Step into the world of Greek extra virgin olive oil with a premium sensory workshop at the LIÁ Olive Oil Hub in Messinia. This immersive experience is led by Cristina Stribacu, a certified olive oil taster and co-founder of LIÁ Cultivators, who brings deep expertise and storytelling to every element of the session.
Begin with a warm welcome at the LIÁ Olive Oil Hub, a dedicated space created to celebrate Messinia’s rich olive-growing heritage. Receive an introduction to the fundamentals of extra virgin olive oil: how it is produced, what defines its quality, and why Greece is known globally for its exceptional olive varieties and traditional techniques.
Cristina will guide you through the lifecycle of olive oil—from the tree and the fruit to extraction, sensory evaluation, and proper storage and will introduce you to the professional tasting method, explaining the key attributes that experts look for: fruitiness, bitterness, and pungency.

Learn how to warm the tasting glass, how to evaluate aroma and flavor, and how to identify the hallmarks of a true extra virgin olive oil. Using a curated aroma bar, smell both positive attributes (such as fresh herbs, tomato leaf, citrus, and green almond) and common defects (such as fusty or rancid scents). This hands-on segment helps you build confidence and trains your senses to recognize quality.
Each olive oil has its own character, shaped by variety, terroir, climate, and harvesting methods. A sensory map will be provided, allowing you to record your impressions and understand how professionals evaluate olive oil during international competitions and quality assessments.
Between tastings, cleanse your palate with local bread and water to ensure a clean sensory experience. Throughout the workshop, Cristina shares fascinating insights into sustainable cultivation, harvest timing, milling processes, and the role of polyphenols in flavor and health. Learn how to pair different olive oils with foods, elevate your cooking, and choose the right oil for different methods—whether drizzling, cooking, dipping, or finishing.
Towards the end of the session, take part in an interactive Q&A discussion. This is your chance to ask anything—how to shop for quality olive oil, how to recognize misleading marketing terms, how to store olive oil at home, or how to incorporate EVOO into a healthy Mediterranean lifestyle. Many visitors also enjoy hearing Cristina’s personal journey and the story behind LIÁ, which adds a meaningful cultural dimension to the experience.
The workshop concludes back at the tasting area of the LIÁ Olive Oil Hub, where you can reflect on what you’ve learned and enjoy a final aromatic exploration. Leave not only with a deeper understanding of Greek olive oil, but with practical skills that you can use for the rest of your life—allowing you to confidently evaluate quality, appreciate the nuances of monovarietal oils, and recognize freshness no matter where in the world you buy olive oil.