From Novice to Connoisseur: Olive Oil 101 With Sommelier Wilma!

Olive oil sommelier Wilma teaches you the basics of olive oil

We all know the sommeliers who serve you wines. But did you know that there are also sommeliers who know everything about olive oil? Wilma van Grinsven is the only olive oil sommelier in Europe with a certificate from New York and her diploma from the olive oil school in Italy. At least, if she passes her exam next Monday.

When Van Grinsven came into contact with olive oil in 2007 because she took over a company with a number of partners, she mainly found it a scary product. “I knew that I liked the product and that the bottles looked good on the counter. But it was also a scary consumer product.” At that time, says Van Grinsven, olive oil was just emerging. “In the Netherlands, people were still mainly baking with butter.”

Little choice in olive oil

“It’s not a product that naturally suited me, you got olive oil for your birthday because it was trendy. I knew there were many types and flavors, but how do you combine it and what do you bake in it?” Where the shelves in the supermarket are now full of olive oil, back then you could choose from maybe five. Van Grinsven slowly became interested in the product. “I was responsible for quality within our company. Then you learn to taste it, use it and appreciate it. Olive oil is a one hundred percent natural product, like vegetables and fruit. I became incredibly interested in how the flavors between different olive oils can differ so much. And why are there so many bad types on the market? Very few people know how olive oil should really taste.”

Finding the best olive oil

But how do you know if you have good olive oil? “Your nose can tell you if you have good olive oil. Good olive oil smells fruity, sharp and bitter. A lot of oil in the supermarket smells ‘fusty’, then the olive oil is definitely not good.” You can easily recognize the fusty smell: it smells like black olive tapenade. Or like your used sports clothes that have been in the bag for a week. “Many consumers think that smell belongs to olive oil.”

If you really want good olive oil, Van Grinsven advises you to smell it and, if possible, to taste it. “A good olive oil starts with the nose. Does the oil smell fruity? Then you should think of the smell of fresh green, grass or fresh tomatoes. If you don’t smell anything, the oil is not good and is fine for frying. If the oil smells rancid – everyone knows that smell – then you can throw it away. The process has taken too long. From tree to press must happen within 24 hours.” The supermarket is also not a good place to find your really good olive oil. “Buyers want to come home with a fantastic bottle for a fantastic price and a harvest from this year. Nobody knows how to taste it anyway. The customer goes for the beautiful label, the new harvest and trusts the supermarket. If fruity, bitter and sharp don’t go together, you can have an extra virgin olive oil, but it won’t taste good with anything.”

Avoid the supermarket

Anyone who wants to hunt for good olive oil will have to go to the specialty stores, smell and taste. “Go smell and taste all the oils and let them tell you more about them.” No time or inclination to go to that specialty store and still looking in the supermarket? “Pay attention to the expiration date. That says something about the pressing date. After pressing, olive oil can still be bottled for two years. Make sure you have an oil that can be kept for another 18 months. Don’t pay attention to the beauty of the bottle or the label, but see if you can find out where the olives come from. Do they really come from Italy? It is also important that you have extra virgin oil. There is a lot of refined oil on the market.” Her last supermarket tip is also not unimportant. “Never buy oil on offer. There is always something wrong with it. An expert thinks it is dirty, an old harvest, they have to get rid of it in any case.”

Dutch, culinary cuisine

When you finally find that good olive oil, what do you actually do with it? “My ultimate dream is that everyone bakes in extra virgin olive oil, which has a mild character. We Dutch are used to baking our steak in butter, we can’t stand the taste of olive oil that well and prefer not to recognize it in our steak. While it is much healthier.” But Van Grinsven also recommends it in other dishes. “A mild oil is delicious in a salad with lamb’s lettuce, a spicy one goes well with rocket and beautiful Italian tomatoes. Olive oil combines well with everything from the ground, for example in pea soup. Then you get a truly Dutch, culinary soup! Good olive oil gives an extra dimension to your food.”