Oil tasting in 3 easy steps.

Learn how to taste the liquid gold of Rioja Alavesa.

On our last trip to Rioja Alavesa, we got to know Arrolan oil, a high quality oil produced in 5 municipalities of Rioja Alavesa, Basque Country. Eva, our guide, showed us each and every one of the secrets that keeps the elaboration of this liquid so appreciated in our gastronomic culture, the liquid gold, the Basque oil.

Our hostess, Eva, showed us a traditional Trujal (oil mill or oil press) in the town of Lanciego in Alava before starting the tasting, an experience that perfectly complements the subsequent tasting, helping to understand the elaboration of this highly prized liquid.

With this article on the basic concepts of an oil tasting we want to bring our readers closer to a different, peculiar tasting, an experience 100% recommended. We are sure that many of you have attended on more than one occasion a wine tasting, a tasting with which, in general, you are more familiar, and which shares particularities with the oil tasting. Do you want to know all the details of an oil tasting? Stay tuned because the adventure begins, the Arrolan oil tasting begins.

In any self-respecting oil tasting, 3 aspects, 3 characteristics are valued. Its bitterness, the level of fruitiness and the spiciness, all of them present to a lesser or greater degree in the oils of our land. These 3 characteristics are indicators of the variety of olive with which the oil is made (Arroniz in this case, a variety similar to the picual variety) and the early harvesting of the same. Although most of us are not accustomed to the spiciness and bitterness of the oil, experts keep repeating that these are positive attributes in a first cold extraction extra virgin olive oil, beneficial attributes for the consumer’s health.

Unlike a wine tasting, there is no visual analysis, only olfactory and gustatory analysis accompanied by a structural analysis of consistency, so let’s forget about its color, so that it does not deceive us.

Aroma: In order to more easily capture the aroma of the oil to be tasted, we should warm it to a temperature of approximately 28º. To do this, we will close the glass with one hand (professionals use a glass for this action) and with the other palm of the hand we rub the glass warming it by friction. A couple of minutes should be enough to heat it, once hot we must tilt the glass to wet the largest possible surface of the glass, open the hand and smell, breathe slowly but strongly. What aromas does it remind you? Apple? Grass? Olive?

Taste: With the oil warm, without letting it cool, we proceed to taste it, a small sip is enough. It should be tasted slowly, trying to appreciate in detail the passage of the oil throughout the mouth. Make short and forceful aspirations to reinforce the taste. Remember that we must appreciate all the sensations in the mouth, from the spiciness to the bitterness, passing through the fruity. We will evaluate according to the intensity (light/medium/intense).

Consistency: Although experts evaluate the consistency of the oil in the mouth using the palate and tongue, it can be clearly appreciated by letting it slide over the surface of a container. Thus, we can find oils of different textures:

In this case, the Arrolan oil was a pleasant surprise for us, novice oil tasters, in overall terms. What about you? Do you dare to taste oil?