## 3 Results and Discussion
### Sensory Analysis  
Sensory analysis was performed by an officially recognized panel, according to the procedure reported in the European Commission regulation n. 2568/91 [16] and subsequent modifications. Attributes evaluated were fruity, bitter, and pungent. However, others like e.g., the attributes of leaves/grass, artichoke/cardoon, almond, tomato, berries as well as the total score represent an indication of the overall sensory quality of the oil [25]. The oils investigated showed a generally higher level of quality in 2015 as compared to 2016 whereas, for each of the cvs. investigated, the positive attributes resulted in almost all of the cases being higher in 2015 as compared to 2016 in several cases with significant differences (\(p<0.05\), Table 3). This can be explained by the environmental conditions of the two years. In 2016, higher humidity and lower temperature favoured the attack of the olives by _Bactrocera oleae_, which resulted in a generally lower intensity of the positive sensory attributes and, thus, a generally lower quality of the oils produced as compared to 2015 oils. This finding is also in agreement with the general trend observed in Italy in these two years and reported in the national database [7]. However, independently from seasonal variations, some peculiarities of the cvs. investigated are clearly shown by the results obtained. ASC in both the years results in a cultivar with the highest average value being received for the fruity attribute, and was confirmed to be characterized by a typical note of tomato [9], highlighted in a negligible amount in the cvs.. COR presents high values for all of the attributes with the only exceptions of tomato and berries attributes resulting in peculiarity of ASC and MIG, respectively. The high score for pungency, bitterness, and artichoke/cardoon in both years is in agreement with its high relative polar phenolic substances content, which is well known to provide the oil with these sensory notes. RAG has a peculiar sensory profile. In both the years, it received the highest average score for the attributes of the almond, which can be plausibly explained with its very high content of (\(E\))-2-hexenal, known to be a volatile molecule providing this sensory note. However, RAG was the variety that showed the highest variability in two years. It was the only one where all the parameters investigated (with the only exception of berries and tomato that are peculiar of specific cvs.) have scores significantly lower in 2016 as compared to 2015. The peculiar attribute of berries, specifically related to MIG, correlated with the content of hexyl acetate, found to be particularly high in MIG as compared to the other cvs. in both years. Hexyl acetate is a  
Figure 3: Comparison between the results obtained from sensory analysis and total antioxidant activity assay (TAA) of the 79 monovarietal extra virgin olive oils (MEVOOs) samples investigated (14 Ascolana tenera, 14 Coroncina, 15 Mignola, 17 Piantone di Mogliano, 19 Raggia) and 24 industrial extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) purchased from supermarkets. Positive bars indicate standard deviation. Significant differences between Industrial EVOOs and MEVOOs are highlighted by the asterisk (\(p<0.05\), One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test for a pairwise comparison).  
volatile substance recognized to provide fruity notes and previously associated with the berry note in wines [38]. A set of industrial EVOOs purchased from local supermarkets was also analysed in order to assess differences with MEVOOs investigated in the present study, which are artisanal products and generally recognized as having higher quality. A pronounced difference is found for each of the parameters considered in the sensory analysis (Figure 3). All of them resulted in significantly higher values in MEVOOs as compared to industrial EVOOs with the only exception of \"tomato\" and \"berries\" due to the fact that these attributes are specific of ASC and MIG, respectively. Thus, the results are negligible in the 79 MEVOOs investigated.