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Part of our con­tin­u­ing cov­er­age of the 2020 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Despite a per­sis­tent drought and after a par­tic­u­larly bru­tal fire sea­son, Australian pro­duc­ers were rewarded for their tenac­ity at the eighth edi­tion of the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

In 2019, Australia pro­duced 21,000 tons of olive oil, accord­ing to the International Olive Council. From that record-equalling har­vest, pro­duc­ers picked up a total of 11 awards from 16 entries.

The 69 per­cent suc­cess rate is the high­est the coun­try has seen at the NYIOOC and tes­ta­ment to the per­se­ver­ance of the coun­try’s pro­duc­ers.

Sui Tham, who co-owns Cape Schanck on the Mornington Peninsula with her hus­band, Stephen, told Olive Times they were thrilled with how their oils have fared after win­ning four awards, the same amount they earned at the 2019 NYIOOC.

The pair won Gold Awards for their medium Picholine and a medium Frantoio, and Silver Awards for their medium Coratina and medium Picual.

“We’re thrilled with how our oils have fared in such a pres­ti­gious extra vir­gin olive oil com­pe­ti­tion, and proud to be an Australian rep­re­sen­ta­tive amongst some of the best pro­duc­ers in the world,” Tham said.

She added that var­i­ous fac­tors played a role in the com­pa­ny’s suc­cess, includ­ing their atten­tion to detail when car­ing for their grove, adopt­ing sus­tain­able agri­cul­tural prac­tices and con­trol­ling the whole pro­duc­tion process – from grow­ing and har­vest­ing the olives to their trans­for­ma­tion.

Taralinga Estate was another Australian pro­ducer based on the Mornington Peninsula to strike Gold at this year’s edi­tion of the NYIOOC.

The Victoria-based pro­ducer won two Gold Awards for their Robusto brand, a robust Picual, and their Fruttato brand, a del­i­cate blend.

“For both of our oils to win Gold is a momen­tous occa­sion for us,” Karen Godfrey, the company’s sales and mar­ket­ing man­ager, said. ​“We were absolutely thrilled with the result and are feel­ing very proud to be amongst only a few Australian groves to have won Gold this year.”

In addi­tion to their awards this year, Taralinga suc­ceeded at the 2019 NYIOOC, also receiv­ing two awards.

“We attribute our suc­cess to a num­ber of things,” Godfrey said, ​“includ­ing the pre­cise nature of our process, from pick­ing at just the right time to mak­ing sure the olives are pressed within hours of being picked.”

“Because we own our plant,” she added, ​“we have the abil­ity to process our olives right here on the estate – a unique abil­ity for Australian olive groves – which ensures the fresh­est pos­si­ble extra vir­gin olive oil.”

Godfrey said other fac­tors that deter­mined their suc­cess were their sophis­ti­cated two-phased oil pro­cess­ing plant that she said is the best of its kind and that their loca­tion on the Mornington Peninsula, which has an ideal micro­cli­mate for olive groves.

“This result is tes­ta­ment to our mis­sion of pro­duc­ing qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil to the high­est pos­si­ble stan­dard — not just here on the Mornington Peninsula or in Australia, but in the world,” Sam Tarascio, the owner of Taralinga, said. ​“It is not only our goal, it is our pas­sion.”

David Valmorbida, pres­i­dent of the Australian Olive Oil Association (AOOA), con­grat­u­lated the win­ning brands on behalf of the asso­ci­a­tion.

“While there are many won­der­ful olive oil pro­duc­ers in Australia, and glob­ally, that do not enter NYIOOC,” Valmorbida said, ​“see­ing 11 Australian entries achieve awards amongst the other 573 awarded oils – and for Australian entries to achieve an award rate of 69 per­cent, sit­ting just above the 67 per­cent total com­pe­ti­tion award rate – demon­strates that Australia is a seri­ous com­peti­tor on the global stage, pro­duc­ing some fan­tas­tic prod­ucts.”