Olive Oil Sommelier (Oleologist)
A sommelier normally advises restaurant patrons in their choices of wine, but the term “sommelier” has been applied to other things besides wine. “(Olive) oil sommelier” was cited in print in 1989, in a travel book about Tuscany and Umbria.
Nicholas Coleman, Chief Olive Oil Specialist of Eataly NY, has the website Oleologist.com and is on Twitter at @oleologist. Coleman coined the word “oleologist” for an olive oil sommelier. “Nxt time u r @eataly look for Nick who is their oleologist - he is as mad about olive oil as I am about Pisco!” was cited on Twitter on October 5, 2011.
Twitter
Nicholas Coleman
@oleologist
Chief Olive Oil Specialist
Eataly NY
oleologist.com
Oleologist.com
NICHOLAS COLEMAN
Class A extra virgin olive oil is, after salt, the most fundamental ingredient in the culinary world. A wide variety of boutique, single-estate oils has enriched the olive oil market over the past few years. How best to pair these oils with the appropriate cuisines and courses requires an understanding of their individual virtues.
Nicholas is the Chief Oleologist at Eataly NY and teaches guests and staff about their collection of more than one hundred single-estate extra virgin olive oils. He has also taught oil courses in America for Zagat’s Master Class, Bon Appetit, The International Culinary Center, The Institute of Culinary Education, Eataly, Cornell, NYU and Columbia University, Platinum Country Clubs and to Mario Batali’s critically acclaimed chefs and sommeliers nationwide.
Google Books
Tuscany & Umbria
By Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls
Chester, CT: Globe Pequot Press
1989
Pg. 40:
Not only does the olive oil have corks, but the trend in some of the smarter restaurants is to offer an olive oil list similar to a wine list — one restaurant in Tuscany even has an oil sommelier!
Twitter
NYC Sidewalker
@NYCsidewalker
A friend of mine just became a certified Olive Oil Sommelier! Who knew? Congrats!
8:54 PM - 25 Nov 2009
Twitter
Mad About Pisco
@MadAboutPisco
@jordanarothman nxt time u r @eataly look for Nick who is their oleologist - he is as mad about olive oil as I am about Pisco!
10:35 AM - 5 Oct 2011
Vancouver Sun—Word of Mouth blog by Mia Stainsby
Olive oil: the frauds, the good stuff, the recipes
January 24, 2012. 10:37 am
(...)
“The pepperiness is an indicator of polyphenols which are high in antioxidants. In two months time, it won’t be as peppery,” says Kuhn, who has olive oil sommelier certificate from the International Olive Oil Council, an inter-governmental organization.
Olive Oil Times
Olive Oil Immersion Course Comes to New York City
By VANESSA STASIO on February 6, 2014
The National Organization of Olive Oil Tasters (ONAOO), home of Italy’s premier olive oil tasting school, will be hosting an immersive, five-day olive oil tasting course in New York City this March. Historically only offered at ONAOO’s headquarters in Imperia, Italy, the program is the first of its kind in the United States and will be held at the acclaimed restaurant Del Posto.
(...)
Nicholas Coleman, chief oleologist at Eataly in New York, and Kathryn Tomajan, founder of Eat Retreat, are co-organizers of the course.
Daily News (New York, NY)
There’s now a ‘sommelier’ for everything, including hot sauce, mustard and honey
BY GINA PACE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, June 22, 2015, 7:23 PM
(...)
“Olive oil, like wine, has yearly vintages and regions,” says Nicholas Coleman, who hawks 100 varieties of the slippery stuff at Eataly. “If it just said ‘red wine’ on the bottle, how could you possibly make an educated purchase?”
Coleman’s official title is “chief oleologist” — though it appears he was the one who coined the word to lend scientific sheen to his work as an oil sommelier. But Coleman has the bona fides to back it up: He survived a grueling 16-round, two-day certification test that required him to sniff out varying levels of defects in 12 unmarked glasses of oil.