World Olive Oil Competition Southern Hemisphere Live Updates

Oct. 16 16:08 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

Australian pro­duc­ers are cel­e­brat­ing their sec­ond-high­est suc­cess rate of 88 per­cent at the NYIOOC after win­ning 15 awards this year, just one award shy of their record in 2018. Even though the country’s olive oil yield was lower than aver­age this year, qual­ity remained char­ac­ter­is­ti­cally high.

Across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand, a Silver Award went to Loopline Olives after a dif­fi­cult har­vest trou­bled by adverse cli­matic con­di­tions.

Oct. 16 12:58 UTC

Costas Vasilopoulos report­ing from Athens

No less than 14 (8 Gold and 6 Silver) of the industry’s most cov­eted qual­ity awards are shin­ing in Chile, set­ting a new record for the coun­try in the world’s largest olive oil qual­ity con­test.

Despite drought dom­i­nat­ing much of the country’s fer­tile cen­tral val­ley this year, pro­duc­ers eas­ily sur­passed their pre­vi­ous high­est tally of ten awards received in 2019.

With 14 of their 20 olive oil sam­ples reach­ing the world stage, Chilean pro­duc­ers achieved a remark­able suc­cess rate of 70 per­cent in this year’s edi­tion of the NYIOOC, their sec­ond-high­est in the competition’s his­tory,

Oct. 16 15:34 UTC

Costas Vasilopoulos report­ing from Athens

Argentine olive oil pro­duc­ers have made a strong pres­ence at the World Competition with four awards (1 Gold and 3 Silver) and a 50 per­cent suc­cess rate in the 2023 NYIOOC com­pe­ti­tion.

With olive oils from the foothills of the Andes, pro­duc­ers have matched the country’s their tally in the 2020 and 2019 edi­tions of the world’s most pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity con­test.

Oct. 16 15:07 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

South African high qual­ity EVOO pro­duc­ers scored a record 16 awards at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition Southern Hemisphere edi­tion.

With 14 Gold and two Silver Awards, South African pro­duc­ers reached a 100 per­cent suc­cess rate at the 2023 NYIOOC. Their wins have grown steadily in lat­est years. In 2014, they were awarded for just 11 per­cent of their entries.

Oct. 16 15:03 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

Brazilian pro­duc­ers have secured their high­est-ever num­ber of awards at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition by earn­ing a stag­ger­ing 48 awards this time around.

After enter­ing their high­est-ever num­ber of extra vir­gin olive oils at the eleventh edi­tion of the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, Brazilian pro­duc­ers achieved their sec­ond-high­est suc­cess rate of 91 per­cent.

What’s more is Brazil’s mete­oric rise at the com­pe­ti­tion. The South American pro­ducer first made an entrance at the World Competition by sub­mit­ting one sam­ple in 2015. This year the country’s pro­duc­ers pre­sented 53 — the sev­enth-high­est num­ber of entries glob­ally — at the NYIOOC.

Factors that have played a role in Brazil’s phe­nom­e­nal growth as a world-class pro­ducer are advance­ments in tech­nol­ogy in the olive oil indus­try and improved agro­nomic meth­ods.

Oct. 16 15:00 UTC

Daniel Dawson report­ing from Montevideo

The debut Southern Hemisphere-spe­cific por­tion of the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition con­cluded today, with pro­duc­ers from seven coun­tries cel­e­brat­ing 101 awards.

Overall, 2023 was a record year at the world’s largest and most pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity com­pe­ti­tion for pro­duc­ers from South America, Africa and Oceania.

Except for Australia and New Zealand, which had rel­a­tively poor har­vests, other coun­tries lever­aged bumper har­vests to sub­mit an unprece­dented 121 entries.

The biggest win­ner by far was Brazil, which earned 48 awards, exceed­ing the pre­vi­ous record of 30 medals set in 2022.

“[Winning an award at the NYIOOC] is a water­shed mile­stone, as it rep­re­sents the achieve­ment of an inter­na­tional qual­ity stan­dard,” said André Bertolucci, the olive oil spe­cial­ist for Brazilian pro­ducer Olivas de Gramado. ​“The big chal­lenge now is to main­tain this stan­dard and increas­ingly evolve in the har­vest­ing and extrac­tion processes.”

Along with Brazil, pro­duc­ers in South Africa and Chile set new records with 16 and 14 awards, respec­tively. South African pro­duc­ers enjoyed a phe­nom­e­nal year, with a 100 per­cent suc­cess rate for 16 sub­mit­ted sam­ples.

“The extra vir­gin olive oil indus­try might be small, but we can com­pete with the best oils world­wide,” said Janice Vijoen, mar­ket­ing man­ager of South Africa’s Willow Creek. ​“Our way of edu­cat­ing our cus­tomers is to show­case the awards won, and oth­ers have fol­lowed this trend.”

Meanwhile, pro­duc­ers in Australia com­bined to win 15 awards, one shy of their 2018 record and pro­duc­ers from Argentina equaled their coun­try’s best per­for­mance, earn­ing four pizes.

Producers in Uruguay earned three awards, while a cat­a­strophic har­vest in New Zealand saw just one pro­ducer earn­ing a sin­gle award for the coun­try.

Oct. 6 13:25 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

The final results of the 2023 World Olive Oil Competition will be announced on October 16^th, orga­niz­ers said today. Following the October 1 dead­line to receive sam­ples from the Southern Hemisphere, the 2023 NYIOOC will wrap up just after 9:00 AM in New York.

In all, there were 1,170 entries sub­mit­ted from pro­duc­ers in 30 coun­tries in this year’s edi­tion of the world’s largest olive oil qual­ity con­test.

Oct. 3 12:34 UTC

Daniel Dawson report­ing from Montevideo

Uruguay’s two largest olive oil brands capped off bumper har­vests with a com­bined three awards at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. Agroland, the pro­ducer behind Colinas de Garzón, earned two Gold Awards for a pair of medium-inten­sity blends. Meanwhile, Nuevo Manantial, which pro­duces Olivares de Rocha, earned a Silver Award.

Victor Rodriguez, who over­sees olive oil pro­duc­tion at both com­pa­nies, said win­ning the indus­try’s most pres­ti­gious awards is a proud moment for both com­pa­nies, and for Uruguay. ​“For us, who are in a very small coun­try, hav­ing this inter­na­tional recog­ni­tion is very good,” he said. ​“It fills us with pride, and opens a path for us to any mar­ket we may want to enter.”

Preliminary esti­mates put the har­vest in Uruguay, a coun­try of 3.5 mil­lion peo­ple, at a record-high 3,000 tons, accord­ing to indus­try sources. Rodriguez said Nuevo Manatiel and Agroland com­bined to pro­duce 1,200 tons of olive oil. Despite its small size and pro­duc­tion, he added that the NYIOOC awards were help­ing both com­pa­nies real­ize their ambi­tions to export Uruguayan extra vir­gin olive oil to the world. ​“In fact, we are already export­ing to the United States with Olivares de Rocha and Colinas de Garzón,” Rodriguez said.

Sep. 28 13:47 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

Daiana Fuhrmann, the owner of Verde Louro Azeites, said her team was happy and con­fi­dent. ​“Recognition at the NYIOOC, makes us very proud,” she said after win­ning two Gold and two Silver Awards at the world’s most pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity con­test.

Fuhrmann said the con­stant learn­ing, ded­i­ca­tion and care involved with the pro­duc­tion stages from plant­ing to pack­ag­ing, com­bined with their ter­roir, had enabled the Brazilian com­pany to pro­duce excel­lent extra vir­gin olive oils.

Azeites Verde Louro had one of their largest har­vests this year. ​‘The cli­matic fac­tor was a great chal­lenge due to the period of drought and intense heat that pre­ceded the har­vest, and peri­ods of rain dur­ing,” Fuhrmann said. ​“This required a great col­lec­tive effort so that we could meet the ideal har­vest dead­line and obtain qual­ity olive oil.”

Sep. 26 14:40 UTC

Daniel Dawson report­ing from Montevideo

Brazil’s largest pro­ducer beat the drought, earn­ing four Awards at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Situated in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s largest olive oil-pro­duc­ing state, Prosperato earned two Gold Awards for a blend and Picual mono­va­ri­etal and two Silver Awards for Frantoio and Koroneiki mono­va­ri­etals.

“It always feels great to receive a new award, but hav­ing it from the NYIOOC just makes it more spe­cial,” owner Rafael Marchetti told Olive Oil Times. ​“It con­firms how we have been keep­ing con­sis­tency in the qual­ity of our extra vir­gin olive oils since we started our pro­duc­tion 10 years ago, so our cus­tomers remain assured that they are always con­sum­ing the best.”

This year’s haul of four NYIOOC acco­lades, the sec­ond straight year in which the com­pany has achieved the feat, comes after a suc­cess­ful har­vest for the region but a chal­leng­ing one due to the severe drought faced by Brazil’s south­ern­most state.

“Overall, it was a great har­vest in our area,” Marchetti said. ​“For us, we had fewer olives to har­vest this year because 2022 was a tremen­dous har­vest, even hav­ing the most severe drought in recent years. Still, we man­aged to main­tain a good pro­duc­tion in vol­ume by hav­ing an aver­age oil yield of 50 per­cent more than last year.”

Sep. 25 13:42

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

The award-win­ning Arbequina, Koroneiki and Picual extra vir­gin olive oils from the Brazilian pro­ducer Azeites Costa Doce are an expres­sion of the ter­roir of the Gaucho region in Rio Grande do Sul and the Vignatti fam­ily who have owned the farm since 2012.

“The feel­ing of being awarded at the NYIOOC is fan­tas­tic, it is an affir­ma­tion that our work, efforts, care and pas­sion are pay­ing off,” Rodrigo Costa, Azeites Costa Doce’s finan­cial direc­tor, told Olive Oil Times after the com­pany received four awards — two Golds and two Silvers — at the 2023 World Olive Oil Competition.

“The NYIOOC com­pe­ti­tion is the most impor­tant in the world, and receiv­ing a prize in this com­pe­ti­tion is of great rel­e­vance in the mar­ket and it makes a big dif­fer­ence in cus­tomers’ choices,” Costa explained.

Sep. 22 14:03 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

“It is very grat­i­fy­ing to see that the ded­i­cated year-long work of the entire team involved has been rec­og­nized again,” Flavo Fernandes, the owner of MF Agropastoril, said after receiv­ing four Gold Awards for his Pedregais brand at the NYIOOC. ​“It also shows that we are on the right path, and that this is how we should con­tinue to act.”

Fernandes told Olive Oil Times the ter­roir and cli­mate of Encruzilhada do Sul, a munic­i­pal­ity in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, give MF Agropastoril’s unique oils a com­pet­i­tive edge.

Victory at the NYIOOC has a multi-level impact, Fernandez said. ​“Increasingly, the world rec­og­nizes the extremely high qual­ity of extra vir­gin olive oils pro­duced in Brazil, but even more so of those pro­duced in our region.”

“Being part of this select group of pro­duc­ers, with these pres­ti­gious olive oils, puts it on dis­play for the world,” he added.

Sep. 21 15:07 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

The two blends pre­sented by Willow Creek Olives at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition were greeted with Gold Awards after a most dif­fi­cult har­vest for South African farm­ers and pro­duc­ers.

“Our team is ded­i­cated to mak­ing the best of a bad sit­u­a­tion. Even with many stum­bling blocks, we keep on going and prid­ing our­selves on the medals won world­wide,” Janice Vijoen, mar­ket­ing man­ager for Willow Creek, told Olive Oil Times.

“Our area has suf­fered severe drought con­di­tions for the past eight years, which has hin­dered our ton­nage har­vested each sea­son. Power out­ages also have a big effect on when we can irri­gate the orchards,” she noted.

“South Africa itself and the rest of the world do not know the qual­ity of locally pro­duced EVOO. South Africa is known for its wine indus­try,” Vijoen added. ​“The EVOO indus­try might be small, but we can com­pete with the best oils world­wide. Our way of edu­cat­ing our cus­tomers is to show­case the awards won, and oth­ers have fol­lowed this trend.”

Sep. 21 14:48 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

The Brazilian pro­ducer Estância das Oliveiras has earned the indus­try’s most cov­eted award in the NYIOOC Southern Hemispehere divi­sion for six of its sub­mit­ted brands.

“This proves the qual­ity of the oils we are pro­duc­ing at Estância das Oliveiras,” Rafael Goelzer, direc­tor for the com­pany, told Olive Oil Times. ​“We ded­i­cate these [awards] to our entire team of employ­ees, peo­ple who are pas­sion­ate about what they do and who always strive to do their best.”

“For us at Estância das Oliveiras to win, in a sin­gle edi­tion, six Gold Awards at the NYIOOC is spec­tac­u­lar and unprece­dented,” Goelzer, said. ​“Our efforts are pay­ing off and plac­ing Brazilian and Rio Grande do Sul’s olive oils at the top of the world rank­ings.”

Goelzer cred­ited the ter­roir or Viamão, a focus on all stages of pro­duc­tion, ​“a ded­i­cated fam­ily, who always seeks per­fec­tion in every­thing they do, and a team of direc­tors, part­ners and col­lab­o­ra­tors who are pas­sion­ate about the pro­duc­tion of extra vir­gin olive oils.”

Sep. 19 16:31 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

Brazilian pro­ducer Renato Kalil, the owner of Estância Dona Genoveva from Rio Grande do Sul, told Olive Oil Times that the two Gold Awards at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition achieved in the com­pa­ny’s first year of pro­duc­ing olive oil, exceeded his expec­ta­tions.

“As we are begin­ners in grow­ing olive trees and pro­duc­ing olive oil, we main­tain the hope of obtain­ing a high-qual­ity prod­uct, like pro­duc­ers in our region of south­ern Brazil called the Campanha region,” Kalil said. ​“The micro­cli­mate of this region is sim­i­lar to the cli­mate of the Mediterranean and Southern California, being very favor­able to olive grow­ing.”

Kalil said that besides serv­ing as encour­age­ment to his fam­ily and part­ners, he hopes the awards will con­tribute to the accep­tance of Brazilian olive oil as among of the best in the world.

Sep. 19 16:21 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

Cape Schanck Olive Estate won two more Gold Awards at the 2023 World Olive Oil Competition, adding to their lomg his­tory of NYIOOC dis­tinc­tions.

The Australian com­pany focuses on the pro­duc­tion of mono­va­ri­etal extra vir­gin olive oils from Picual, Picholine, Coratina, Leccino and Frantoio vari­eties.

“The [Gold Awards] mean a lot and we are always ner­vous when the results are immi­nent,” co-own­ers Stephen and Sui Tham told Olive Oil Times ​“We view the results as a rub­ber stamp of our efforts on the grove and those involved in our farm.”

“The main chal­lenge this year was the weather, again. There was lit­tle if any autumn weather and a win­tery blast of rain and cold hit us at the start of autumn and short­ened quite sig­nif­i­cantly the growth and fruit ripen­ing period,” they added. ​“We were expect­ing the worst and delayed the har­vest date as late as pos­si­ble. So we are for­tu­nate to to have the oils we have.”

Sep. 18 18:25 UTC

Costas Vasilopoulos report­ing from Athens

Establecimiento Olivum is the first Argentinean pro­ducer to be awarded at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition Southern Hemisphere edi­tion.

The pro­ducer from the foothills of the Andes won two Silver Awards for its mono­va­ri­etal Changlot Reial and a medium blend.

The Changlot Reial cul­ti­var is native to the Spanish province of Valencia and per­fectly adapted to the Argentinean soil. Olive oil made from Changlot olives boasts a very fruity aroma and a slightly bit­ter taste with del­i­cate notes of green apple and arti­choke.

A total of eight pro­duc­ers from Argentina have sub­mit­ted their brands, with the coun­try expect­ing this year’s olive oil yield to exceed 33,000 tons.

The final batch of win­ners from the Southern Hemisphere at the 2023 World Competition will be announced in early October.

Cape Town

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Sep. 18 18:20 UTC

New Zealand pro­duc­ers received their first award at the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion of the World Olive Oil Competition ear­lier today. Loopline Olives earned a Silver for their medium-inten­sity Picual oil.

Sep. 18 18:18 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

With the sec­ond round of win­ners of the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion revealed, Brazilian pro­duc­ers added another 21 awards to the 25 earned at the NYIOOC ear­lier this month.

Among the coun­try’s big win­ners today were Estância das Oliveiras with six awards and Azeite Costa Doce, Prosperato and Olivas da Lua each with four awards each.

With the 46 awards gar­nered by Brazilian pro­duc­ers so far in this edi­tion, they broke all their pre­vi­ous records at the NYIOOC. Last year their total was 30.

The final round of the win­ners of the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion of the NYIOOC will be announced in early October.

Sep. 18 14:55 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

Six extra vir­gin olive oil brands from South Africa secured five Gold and one Silver Award in the sec­ond roll­out of the win­ners of the 2023 World Olive Oil Competition Southern Hemisphere edi­tion.

Two Gold and one Silver went to Porterville Olives which has con­stantly won top awards in New York.

From the Nuy Valley, at the foot of the South African Langeberg Mountains, came the two Gold Award-win­ning brands for Willow Creek, which started craft­ing high-qual­ity olive oils in 1997.

One more Gold Award went to the Greenleaf Olive Company, located between Malgas and Cape Infanta.

With today’s wins, South African pro­duc­ers secured eleven 2023 awards at the world’s lmost pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity con­test, an extra­or­di­nary result that already exceeds the ten wins pro­duc­ers in the coun­try scored in 2022.

In early October, the last win­ners of this year’s NYIOOC will be unveiled.

Sep. 18 11:58 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

The NYIOOC will con­tinue unveil­ing award win­ning brands from the Southern Hemisphere today at 9:00 (13:00 UTC) on the Official Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils.

Entries from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay are vying for the indus­try’s most pres­ti­gious qual­ity awards in the Southern Hemisphere divi­sion of the World Olive Oil Competition.

Sep. 13 14:57 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

“It’s an incred­i­ble feel­ing and a great honor to be hon­ored with such an impor­tant award,” André Bertolucci, the olive oil spe­cial­ist for Brazilian pro­ducer Olivas de Gramado, told Olive Oil Times after win­ning their first-ever award at the World Competition for the medium-inten­sity Terroir Serrano Blend de Campo.

“We are only in our third har­vest, over­com­ing the con­stant chal­lenges of the process as a whole from the olive grove to the mill,” Bertolucci said.

“It is a water­shed mile­stone, as it rep­re­sents the achieve­ment of an inter­na­tional qual­ity stan­dard. The big chal­lenge now is to main­tain this stan­dard and increas­ingly evolve in the har­vest­ing and extrac­tion processes.”

Sep. 11 17:39 UTC

Costas Vasilopoulos report­ing from Athens

Agricola Pobeña from the fer­tile O’ Higgins region of cen­tral Chile shined bright at the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion of the World Olive Oil Competition by win­ning a quar­tet of Gold Awards for its Alonso brands.

“We are very proud to win four Gold Awards this year at the NYIOOC,” José Manuel Reyes, the company’s sales man­ager, told Olive OiI Times. ​“These acco­lades mean a lot to our team and con­firm that our com­mit­ment to pro­duc­ing high-qual­ity EVOO is being appre­ci­ated.”

The com­pany grows Arbequina, Arbosana, Koroneiki, Frantoio, Leccino, Picual, Coratina, Manzanilla and Nocellara olive vari­eties on 400 hectares to pro­duce its win­ning range.

Sep. 11 13:51 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

“To be awarded at such an impor­tant com­pe­ti­tion makes us very proud, and con­firms that we are doing the right thing.” Beatriz Pereira, co-owner of Brazil’s Fazendas do Azeite Sabiá said after win­ning three awards at the NYIOOC last week.

Pereira told Olive Oil Times that Brazilian peo­ple believe olive oil imported from Europe is the best. ​“We do every­thing with plea­sure and love,” she said. ​“After four har­vests we already have 86 inter­na­tional awards. We went from being unknown to being desired by the con­sumer, which makes us very proud.”

Sep. 8 14:49 UTC

Costas Vasilopoulos report­ing from Athens

With new Gold and a Silver Awards, the Chilean com­pany Olivos Ruta del Sol has extended its win­ning streak to five con­sec­u­tive years at the World Olive Oil Competition.

“What a pride,” a com­pany spokesper­son said. ​“A Gold Award for our Deleyda Fine Selection and a Silver for our Deleyda Premium in the world’s largest and most pres­ti­gious com­pe­ti­tion. Reaching the top moti­vates us to work even harder every year to deliver our qual­ity prod­ucts.”

The pro­ducer grows olives of Spanish, Italian and Greek vari­eties in 205 hectares in cen­tral Chile, with a capac­ity to process two mil­lion kilo­grams of olives each year.

Sep. 7 19:00 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

“We are so excited about this, it’s amaz­ing,” Luiza Osorio, the co-founder and exec­u­tive offi­cer of Brazilian com­pany Al-Zait, exclaimed after achiev­ing three Gold Awards at the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion of the World Olive Oil Competition.

“We got 100 per­cent approval, that’s incred­i­ble. All of our prod­ucts received Gold Awards at the NYIOOC,” she said in ref­er­ence to the medium-inten­sity mono­va­ri­etal Frantoio, Koroneiki and Picual extra vir­gin olive oils that received the indus­try’s most pres­ti­gious qual­ity awards. ​“It’s a huge recog­ni­tion of our work and pur­pose.”

Osorio said that since launch­ing Al-Zait in south­west­ern Rio Grande do Sul with her part­ner, Fernando Alfama, they have been focused on the high­est qual­ity, seek­ing to offer the mar­ket some­thing dif­fer­ent, some­thing with soul. In every aspect of their busi­ness, they have been striv­ing for the best.

“Here in Brazil, in addi­tion to the lack of knowl­edge and skilled labor, we have had a severe lack of rain in the last two years,” Osorio said. ​“For a new grove, at the growth stage, our trees have suf­fered a lot. But our soil is rich and fer­tile, and we are very atten­tive to guar­an­tee the best nutri­tion for our plants.”

“In addi­tion, we do the har­vest entirely man­u­ally, which guar­an­tees the health of the fruits and the qual­ity and sta­bil­ity of our final prod­uct, Al-Zait liq­uid gold.”

Sep. 7 18:53 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

With two Gold Awards at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition Southern Hemisphere edi­tion, De Rustica Olive Estate from South Africa suc­cess­fully listed its EVOOs among the world’s best.

Both win­ning brands — a Coratina mono­va­ri­etal and a blend crafted around Frantoio olives — come from the olive orchards grown in the small Southern Cape town De Rust, a unique envi­ron­ment on the Swartberg Mountains.

Dawie Durand, gen­eral man­ager of the com­pany, told Olive Oil Times how impor­tant it was for De Rustica Olive Estate to take part in this high-pro­file inter­na­tional com­pe­ti­tion.

“Two Gold medals for our two entries is very sig­nif­i­cant for De Rustica Olive Estate given our size in rela­tion to other com­peti­tors. What makes it more sig­nif­i­cant is the inter­na­tional stature of the NYIOOC and the weight car­ried by the acco­lades bestowed on us,” Durand noted.

“We had con­fi­dence in our two entries, pro­duced and entered by Kallie Frey, our EVOO-spe­cial­ist, but we are relieved and ecsta­tic with these out­comes,” Durand con­cluded.

Sep. 7 12:42 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

Capoliva from Brazil received four awards at the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion of the NYIOOC for their medium-inten­sity mono­va­ri­etal extra vir­gin olive oils.

The fam­ily-run com­pany, took three Gold Awards for a Coratina, Koroneiki and Picual, and a Silver Award for their Arbequina.

“This recog­ni­tion in such an impor­tant and pres­ti­gious com­pe­ti­tion is an immense joy that makes us very proud,” Joice Capoani, Capolivo’s com­mer­cial and mar­ket­ing direc­tor, told Olive Oil Times. ​“This shows us that we are on the right path.”

“The suc­cess of the har­vest depends on a favor­able cli­mate,” she said. ​“That’s why cli­mate change, such as the extreme heat we expe­ri­enced this sum­mer, was our biggest chal­lenge. Also, unlike in the north­ern hemi­sphere, in Brazil the har­vest takes place in the sum­mer, so the high tem­per­a­tures made it more chal­leng­ing.”

“A win like this is very mean­ing­ful because it demon­strates to the world that Brazil is the home of great pro­duc­ers of olive oil,” Capoani said. ​“Also, being from the extreme south of Brazil, the prize helps us to expand our brand to the rest of the coun­try, as it is very large.”

Sep. 5 16:57 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

Two new Gold Awards just announced put the South African Mardouw Olive Estate olive oils among the world’s best.

“We were very con­fi­dent of our chances as our EVOO’s has proven to be very con­sis­tent the past seven years in both local and inter­na­tional com­pe­ti­tions,” Philip King, Mardouw Olive Estate gen­eral man­ager, told Olive Oil Times.

King explained how those results come from hard work, plan­ning and atten­tion to the detail.

“We put the best effort we can into each stage of the grow­ing process right from prepar­ing the soil and trees up to the final prod­uct. This gets backed up with excel­lent lab results, and just makes it so reward­ing at the end,” he explained.

Sep 4 17:04 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

Brazilian pro­duc­ers earned 25 awards on the first day of the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion of the NYIOOC — 17 Gold Awards and eight Silver.

With the next round of results to be announced later this month, and another batch at the begin­ning of October, it is a strong pos­si­bil­ity that Brazil could be set­ting a few records this year.

Increased olive cul­ti­va­tion, upgraded agro­nomic prac­tices and improved milling tech­niques are cited for the upward-trend­ing qual­ity behind Brazilian brands.

Sep 4 14:59 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

With five Gold Awards so far, South African olive oil pro­duc­ers left their mark on the the open­ing day of the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion of the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Rio Largo Olive Estate earned the first Gold Award fol­lowed by Mardouw Olive Estate and De Rustica Estate. The win­ning olive oils include blends and mono­va­ri­etals. In all cases, the olive fruits were har­vested from trees of Italian ori­gin, such as Frantoio, Coratina, Favolosa and Leccino.

Those vari­eties are often cho­sen by expert grow­ers at dif­fer­ent lat­i­tudes through­out the world for the qual­ity of their fruits and extra­or­di­nary adap­ta­tion qual­i­ties.

The next round of award win­ners will be announced in mid-September with the final roll­out expected for the first days of October.

Sep. 4 13:01 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

The NYIOOC has just released the first award-win­ning brand from the Southern Hemisphere divi­sion. Rio Largo Olive Estate has earned a Gold Award for its Rio Largo Premium brand, an extra vir­gin olive oil crafted from Frantoio, Leccino and Coratina vari­etals in the Breede River Valley in the Fairest Cape of South Africa.

To give pro­duc­ers the most time to ben­e­fit from their achieve­ments, NYIOOC award win­ners are announced through­out the judg­ing period, instead of wait­ing until the last sam­ple is judged. The first batch of award win­ners are rolling out today, com­pe­ti­tion orga­niz­ers said, to be fol­lowed by another release in mid-September and the final results in early October.

Sep. 4 12:40 UTC

Daniel Dawson report­ing from Montevideo

Uruguayan olive oil pro­duc­ers have sub­mit­ted four entries to the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Bolstered by an esti­mated record-break­ing yield of 3,000 tons, pro­duc­ers across the small South American nation said that despite the his­toric drought, con­di­tions favored both quan­tity and qual­ity.

Uruguayans have long believed that the only way for them to com­pete against imported olive oil at home and in the crowded global export mar­ket is to focus on qual­ity and inter­na­tional awards that rec­og­nize it.

At the 2022 NYIOOC, Uruguayan pro­duc­ers earned four awards from four entries, includ­ing two Gold and two Silver Awards.
The country’s two largest olive oil-pro­duc­ing com­pa­nies – Agroland, which pro­duces the Colinas de Garzon brand and Nuevo Manantial, which pro­duces Olivares de Rocha – com­bined to earn three awards.

Sep. 4 10:49 UTC

Costas Vasilopoulos report­ing from Athens

Eight Argentinean pro­duc­ers hav­ing sub­mit­ted their brands so far in the 2023 NYIOOC Southern Hemisphere divi­sion.

There are more than 90,000 hectares of olive trees in Argentina, mainly sit­u­ated in the provinces of La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan and Catamarca.

Several of the country’s largest pro­duc­ers reported a robust har­vest, expect­ing the coun­try to top last year’s yield of 33,000 tons of olive oil.

Growers and pro­duc­ers in the largest olive oil-pro­duc­ing coun­try in the Americas grap­pled with high sum­mer tem­per­a­tures and soar­ing infla­tion.

Sep. 4 10:41 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

Producers from New Zealand have sub­mit­ted three entries at the World Olive Oil Competition after pulling through a dif­fi­cult har­vest due to early frosts, heavy rain­fall and anthrac­nose.

Most of these chal­lenges were brought on by Cyclone Gabrielle, which flooded groves, and dam­aged trees and infra­struc­ture. Some of the coun­try’s grow­ers even had no har­vest at all.

The coun­try’s yield should be pub­lished soon, Emma Glover, Olives New Zealand’s exec­u­tive offi­cer, told Olive Oil Times.

Sep. 3 23:36 UTC

Lisa Anderson report­ing from Cape Town

Brazilian pro­duc­ers are boast­ing their high­est-ever num­ber of entries at this year’s NYIOOC, with 53 pro­duc­ers sub­mit­ting sam­ples of their fresh extra vir­gin olive oils. This fol­lows their pre­vi­ous record at last year’s edi­tion, where 33 oils were entered.

When the South American pro­ducer first par­tic­i­pated in the world’s most pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity con­test a mere seven years ago, they entered just one oil.

According to data shared by the Brazilian Institute of Olive Culture (Ibraoliva), the coun­try’s largest olive oil-pro­duc­ing state, Rio Grande do Sul, had a bumper har­vest of 580,228 liters of olive oil in the 2022/2023 crop year — a 29-per­cent increase from the pre­vi­ous year. Agricultural offi­cials expect pro­duc­tion in Rio Grande do Sul to rise to 900,000 liters in the near future.

This growth is due to fac­tors such as new tech­nol­ogy used and advance­ments in agro­nomic meth­ods. With the recent shift from La Niña to El Niño, pro­duc­ers in the country’s south are also look­ing for­ward to the end of the long-run­ning drought.

Sep. 3 23:31 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

Fifteen fresh extra vir­gin olive oils were sub­mit­ted by South African pro­duc­ers to the 2023 World Olive Oil Competition Southern Hemisphere divi­sion.

In the last decade, the finest pro­duc­ers in the coun­try have scored dozens of wins, list­ing their top brands in the Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils.

Last year, with 16 entries, South African pro­duc­ers earned ten awards for a 63 per­cent suc­cess rate. In 2014 nine entries con­veyed one award.

In 2023 the country’s com­pet­ing pro­duc­ers aim at fur­ther con­firm­ing the excel­lence, even after a par­tic­u­larly chal­leng­ing sea­son.

A few pro­duc­ers told Olive Oil Times how the wet weather has affected soil and final yields. While some report opti­mal olive vol­umes, final fig­ures are gen­er­ally expected to be lower than last year.

Producers and millers also coped with the load shed­ding cri­sis which hit sev­eral key infra­struc­tures. Others listed esca­lat­ing costs of labor, fuel and fer­til­iz­ers among the most rel­e­vant chal­lenges of the sea­son.

Sep. 3 23:17 UTC

Costas Vasilopoulos report­ing from Athens

Chilean olive oil pro­duc­ers are eagerly await­ing the first Southern Hemisphere win­ners to be announced at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Despite this year’s drought, pro­duc­ers in the rib­bon-shaped South American coun­try have been opti­mistic for an improved 2022/23 olive oil crop com­pared to the 21,000 tons the coun­try yielded last year.

Production fig­ures from the International Olive Council have con­firmed a robust olive har­vest in Chile, with olive oil pro­duc­tion reach­ing 22,000 tons this crop year, exceed­ing the country’s five-year rolling aver­age of 21,200 tons.

Olive har­vest in the sec­ond-largest olive oil-pro­duc­ing coun­try in the Americas usu­ally starts in April and runs through June each year.
Most of the country’s olive groves are located in the Chilean Central Valley, the agri­cul­tural heart­land of Chile, which runs par­al­lel between the Western Cordillera of the Andes and the lower coastal moun­tain range.

Reflecting the season’s sub­stan­tial olive oil yield, pro­duc­ers from Chile have sub­mit­ted 19 entries to the NYIOOC this year, their sec­ond-high­est num­ber of entries in the World Competition after the 23 entries sub­mit­ted in 2019.

Sep. 3 23:12 UTC

Paolo DeAndreis report­ing from Rome

Australia’s high qual­ity olive oil pro­duc­ers sub­mit­ted 17 extra vir­gin olive oils to the Southern Hemisphere edi­tion of the 2023 World Olive Oil Competition.

In a mat­ter of hours the first win­ners of the coun­try will be announced. Expectations are high since the suc­cess rate of Australian brands at the NYIOOC has increased con­stantly through the years — from 38 per­cent of the entries secur­ing the pres­ti­gious awards in 2014 to 52 per­cent in 2019. Last year, 65 per­cent of par­tic­i­pat­ing brands were hon­ored.

This sea­son, the Australian olive sec­tor has coped with sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges, and delays in the har­vest oper­a­tions.

David Valmorbida, pres­i­dent of the Australian Olive Oil Association, explained how the sea­son had seemed to get off to a good start.
​“Early in the sea­son the indus­try was poised for a promis­ing har­vest, but cold weather and rain in May and June, par­tic­u­larly in south­east Australia, had an impact,” Valmorbida noted.

When it comes to qual­ity, though, expec­ta­tions are high. ​“Oil yield is def­i­nitely lower than aver­age (…), but the qual­ity of oil remains high because the fruit ripened slowly,” the AOOA offi­cial said.

Aug. 30 18:31 UTC

Daniel Dawson report­ing from Montevideo

The first Southern Hemisphere win­ners at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition will be announced Monday. While sub­mis­sions close on September 1^st, a record-high 114 entries have already been sub­mit­ted from seven coun­tries across three con­ti­nents.

Olive oil pro­duc­ers in the Southern Hemisphere har­vest olives to trans­form into extra vir­gin olive oil from February to July, which is why the NYIOOC con­ducts the world’s largest and most pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity com­pe­ti­tion in two seg­ments. Now, pro­duc­ers who have just com­pleted the har­vest can send their fresh­est sam­ples to be judged by the expert panel.

The record num­ber of entries has been fueled by ris­ing inter­est in the com­pe­ti­tion in Brazil, which sub­mit­ted 53 entries, and bumper har­vests across the Southern Hemisphere. Producers in Argentina, Brazil and Chile reported improved har­vests com­pared to the pre­vi­ous year. Meanwhile, Uruguay is expect­ing a record har­vest.

While pro­duc­ers in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are less bull­ish about pro­duc­tion totals, they remain con­fi­dent about qual­ity and plenty of entries have poured in from those coun­tries as well.

Competition orga­niz­ers plan to release results in three batches. The first win­ners will be announced on Monday morn­ing in New York. The next batch will come in mid-September and the final announce­ment will be made in early October.

Aug. 30 12:12 UTC

OOT Staff report­ing from New York

Although only ten per­cent of pro­duc­ers par­tic­i­pat­ing in the World Olive Oil Competition are from the Southern Hemisphere, their har­vest sched­ule gives them the spot­light when the indus­try’s most pres­ti­gious qual­ity con­test turns its atten­tion to the south in search of the fresh­est, per­fectly-crafted extra vir­gin olive oils.

Over 100 olive oil brands from Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Uruguay, and New Zealand have been entered into the 2023 NYIOOC, and the pro­duc­ers are eagerly await­ing the results.

This is a devel­op­ing story. Check back for updates. (Updated Oct. 16, 2023 16:10 UTC)