Just like good wine, Brisighella PDO extra virgin olive oil is a product that should be tasted carefully and methodically.
The figure of the extra virgin olive oil taster has become more popular in recent years thanks to the exponential growth of the world of food and wine.

Becoming a professional taster requires time, passion for this fine product and especially appropriate training, which is provided by numerous bodies, including Italy’s National Olive Oil Taster Organisation.

How do you taste Brisighella PDO extra virgin olive oil?

Sommeliers analyse two sensory aspects when tasting an oil: the nose and the palate.
By examining the aromas and flavours of the oil, we can identify possible defects and categorise the oil.

A blue (or dark-coloured) glass is used when tasting the oil to prevent the taster’s judgement being compromised by the appearance, which could create unnecessary bias.Other tools provided are the tasting/profile sheet, a pen, some small dishes with slices of apple and/or rusks, a glass of water and a spittoon.

The tasting process is carried out following these steps:

• Around 15 ml of oil is poured into the tasting glass. The glass is then covered with a watch glass and brought to a temperature of 28°C, to perform a more accurate organoleptic assessment.
• The taster swirls the glass to coat the inside with the oil.
• The aroma analysis is performed after removing the watch glass, aiming to discern as many aromas as possible within 30 seconds.
• Next comes the assessment of the taste sensations, both on the palate and retronasally, in the aftertaste. The taster takes a small sip of oil, looking to distribute it around their mouth to involve all the taste receptors so the bitter and piquant sensations can be properly appreciated.
• The last step is an action called ‘stripping’, a series of short, repeated inhalations to spread the sample throughout the oral cavity to allow the taster to perceive the volatile aromatic components retronasally by forcing air in through the mouth.
  The oil sample is then also swallowed to carefully assess the tactile sensation of the piquantness as well.

During the entire tasting process, the taster will use the tasting sheet provided to note all the sensations given by the sample being analysed.