Cultivar influence on virgin olive (Olea europea L.) oil flavor based on aromatic compounds and sensorial profile

Sensory quality is an important property of virgin olive oil and is affected by different volatile and phenolic compounds. Their levels may be influenced by many factors, and one of the most important is the cultivar. Volatiles and phenols were correlated to sensory notes in virgin olive oils from 18 local cultivars in northern Italy assessed for 4 years in the same orchard. Most of the volatile and phenolic compounds showed an average content higher than odor and taste thresholds, explaining the correlations to sensory attributes. Some volatile compounds (e.g. ethanol, 2- methyl-propan-1-ol, pentan-1-ol, cis-2-penten-1-ol, cis-3-hexen-1-ol and octan-1-ol) and sensory attributes (e.g. ‘flowers’, ‘banana’, ‘apple’, ‘walnut’, ‘hay’, ‘butter’, ‘sweet’, ‘floral’ and ‘fruity’ notes) were found as cultivar dependent. Some cultivars, with a similar aromatic content, showed also analogous sensorial profile. ‘Favarol’, ‘Casaliva 1’, ‘Raza’, ‘Casaliva 2’, ‘Gargna` ’, ‘Mitria’, ‘Miniol’, and ‘Rossanello’ resulted in the same aromatic group, characterized by an average volatiles content, and in three close affinity groups with a middle sensorial profile. Moreover, ‘Maurino’ was always isolated, showing peculiar profiles. Local cultivars ‘Casaliva 1’, ‘Cornarol’, ‘Grignano’, ‘Trepp’ and ‘Regina’ overall have shown peculiar flavor profiles. Therefore, some of these often-underutilized cultivars could be employed in the new orchards in order to take advantage of their superior oil quality traits, in addition to some positive horticultural aspects. This could be particularly crucial for the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) oils, where the mere geographical origin could not be enough in favoring olive oil characterization and consumption, if sensorial and/or nutritional attributes are also not differentiated within a standard commercial commodity.