EVO International Contest Concludes with Paestum Ceremony

The Archaeological Park of Paestum and its mag­nif­i­cent tem­ples became the set­ting for the award cer­e­mony of the third edi­tion of the EVO International Olive Oil Contest led by Antonio G. Lauro. On May 19, the UNESCO World Heritage Site hosted pro­duc­ers, jour­nal­ists and olive oil enthu­si­asts who dis­cov­ered the win­ners of the com­pe­ti­tion among its 502 entries.

The cel­e­bra­tion high­lighted the theme of the con­test with respect to the mil­len­nia-old tem­ples. ​“The choice of the loca­tion was strongly desired by the EVO-IOOC man­age­ment team,” said Lauro, who cre­ated the event with Stefania Reggio. ​“Here, you can breathe the his­tory and feel that olive oil was and con­tin­ues to be the link between yes­ter­day and tomor­row.”

The mayor of Capaccio Paestum, Franco Palumbo, and the deputy mayor, Teresa Palmieri, wel­comed the com­pe­ti­tion which was made pos­si­ble thanks to the direc­tor of the archae­o­log­i­cal area of Paestum, Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the orga­ni­za­tion of pro­duc­ers UNASCO, the IP con­sult­ing com­pany Barzanò & Zanardo, the Mondini Rusconi Law Firm, the com­pany Clemente Costruzioni Meccaniche, the Savoy Beach Hotel in Paestum and the Association of tasters Oleum.

An inter­na­tional panel of judges ana­lyzed oils from 20 pro­duc­ing coun­tries, many of which came from Greece, Spain and Turkey. During the cer­e­mony, a spe­cial men­tion went to an extra vir­gin olive oil from war-torn Syria.

Fifty-five per­cent of the oils eval­u­ated in the com­pe­ti­tion were mono­va­ri­etal, as 156 dif­fer­ent olive cul­ti­vars were pre­sented. About 45 per­cent of par­tic­i­pants came from Italy, with a major pres­ence from Puglia and Calabria. 305 medals, 173 Gold and 132 Silver, were awarded.

Three Italian com­pa­nies from Tuscany, Sicily and Campania, and two from Greece and Spain were awarded the Best in Class North Hemisphere. Among these, Domenico Bonanno pro­duced an excel­lent extra vir­gin olive oil in Campobello di Mazzara, in the province of Trapani.

“We are delighted with these awards,” Bonanno said after receiv­ing two Gold Medals with the extra vir­gin olive oils Passione e Riserva. ​“Work is increas­ing every year but we have been helped by a great sea­son, excep­tional from the cli­matic point of view, which has allowed us to obtain an excel­lent pro­duc­tion of the high­est qual­ity con­firmed by these recog­ni­tions.”

The Southern Hemisphere was dom­i­nated by Brazil with three Best in Class. ​“It was with great hap­pi­ness that we received the awards at the EVO-IOOC, which was the first con­test that we have ever entered with our olive oil,” said André Secco of Café Fazenda Sertãozinho LTDA, in Minas Gerais. ​“We started plant­ing in 2009 and we have been improv­ing our pro­duc­tion and processes year by year. These awards mean that we are on the right track and that it is pos­si­ble for Brazil to pro­duce qual­ity olive oil.”

The com­plete list of the win­ners is avail­able on the even­t’s web­site.