Slideshow
‘Maverick Taster of Olive Oil’, the new book by international olive oil maven Simon Field
In Maverick Taster Simon Field, founder of International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes, relates his experience from olive farmer to international extra virgin olive oil profiler and industry maven. He recounts lessons, discoveries, and challenges that have led to his unique approach to taste and flavour descriptions.
Through engaging anecdotes and practical insights gathered across the globe, readers learn how flavours are identified, evaluated, and enjoyed while gaining a deeper understanding of the people, cultures, and traditions shaping food.
More than a book about olive oil, Maverick Taster is an invitation to think independently, embrace diversity in flavour, and develop confidence in communicating your own sensory experience. A new and unique method of olive oil profiling, the Savantes Savourgram©, is shared in detail to improve the quantification of positive flavours, enhance accountability, and estimate the relative value of olive oils available to consumers. By the final page you will have a template to build your own flavour-based olive oil enterprise with an open mind and the confidence to encourage others to join you.
It’s About Time; Savantes Launches a New Approach to Extra Virgin Olive Oil Profiling
It is about time; Savantes launches the Savourgram© which gives a visual profile of the intensity, persistence, and flavours of an Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Simon Field, founder of International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes and creator of the Savourgram©, offers the new method as a practical visual aid to describing flavour to consumers. He said,’ Most of the descriptions of flavour are abstract, the flavour profile articulated but not defined, the positive characteristics are not quantified, and the length or persistence of the flavours is not timed. The Savourgram © profiles the oil and increases accountability’.
Savantes Seville, Spain
Using the Savantes Savourgram© to Profile Extra Virgin Olive Oils as a Commercial Advantage
Programme Seville 10th and 11th September 2026
Hotel Becquer, 4 Reyes Catolicos, Seville, Spain
An invitation only, one-off, event to promulgate the use of the innovative flavour profiling method – the Savantes Savourgram©.
Members of the International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes Register (including those who become members after the skills test on September 11th) will leave with:
- The ability to use the Savantes Savourgram©.
- The authority to use the Savourgram© in their enterprises for prescribed activities and with appropriate attribution.
- Access to modifications and refinements of the method.
- Access to the ‘Aegis of Savantes’ affirmation for events.
Every participant will leave with a new and unique practical method of profiling extra virgin olive oil for clients, sales, marketing, blending, training, and events.
ERTH - Pioneering Extra Virgin Olive Oil event, ‘The Many Facets of Olive Oil’, launched in Jordan by the ‘ERTH’ initiative.
ERTH (an Arabic word meaning heritage, culture, and tradition passed down through generations) is an initiative launched by Savante Tala Saket, merging culinary craftsmanship with sensory fluency to create stimulating experiences centred around Extra Virgin Olive Oil. ERTH is the lens through which place, culture and emotion are captured.
Its first event, ‘The Many Facets of Olive Oil’, was launched in Amman, Jordan, on 18 April 2026. A model that is built on the progressive sensory structure of olive oil moving from flavour recognition and oil identification to culinary application and transformation. Participants were guided through the Savantes inspired ‘Alphabet of Aroma’ to sharpen aroma description, then profiling of three extra virgin olive oils (from Spain, Jordan, and Tunisia), and testing the flavour impact of the oils with a series of dishes of Jordanian cuisine, created from local seasonal ingredients.