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With an absolutely out­stand­ing per­for­mance once again, Italy reaf­firmed at the New York International Olive Oil Competition its lead­ing role in the pro­duc­tion of excellence.

Italian extra vir­gin olive oils suc­ceeded at the world’s largest and most pres­ti­gious olive oil con­test gain­ing the high­est num­ber of awards, with 152 pro­duc­ers rewarded for their remark­able work. This result, along with the very large col­lec­tion of entries sub­mit­ted from Italy, which amounted to a record-break­ing 253, is even more impres­sive if we con­sider the chal­lenges olive grow­ers had to face dur­ing a not-so-easy easy season.

The com­mit­ment of pro­duc­ers devoted to high-qual­ity was extolled by the NYIOOC pres­i­dent Curtis Cord last night dur­ing a stir­ring speech which pre­ceded the award cel­e­bra­tion. In a room packed with indus­try pro­fes­sion­als, jour­nal­ists, pro­duc­ers, chefs and lovers of extra vir­gin olive oil, Cord under­lined not only the con­crete ded­i­ca­tion but also the sense of respon­si­bil­ity towards chil­dren, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ties which finds expres­sion in the admirable work of pro­duc­ers. Some of them gave Olive Oil Times their first impres­sion of this major Italian success.

“We are so excited for this sig­nif­i­cant recog­ni­tion,” said Francesco Le Donne right after the prize announce­ment. His Colline Pontine PDO organic mono­va­ri­etal of Itrana Villa Pontina was awarded a Best in Class which crowned a suc­cess­ful story of qual­ity started three years ago. ​“Our olive groves have ben­e­fited from a cli­mat­i­cally favor­able sea­son and still we did our best to reach the high­est stan­dards,” he pointed out with deep satisfaction.

“This great news made us all very happy,” echoed Filippo Alampi of Fattoria Ramerino. ​“Watching the live stream of the NYIOOC press con­fer­ence has become an enjoy­able tra­di­tion, a stand­ing appoint­ment that gave us great sat­is­fac­tion over the years,” remarked the Tuscan pro­ducer of the Best in Class win­ner Guadagnolo Primus, a medium fruity blend with aro­mas of grass and arti­choke on his third suc­cess­ful par­tic­i­pa­tion in a row at the NYIOOC.

“We are filled with emo­tion about this Gold Award, which is the third impor­tant recog­ni­tion we received from the inter­na­tional panel of the New York con­test,” said Spiros Borraccino of Oilalá. ​“We par­tic­i­pated in this pres­ti­gious com­pe­ti­tion with our Coratina from olive trees located between Minervino Murge and Barletta,” the Apulian pro­ducer pointed out, adding that that the main chal­lenge over the last sea­son was drought. ​“But if you con­stantly fol­low what hap­pens in the olive grove and if you are care­ful, you can reach great results.”

A Gold Award went to the organic Nocellare Etnea mono­va­ri­etal made at Tenuta Vasadonna by Salvatore Scuderi. ​“The NYIOOC is a great event and an impor­tant show­case,” the Sicilian grower said with sat­is­fac­tion from his farm on the slopes of Mount Etna. ​“It pro­vides an oppor­tu­nity for a stim­u­lat­ing com­par­i­son with sev­eral par­tic­i­pants from all over the world. However, Italian qual­ity goes for­ward also thanks to the joint effort of pro­duc­ers, millers and opin­ion lead­ers which are doing a good job,” he con­sid­ered, adding that this recog­ni­tion came at the end of a tough year, which required a lot of work. ​“But it is really worth the effort.”