Slovenian Family Achieves International Acclaim for Organic Cuvée

Summary

The Morgan fam­ily, Slovenian olive oil pro­duc­ers, recently won a Gold award at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for their organic blend Cuvée, fur­ther enhanc­ing their global recog­ni­tion and aid­ing in mar­ket­ing efforts. Their excep­tional olive oil is crafted from a selec­tion of olive vari­eties grown in their near-ideal loca­tion in Grintovec near Koper, where they adhere to organic farm­ing prac­tices and metic­u­lous pro­cess­ing meth­ods to pre­serve the oil’s qual­ity through­out the year.

The Morgan fam­ily — Slovenian olive oil pro­duc­ers Silvana and Franc Morgan, their daugh­ters Jenny and Ariana, their sons-in-law, and their five grand­chil­dren — has fur­ther cause for cel­e­bra­tion. Following their recent tri­umph at the Koper (Capodistria) regional com­pe­ti­tion, where they secured the ​“Mayor’s Oil 2025” title after a strong show­ing, the fam­ily has received even more excit­ing news from New York.

“Our Morgan Cuvée organic extra vir­gin olive oil has been awarded a Gold for the eighth time at the pres­ti­gious NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. The excite­ment is as great as ever – it’s truly inde­scrib­able!” exclaims Franc Morgan. He acknowl­edges that this lat­est qual­ity cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, along with the recog­ni­tion from the world’s largest olive oil qual­ity assess­ment, sig­nif­i­cantly aids their mar­ket­ing and pro­mo­tion efforts.

“The acco­lades at the NYIOOC not only enhance our local and global recog­ni­tion but also help to pro­mote our region,” adds daugh­ter Jenny. The fam­ily has recently expanded its export mar­kets to Austria, Italy, Germany, Japan, and the United States.

In the 2024/25 har­vest year, the Morgans pro­duced 3,000 liters of their excep­tional olive oil. ​“We are pleased with this out­come, espe­cially con­sid­er­ing the chal­leng­ing con­di­tions of the past year. The sum­mer months brought intense heat and drought, which typ­i­cally impact oil accu­mu­la­tion in the fruit. However, the rain­fall in September improved the sit­u­a­tion. Notably, the heat also pre­vented pest infes­ta­tions, par­tic­u­larly the olive fly, result­ing in healthy, unblem­ished fruit and top-qual­ity oil,” explains Ariana, Jenny’s sis­ter.

Morgan’s organic blend Cuvée, crafted from a selec­tion of Istarska Belica, Leccino, Maurino, Moraiolo, and Rosciola olive vari­eties, won the Gold Award at the 2025 NYIOOC.

“Our oils are char­ac­ter­ized by their har­mo­nious pro­file, offer­ing a fresh, fruity char­ac­ter with an intense and appeal­ing taste,” say Jenny and Ariana.

The excep­tional qual­ity of the Morgans’ olive oil is also attrib­uted to their near-ideal fruit-grow­ing loca­tion. Their olive groves, com­pris­ing 1,200 trees, are sit­u­ated in Grintovec near Koper, 219 meters above sea level, within a pris­tine nat­ural envi­ron­ment. Here, the con­ver­gence of Mediterranean and con­ti­nen­tal cli­mates con­tributes to the fer­til­ity and health of the olive trees. The fam­ily adheres to organic farm­ing prac­tices, uti­liz­ing no chem­i­cal means of pro­tec­tion.

“The olives are har­vested by hand at opti­mal ripeness and imme­di­ately processed at the Santomas oil mill in Šmarje,” states Jenny. Following pro­cess­ing, the oil is promptly stored in stain­less steel tanks under gas and then bot­tled and main­tained at an opti­mal tem­per­a­ture of 16 to 18 degrees Celsius. This metic­u­lous process, Jenny explains, ​“allows us to pre­serve the max­i­mum qual­ity of the oil through­out the year.”

The Morgan fam­ily is con­fi­dent in their olive oil busi­ness’s con­tin­ued growth and suc­cess. The entire fam­ily is actively involved, and the con­tri­bu­tions of the younger gen­er­a­tion are expected to increase over time. ​“We all share a deep pas­sion for what we do and do what we love,” affirm Jenny and Ariana. They believe this is the key to their suc­cess.

Notably, Slovenian olive grow­ers are par­tic­i­pat­ing in the NYIOOC this year with seven sam­ples. In addi­tion to Morgan, other Slovenian pro­duc­ers who have received acco­lades in the com­pe­ti­tion include Hofer Gourmet olive grow­ers and wine­mak­ers, Matej Lisjak, and Timor, the olive oil pro­duced by the cou­ple Orijana Hrvatin and Timotin Zupan. Other Slovenian olive oil pro­duc­ers eagerly await the results of the glob­ally rec­og­nized com­pe­ti­tion in New York.