Slideshow
Are Laboratories the Replacing the Palate?
There are many reasons given for the current oversupply of olive oil around the world – tariffs, trade agreements, loss of consumer confidence and the ubiquitous absence of educated consumers. Most of these are out of the control of the producers.
Contributing to this oversupply is declining or stagnant consumption in the main consuming countries – Spain, Italy, Greece and the USA.
There is one consideration which we observe in tasting extra virgin olive oils in Savantes programmes which does not get much attention. That is the question of whether the drive for quality defined by chemical parameters is producing a robust and bitter style and flavour of extra virgin olive oil which consumers do not like.
Team from Navarre wins first World Extra Virgin Olive Oil Team Tasting Championship
The first World Champion Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Team is Los Navarros from Spain. The team comprised Roberto Gracia Sagasti, Carlos Gracia Sagasti and Mario Gomara Alfaro – all producers and taste panellists. Second was the Greek LET team of Lykourgos Polychronopoulos, Efstathia Zontanou and Takis Dimitrakopoulos. Lykourgos also became the fifth Savante and the first from Greece. The Greek JNP team were third and tied for fourth were the Team de Nimes from France and Los Narizones from Spain.
The championship was held in Priego de Cordoba, Spain, in Association with the Association for Quality Control of the Oils of the Region of Priego de Cordoba ((ASCCAL).
Eight competitors achieved Associate Savantes for the first time. The new Associates are Roberto Gracia Sagasti, Carlos Gracia Sagasti, Mario Gomara Alfaro, Isabel Calvache Gisberti, Covadonga Perez Silva from Spain, Julie Carou and Helene Lasserre from France and John Angelis from Greece.
Oils tasted at New York Savantes November 2019
Participants at the 2019 Extra Virgin Olive oil Savantes tasting programme held in New York tasted a range of the best extra virgin olive oils from around the world.
As always, we thank the producers, processors, distributors and retailers who send their oils for inclusion in the programme - they help to make the programme what it is!
Oils tasted at the World Team Tasting Championship 2019
A very big thank you to all the producers from around the world who provided their high quality extra virgin olive oil for the World Team Tasting Championship held in Spain in October 2019. Your support is essential and much appreciated.
