Patrick J. O’Brien is Director of Marketing for FIORE Artisan Olive Oils & Vinegars, an importer and retailer shop founded by his wife Nancy in Bar Harbor Maine in 2009. FIORE has expanded over the past 13 years with two more retail locations in Maine, three tasting bars and over 40 authorized resellers across the US. An evolution in sourcing began 8 years ago resulting in the acquisition of all FIORE seasonal EVOO from small producers with whom Patrick and Nancy have become friends.
Patrick was gifted the course of study at ONAOO by Nancy and over the past nearly three years has attended classes in Imperia, online and achieved the certification as ONAOO’s Professional Taster entirely in his second language, Italian, which is an additional source of pride in this accomplishment.
Being a Professional Olive Oil Taster brings much pride to the FIORE brand and an unprecedented understanding of olive oil to its customers. Patrick leads the company in sourcing and promoting a wide range of extra virgin olive oils through in-store tasting experiences available to all customers.
I was born in Japan but have lived in several countries, including Italy for 16 years, where I undertook a course of study.
I began my professional career as an Export Manager for Mitsubishi Italia S.p.A. in the food industry, developing a passion for good food with a focus on olive oil, which soon became my main occupation. Since returning to Japan, I have been working as a Purchasing Manager for a major company specializing in cheese imports
In 2016, I commenced my training with ONAOO, which concluded in 2022 with my designation as a Professional Taster. I intend to pursue this interest further.
Giuseppe was born in a small town in the province of Foggia, San Giovanni Rotondo.
For work reasons he moved to Campania, where he still lives today.
Strongly tied to the memories of his beloved Puglia, Giuseppe decides to open a farm to be able to carry on the family business to which his father has dedicated himself for more than 50 years; in the middle of the Tavoliere delle Puglie, every year 2,400 olive trees are finely selected in order to offer the best extra virgin olive oil.
In order to enrich his knowledge, Giuseppe decides to start his training course in the ONAOO School in 2018 and ended in 2021: after passing the exams of the Advanced Course, Giuseppe obtains the qualification of ONAOO Professional Taster.
In addition to the training activities, Giuseppe participated in the ONAOO Meeting in 2020 and other online tasting activities also organized by the School.
Hilda is a certified Professional Olive Oil Taster since 2017 and a student with ONAOO since 2014.
She is a passionate home cook and baker always looking for new ways to use extra virgin olive oil in her kitchen.
She has published a Mediterranean cookbook, is a distributor of Olive oil (evirginoliveoils.com), has a food blog with lots of recipes (iwanttocookthat.com) and a YouTube channel (@iwanttocookthat3059).
Berk is a researcher at the World Bank with a PhD in economics.
He has been an ONAOO Professional Taster since 2022. His partner, Sarah Baird, and he have young olive trees in the South Island of New Zealand (Aotearoa) and they hope to produce extra virgin olive oil from their grove.
They live with two dogs and two sheep, love animals, and enjoy plant-based cooking.
Training as professional olive oil tasters is not only a personal pleasure: the universe that revolves around olive oil and its supply chain also offers a wide range of job, growth and specialization opportunities.
The advanced course allows you to consolidate and deepen your knowledge of oil tasting and obtain the qualification of ONAOO Professional Taster, but above all, to be included in the "International Register of Professional Tasters".
Participants learn about varieties, processing, and sensory tasting, with practical exercises under the guidance of experts.
Participants are invited to recognize strengths, weaknesses, qualities and organoleptic characteristics of the various oils
