Ercole Olivario, a competition for the best Italian extra virgin olive oils, concluded its 32nd edition on April 6th in Perugia at the San Francesco al Prato auditorium, a cultural landmark in the Umbrian capital city.
Promoted by the Italian Union of the Chambers of Commerce for Industry, Handicraft and Agriculture (Unioncamere), with the collaboration of the Umbria Chamber of Commerce, Ercole Olivario is the only institutional national competition dedicated to the olive oil sector.
See Also:Olive Oil Competitions NewsExpanded in recent years with the addition of several side initiatives, the competition aims to promote Italian olive oil producers and support quality-oriented companies.
During the closing event, Federico Sisti and Giorgio Mencaroni, the secretary general and president of the Umbria Chamber of Commerce, respectively, announced the 12 winners of the much-coveted trophy, consisting of a miniature replica of the temple of Hercules Olivarius.
Two producers were awarded from Umbria, Sardinia and Puglia, and one producer from each of Trentino-Alto Adige, Tuscany, Molise, Campania, Calabria and Sicily also earned awards.
Half the winning producers have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) certifications.
The award-winning olive oils will be the subject of the Shelf Life Monitoring Project, which will be carried out in collaboration with the University of Perugia.
“For this edition, we have introduced this experimental research project that further confirms the prestige of the competition,” Mencaroni said.
“It is performed through instrumental and sensory analyses and focuses on data concerning the long-term storage of the finalist extra virgin olive oils,” he added. “With special attention to their health properties, the study will provide information useful for both producers and consumers.”
Meanwhile, eight awards were given to producers from Sicily, Puglia, Lazio and Abruzzo at the fourth edition of the table olive quality contest, with one award per processing method.
Additionally, three PDO Sicilian farmers and two Tuscan and Apulian producers were awarded at La Goccia d’Ercole (The Drop of Hercules), dedicated to small-scale Italian producers.
Sisti said the side competition was established to give small-scale producers, some of whom do not meet minimum production requirements for larger competitions, a chance to experiment and have their extra virgin olive oils judged by an expert panel.
“It has indeed become an incubator, where we are discovering outstanding extra virgin olive oils, and also an experience through which the farmers have the chance to train to participate in the main contest in the future and to face the global market competition better,” he said.
Regional panels selected the participants in Ercole Olivario during tasting sessions carried out in the previous weeks. In some regions, the selections took place through a competition.
Fifteen brands from Lazio were admitted after winning the Premio Roma Evo held at the Rome Chamber of Commerce, while 13 Umbrian brands were selected at the Oro Verde dell’Umbria contest at its local chamber of commerce.
The national contest judging panel consisted of 16 professional tasters from all the participating Italian regions, led by a panel leader and a coordinator.
The event also saw the launch of the first report on oleotourism in Italy, the result of a collaboration between the association Città dell’Olio, the Unaprol-Coldiretti consortium and Roberta Garibaldi, a leading expert in food and wine tourism.
According to their study, the country’s oleotourism industry comprises around one million companies with a production value of almost €2 billion.
The report contains detailed data, other insights on the sector’s attractiveness and the best practices of Italian companies developing an oleotouristic reception project.
The Ercole Olivario organizers recently introduced the Giorgio Phellas special award for oleotourism, which went to the Sicilian company Mandranova.
“We are really delighted with this recognition because we strongly believe in the potential of oleotourism,” co-owner Silvia Di Vincenzo told Olive Oil Times. “Our company is close to the Valley of the Temples of Agrigento, a UNESCO-listed site and tourism reference point.”
“We have a receptive structure where we host people from all over the world and involve them in mini-olive oil tasting courses,” she added. “These courses include an explanation of the entire production process, information on the nutritional properties of extra virgin olive oil and suggestions for food pairings.”
“We want those who visit our company to understand what a high-quality extra virgin olive oil is and what lies behind its production,” Di Vincenzo continued.
During the event, other special awards were handed out to companies from Tuscany, Molise, Trentino-Alto Adige, Calabria and Umbria, which distinguished themselves in various areas, such as female and young entrepreneurship, digital communication and packaging.
Finally, the best monovarietal of the season, produced in Sardinia, received a mention of merit.
The Ercole Olivario winners for each category are:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Light Fruity
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Medium Fruity
Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Intense Fruity:
PDO/PGI – Light Fruity:
PDO/PGI – Medium Fruity:
PDO/PGI – Intense Fruity:
The Goccia d’Ercole winners are:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil:
PDO/PGI:
The Ercole Olivario website and social media pages provide a complete list of the 2024 winners and information on the scheduled events.
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