Agraria di Riva Conducts Expert Tasting Tests to Certify High-Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Two or three days a week, the Agraria di Riva conducts taste tests performed by three tasters (a qualification awarded after attending specialized courses), including the same director Mario Zumiani, the oil mill technician Fabio Tasin from the association, and Estat technician Franco Michelotti.

The quality of extra virgin olive oil is determined not only by chemical analyses but also by the assessments of tasters whose judgment has, in recent years, become an essential requirement by regulation. If an oil does not score at least a 6.5 in the tasting—meaning it is free from defects—it cannot be classified as extra virgin.

They decide whether a batch of oil is of sufficiently high quality to “deserve” a place in the Agraria’s warehouse (which sells its extra virgin at around 23,000/24,000 lire per liter) or if it must be discarded and returned to the grower.

Despite the excellent outcome of the 2000 harvest, some containers of oil were sent back to the sender: the brand is only stamped on products approaching perfection.