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Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Team Championships

Greece, Spain 2019

Savantes Renaissance Conference and Varietals 2019

March 25th and 26th 2019, Seville

Seville, Spain, 25-26 March 2019

International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes will convene two events in Sevilla, Spain on 25 and 26 March 2019.

The first will be Savantes Varietals, a day when extra virgin olive oils from many varietals around the world will be tasted. This day will be ideal preparation for the National Team Tasting Championships to be held the following week in Priego de Cordoba, and the World Championship to be held in October 2019. Identification of varietal oils is a key element in the Savantes Skills Review which forms the basis of National Team Tasting Championships worldwide and Savantes Certification.

Competent tasting of a range of varietals is a competitive advantage for tasting panels. With the variation in production in traditional regions and the advent of oils from the Southern Hemisphere, understanding varietals from emerging regions is also important to buyers and retailers.

The inaugural Greek National Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Team Championship will be held in Kalamata on 9 March 2019. The Championship will be coorganised by International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes and the Kalamata Olive Oil Taste Laboratory of the Technological Educational Institute of Peloponnese (TEI). Teams of three tasters of Greek domicile will compete for the title of National Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Team Champions of Greece. The winning team, and possibly the runners-up, will be invited to compete in the inaugural Team Tasting World Championship to be held in Priego de Cordoba, Spain, on the 4th and 5th October 2019.

The format of the Championship will follow that of the Championships held in Spain, France and the USA with the competitors undertaking individual taste tests before combining as a team to complete two team tests. The tests cover intensity ranking, variety identification, defect detection, regional varieties and blending.

26 March 2019, Seville, Spain
Hotel Becquer, 4 Reyes Catolicos, Seville, Spain

In 2001 Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes started as an idea, almost 20 years later International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes has close to 100 Associate Savantes and Savantes worldwide. Savantes come from many pursuits in the olive oil and related industries and have all demonstrated skill and knowledge by passing the Savantes Review.

There over a thousand professionals who have participated in Savantes events and over 200 producers who have supplied extra virgin olive oils for tasting.

This highly talented and professional group from many countries provides a unique opportunity to create an environment where free thinking about the present and future of the olive oil industry is encouraged.

This is the purpose of the Savantes Renaissance Conference.It will also provide a unique opportunity for enhancing networks and making new friends across many regions and professional pursuits.

Savantes Review
The Conference will start with the Savantes Review Skills Test to refresh tasting ability and provide an opportunity to achieve Savante status.

Seville, Spain
25 March 2019
Hotel Becquer, 4 Reyes Catolicos, Seville, Spain

Savantes believes that a better understanding and appreciation of the flavours of extra virgin olive oil from varietals from different regions will make the industry more efficient by:

  1. Fostering respect for products from different regions around the world
  2. Improving the correct classification of olive oils by panels
  3. Reducing the perception of defects which are different expressions of flavour by varietals
  4. Increasing the number of Savante participants who achieve Savante status.

To encourage broader knowledge of varietals, Savantes will hold a day of tasting varietals presented by Savantes, Associate Savantes and Savante Producer/Suppliers from the relevant regions.
Presentations will be in English.

  1. Perfect Score.