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Olive Oil Tasting Sheets |
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Tasting Sheets |
Different grading bodies use different sheets. Below are some commonly used in the U.S. They are in Adobe format. Click on the link to view the forms
- Sensory Assessment Sheet
(used by COOC tasting panels) - Olive Oil Tasting Grading Sheet Style 2
(as used at the Los Angeles County Fair) - EuropeanTasting Sheet
- IOOC Sensory Evaluation of Olive Oil
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Sensory Wheel |
To assist olive oil organoleptic evaluation where flavor and fragrance are analyzed, several companies and researchers have come up with tasting wheels. Although intriguing, they are not commonly used. Some are in the form of an olive oil tasting bar or pie chart as below
- Go to Mojet wheel
- Go to Recognose wheel
- J. Mojet "The Sensory Wheel: A proposal for Standard Reference of Virgin Olive Oil Sensory Evaluation" in Proceedings of the Symposium on Sensory and Nutritional Quality of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Milano 1993, pp10 See wheel below:
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Recognose Wheel - An olive oil tasting wheel has been developed by Richard Gawel, leader of the Australian Olive Association Tasting Panel. The sensory wheel lists 72 terms that can be used to describe the complex range of aromas and tastes found in virgin olive oils.
Gawel explains his motivation behind undertaking the project. "Finding the right terms to describe complex foods such as olive oil is a difficult task. Known as the 'tip of the nose' phenomenon, it is very common for someone to recognize an aroma or flavor, although they are unable to find the correct term to describe it. Having access to a structured and comprehensive list of descriptors can greatly assist them in finding the right terms to accurately describe the olive oil" explains Gawel.
The use of the 'wheel' format whereby descriptive terms are listed around its perimeter, with similar aromas and tastes being adjacent to each other, was inspired by the success of the now famous Wine Aroma Wheel developed at the University of California, Davis.
The 72 terms fall into the main olive oil sensory classes of herbaceous, fruity, fragrant, spicy, nutty, dried, defects, tactile and taste. Their selection was based on how frequently experienced olive oil tasters are perceived to use them, as well as their occurrence in the olive oil tasting literature. Gawel explains that "some descriptors such as 'buttery', 'nutty' and 'grassy' are commonly used in that they define specific oil styles. Others are varietal. Examples include the 'perfumed' character of the Tuscan variety Frantoio, and the 'tomato leaf' character found in the Spanish varieties Picual and Nevadillo Blanco. Others would seem rather unusual with the 'malt' like character found in some oils made from the Italian variety, Leccino, and the 'cat wee' and 'crushed ant or formic' character found in some very ripe oils."
Full color, laminated, A3 (29.7 x 42.0 cms) sized copies of the Olive Oil Tasting Wheel can be obtained from Recognose for $AUD31 (approximately $US18 which includes freight). A4 and credit card sized versions will also be available shortly.
Free lower resolution black and white copies can also be downloaded from the Recognose website . These can be used for private non-commercial purposes.
Richard Gawel is the developer of the Olive Oil Tasting Wheel. He is the leader of the Australian Olive Association, Olive Oil Tasting Panel that under his supervision has obtained official recognition by the International Olive Oil Council. He is also the Principal of Recognose Pty Ltd, a company that manufactures and distributes aroma reference cards. email: richard@aromadictionary.com