Award-Winning Brands Place Slovenia on World Stage

Olive oil pro­duc­ers from Slovenia were awarded for four of the five brands they entered into the 2020 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

The high suc­cess rate among Slovenian brands is entirely the result of the hard work of small fam­ily pro­duc­ers. For the Morgan fam­ily, this year’s com­pe­ti­tion marks four years in a row that their Cuvee brand, an organic blend of Istrska Belica, Leccino, Maurino, Moraiolo and Rosciola olives, has won Gold at the world’s most pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity con­test.

“The NYIOOC is impor­tant because it gives us the pos­si­bil­ity to par­tic­i­pate and to com­pare our­selves with other olive oil pro­duc­ers from other parts of the world,” Franc Morgan said from his home in Grintovec, south­ern Slovenia.

“Winning a fourth Gold Award in a row con­firms to us that our strat­egy for pro­duc­ing the high­est-qual­ity organic olive oil is on track,” he added. ​“Also, receiv­ing an award from the NYIOOC helps us to pro­mote Slovenian olive oil world­wide.”

The other Gold win­ner from Slovenia was Ivan Sirk and his fam­ily. This is the sec­ond time the Sirk fam­ily sent an entry to NYIOOC, earn­ing top marks for their Kmetija Sirk blend, com­posed of the Istrska Belica, Leccino, Pendolino and Gorgazzo olive vari­eties. The panel of judges at the NYIOOC described the oil as ​“fresh and fruity, with a lit­tle bit­ter­ness and spici­ness.”

Last year, the Sirks won Silver as first-time par­tic­i­pants at the NYIOOC. While three gen­er­a­tions have pro­duced wine on their fam­ily farm sit­u­ated in the region of Goriška Brda, in west­ern Slovenia, olive pro­duc­tion is a more recent under­tak­ing.

“The awards mean a lot for us, because they let us know that our work is well-done and effi­cient,” Ivan Sirk said. ​“Winning an award for the sec­ond year in a row con­firms that our oil is of excep­tional qual­ity.”

“This com­pe­ti­tion is impor­tant for us mainly because it’s inter­na­tional and there are a lot of sam­ples sent in from around the world,” he added. ​“In Slovenia, such an award offers us the recog­ni­tion of our oils.”

Hailing from the same region is the Bučinel fam­ily, whose name­sake Bučinel extra vir­gin olive oil is made up of a blend of three vari­etals, two of which are indige­nous to Goriška Brda: Briška Drobnica and Briška Črnica, while the third is Maurino from Tuscany.

The blend was awarded a Silver at the 2020 NYIOOC, while last year judges gave it a Gold Award.

“We are very happy and proud that the qual­ity of our olive oil is rec­og­nized,” Aleš Bučinel said. He equates suc­cess to three essen­tial ingre­di­ents. ​“Passion, ded­i­ca­tion and recog­ni­tion. All three are the essence of doing some­thing, and doing it suc­cess­fully.”

Bučinel said that the fam­ily has always been pas­sion­ate about olive oil and, since begin­ning pro­duc­tion, have ded­i­cated their lives to mak­ing the best pos­si­ble extra vir­gin olive oil.

“After pas­sion, ded­i­ca­tion and hard work, there hope­fully comes recog­ni­tion,” he said. ​“Recognition proves that your pas­sion and ded­i­ca­tion are strong. That is what win­ning an award at con­tests such as the NYIOOC is. It rep­re­sents recog­ni­tion, and that is the rea­son we keep com­ing back each year.”

The fourth award for Slovenian pro­duc­ers went to another multi-year win­ner. The Jakovčič fam­ily won a Silver Award for their Giuliana blend — the fourth con­sec­u­tive win­ning year for the pro­ducer.

“The com­pe­ti­tion at the NYIOOC is very high and every pro­ducer wants to make their mark,” Miha Jakovčič said. ​“Winning an award at the NYIOOC is there­fore a big chal­lenge and ulti­mately a great reward for all the hard work done dur­ing the sea­son.”