because it aligns with their particular style).

Certified sommeliers should be less biased and more factual, teaching things like:

• The difference between extra virgin, virgin, and regular olive oil. 
• Growing techniques.
• Harvesting styles.
• Why timing matters. 
• Milling techniques that support quality.
• What packaging is best.
• What to look out for on the label.
• How to taste.
• The positive attributes (fruity, bitter, peppery).
• Rancidity and other key defects.
• How to cook with EVOO.

• Fun and interesting pairings.

This work happens through tastings, workshops, events, content, and consultancy. In my work, I have now led masterclasses and trainings for everyone from Michelin chefs to high-street chains and buying team, to the plain old olive oil curious shopper.

Judging & certification panels.

Once you’ve perfected the craft and had ample experience across different regions in the olive oil space, advanced sommeliers may do other work, such as:

• Competition juries.

• Official tasting panels.

• Advisory boards for producers, organisations, and brands.

This requires both palate discipline and deep technical knowledge.

How to become an olive oil sommelier.

Like making extra virgin olive oil itself, it’s a mix of art and science. 

Step 1: Build your sensory foundation.

The best part of it all, and it’s totally free. Start smelling and tasting *everything*. 

I remember on one of my earlier visits to a top-quality, award-winning producer who’s done hundreds of hours of courses across farming, milling, and tasting. As we prepared for lunch at her home surrounded by her groves, she was picking up and smelling everything—even the pepper mill.

As you go through your day, bring a meditative awareness to your senses and smell plants, fruits, vegetables, herbs, fragrances—and make a point to register what they are. 

This is about building up your sensory bank.

You should also go ahead and start trying as many different olive oils as you can get your hands on. 

This means:

• Tasting widely and regularly. 

• Comparing fresh versus oxidised oils (just-opened versus ones that are more than 6 months old).

• Noting down what you smell and taste with all of them. Try them on their own and with simple ingredients like bread or tomatoes. 

Many start informally—tasting oils from different regions, cultivars, and harvest dates.

Step 2: Enrol in a recognised certification program

Look for programs aligned with international standards. Ask around with people you know or brands you respect in the space for their recommendations about courses in your area.

Reputable courses typically include:

• Sensory science
• Olive cultivation and milling
• Chemistry of olive oil
• Practical blind tastings
• Written and sensory exams

Some of the courses I hear positive things about in the industry and ones I would consider for myself include: 

• Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Olio di Oliva (ONAOO)—the oldest in the world, based in Italy.
• Escuela Superior del Aceite de Oliva (ESAO)—This is where I did my original olive oil sommelier certification, based in Spain.
• University of Jaén (UJA)—Course based in the olive oil capital of the world.
• University of California at Davis—Based in California as a part of UC Davis.

• Olive Oil Times—A rotating show in places like London, New York, and Amsterdam.

Once you’ve completed this and have passed your sensory exams, it’s really just the beginning. You can continue to do courses and learn more advanced techniques or go into the wider world of olive oil (for example, being knowledgeable in grove management and milling will only make you a more valuable professional).

But the main thing is…

Step 3: Keep tasting. Forever.

Widen your horizons and seek out more and more styles of EVOOs:

• Try every harvest, ideally with notes so you can reference the previous ones.
• Discover more across countries and cultivars. 
• Explore varieties from the same region at different harvest times (producers will often have batches from across the season, and it’s fascinating to try them and see the changes from October to December)

• Taste with groups: alongside producers, panels or fellow industry peers, across other food and drink experts (I love hearing the sensory notes of wine sommeliers about olive oil), and of course—everyday people to understand what they perceive aromas and flavours to be.

The more you keep your nose and palate open, the sharper it will be and the more you can identify good and bad. 

Skills that set great olive oil sommeliers apart.

Certification is important, but it’s not everything. The best sommeliers share a few traits:

• A strong sense of smell: Some of this is just how you’re made. Some people are far more sensitive to smells than others. I’ve always had a particularly sensitive nose, as did my father, and it’s a blessing and a curse!
• Good taste: Like the above, some people actually have more taste buds than others or have a more precise palate. I can always identify much more from the aromas than taste, but my partner, and international spirits judge, is just the opposite.
• Curiosity: Or maybe it's an obsession. They love the details. They want to understand the climate that season, how old the tree was, at what temperature was reached in milling, what sort of filter was used.

• Charismatic: Most of us sommeliers have passion, or we wouldn’t have spent the money and time to even do the certification. There’s no shortage of that in the expert tasting world. But charisma is a whole other thing, and it’s what makes a good educator across the board.

I know countless sommeliers and expert tasters, but as far as who’d I actually hire to lead an event with my customers—well, that’s just a handful. 

Yes, I would need them to be very knowledgeable and have a depth of stories from their curiosity-led adventures, but if they’re not enthusiastic and charismatic, then they won’t help convert the masses into quality extra virgin olive oil and do the justice that so many incredible, artisan, high-quality producers deserve for all their hard work. 

Do you want more recommendations or connections in the olive oil world? Drop us a line at oliveus@citizensofsoil.com and we can help you out.