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With a record par­tic­i­pa­tion of 704 entries, includ­ing 80 fla­vored oils, the sixth EVO International Olive Oil Contest (EVO-IOOC) con­cluded with an awards event in Palmi.

The pic­turesque city on Calabria’s Violet Coast wel­comed judges from sev­eral coun­tries, includ­ing Canada, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, to taste the sam­ples in per­son once again after the pre­vi­ous edi­tion had to be held remotely.

“From the early stage of plan­ning, I truly hoped I could reunite our inter­na­tional panel here in Palmi,” Antonio G. Lauro, the competition’s pres­i­dent, told Olive Oil Times.

“And not because in-per­son tast­ings are bet­ter than online ones, but because we all felt the need to shake the dust off our glasses, meet up again and return to dis­cuss and work shoul­der-to-shoul­der, always in the best inter­est of all the farm­ers that have entrusted us with their ​‘fam­ily jew­els,’ ” he added.

Olive oils and condi­ments were assessed dur­ing four days of tast­ings at the CapoSperone Resort facil­i­ties, ade­quately set up to com­ply with Covid-19 reg­u­la­tions.

“This record edi­tion proves that the pro­duc­ers are more com­mit­ted than ever to pur­su­ing qual­ity,” Lauro said.

Along with the man­ag­ing direc­tor Stefania Reggio, he pre­sented the recip­i­ents of gold and sil­ver medals and other awards (best inter­na­tional, best in class, best of coun­try and spe­cial awards) from a mobile stu­dio located in the city cen­ter. The cer­e­mony was live-streamed on the EVO-IOOC social pages and local tele­vi­sion.

In the Northern Hemisphere, pro­duc­ers from Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal reached the high­est ech­e­lons of the podium, and sev­eral prizes also went to entrants from Turkey, Tunisia, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon.

“We are very happy with this recog­ni­tion that repays all our efforts,” Cesare Bianchini, the pro­ducer behind Domenica Fiore, said after receiv­ing the Best International North Hemisphere award for his Novello di Notte.

“This has been a great sea­son since, in addi­tion to qual­ity, we also had good vol­umes,” the Umbrian farmer said. ​“Every year, we strive to pro­duce higher qual­ity. Last year, we were helped by favor­able cli­mate con­di­tions; our com­mit­ment and the hard work in the olive grove did the rest.”

Producers from Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru stood out among the entrants from the Southern Hemisphere.

“Receiving this award is a great honor for us that jus­ti­fies all our hard work year after year, and espe­cially in the last har­vest,” said Rafael Marchetti of Prosperato, who received the Best International Southern Hemisphere award for a Picual mono­va­ri­etal.

“We had a much big­ger amount of olives than we were expect­ing, at least three times more com­pared to last year, and the cli­mate helped too,” he added. ​“At our mill, we pro­vide extrac­tion and bot­tling ser­vices for other pro­duc­ers, and for the first time, we received more olives from oth­ers than from our groves. That just proves how the olive trees are tak­ing their space and grow­ing well in Rio Grande do Sul.”

The event pro­gram also included a mas­ter­class held by Lauro, who con­ducted a tast­ing ses­sion with some award-win­ning prod­ucts. The event will soon be repeated else­where in Italy, Greece and other coun­tries, as part of a series of pro­mo­tional activ­i­ties imple­mented by the com­pe­ti­tion.

All the com­pe­ti­tion win­ners may be found on the EVO-IOOC web­site and the paper guide EVO-IOOC Buyers Edition 2021/22, which is pub­lished in English and Italian.