'Leone d’Oro' Celebrates Women in Agriculture

The 27^th edi­tion of the Leone d’Oro dei Mastri Oleari cul­mi­nated in an event on Lake Garda on May 12. The awards cer­e­mony which con­cluded the inter­na­tional com­pe­ti­tion took place at O’Live & Italy in Toscolano Maderno, in the shad­ows of cen­turies-old olive trees sur­round­ing the head­quar­ters of the asso­ci­a­tion chaired by Maria Paola Gabusi, ded­i­cated to the pro­mo­tion of the cul­ture of extra vir­gin olive oil.

During the event, the oils admit­ted to the com­pe­ti­tion were put at the dis­posal of par­tic­i­pants and guided tast­ings were con­ducted to show buy­ers, jour­nal­ists, social media influ­encers and enthu­si­asts the sen­so­r­ial prop­er­ties of the award-win­ning extra vir­gin olive oils.

A panel of expe­ri­enced tasters eval­u­ated 260 entries from Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia, California and Brazil. The win­ners were clas­si­fied into seven cat­e­gories includ­ing Italian Monovarietal, International Monovarietal, Italian Blend, International Blend, Italian Organic, International Organic and Small Italian pro­duc­ers.

The reg­u­la­tion pro­vided for a max­i­mum of ten final­ists for each cat­e­gory of which the first three were awarded Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.

Four spe­cial prizes were added to the con­ven­tional cat­e­gories. ​“I devised new awards for this edi­tion of the con­test, and then I intro­duced spe­cial juries in addi­tion to the tra­di­tional panel of pro­fes­sional tasters,” explained the pres­i­dent of the con­test, Maria Paola Gabusi.

The Leone d’Oro Kids award was given by fourth-graders. ​“After a brief intro ses­sion on olive oil cul­ture, we com­pared high-qual­ity and low-qual­ity oils. Then the chil­dren tasted the oils in com­pe­ti­tion and filled out the form. It was grat­i­fy­ing and excit­ing to see their com­mit­ment to the eval­u­a­tion of the sam­ples and their inter­est in this new adven­ture,” she said.

The Leone d’Oro Social was awarded by a jury of tasters selected among blog­gers and social media influ­encers who, after an intro­duc­tion to the tast­ing tech­nique, chose another high-qual­ity prod­uct. ​“This was an orig­i­nal way to share the pas­sion for extra vir­gin olive oil and spread it through the social media,” Gabusi noted, adding that the Leone d’Oro Best Packaging was awarded by a jury of design­ers, pho­tog­ra­phers, illus­tra­tors, adver­tis­ers and artists.

The attrac­tive bot­tle of Vernèra’s extra vir­gin olive oil Le terre di Vito won the cat­e­gory. ​“We are so glad about this award which rec­og­nizes the atten­tion we paid to each detail of our prod­ucts,” said Tania Spanò, who man­ages some olive groves in the ter­ri­tory of Buccheri in the province of Siracusa with her sis­ter Maria Grazia and her brother Gaetano. ​“The sea­son was great and the good weather con­di­tions helped us to obtain an excel­lent oil from our plants of Tonda Iblea, Biancolilla and Moresca.”

The nov­elty in the com­pe­ti­tion was the First Female Heroic Agriculture Award. ​“It was a trib­ute to all women who suc­ceeded against the odds and chal­lenged pre­con­cep­tions, turn­ing their lives around and becom­ing pas­sion­ate pro­duc­ers of extra vir­gin olive oil,” the orga­nizer said. ​“We received sto­ries of courage, fear, chal­lenges and choices made by women. This was a reward for the nar­ra­tion and for once the oil bows to the words.”

The win­ner of the cat­e­gory was Claudia Morace, who pro­duces the Olio dei Tatanni in Panzano in Chianti.

“I was not born to a peas­ant fam­ily, but I love nature. I am a daugh­ter of the sea and the woods. Born in the imme­di­ate post-war period, from a Neapolitan father and an Austrian mother…” Thus began her touch­ing story and you can read the rest of it here, along with the oth­ers.