Northern Hemisphere's Best Extra Virgin Olive Oils Revealed

Summary

Producers from 18 Northern Hemisphere coun­tries won 584 awards at the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition despite chal­lenges like a poor har­vest and high pro­duc­tion costs. Italian brands led the com­pe­ti­tion with 147 awards, while pro­duc­ers from lesser-known coun­tries also suc­ceeded, with organic brands and mono­va­ri­etal oils gain­ing momen­tum.

Farmers, millers and bot­tlers from 18 Northern Hemisphere coun­tries com­bined to win 584 awards from 901 entries at the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Producers over­came a sec­ond con­sec­u­tive poor har­vest, marked by cli­matic and eco­nomic chal­lenges, to win 368 Gold Awards and 216 Silver Awards for their extra vir­gin olive oils.

According to an Olive Oil Times sur­vey, high pro­duc­tion costs, exces­sive heat, drought, the olive fruit fly, exces­sive rain and labor short­ages were the lead­ing chal­lenges pro­duc­ers faced in the 2023/24 crop year.

Once again, Italian brands led the way, earn­ing 147 awards at the world’s largest olive oil qual­ity com­pe­ti­tion. They were fol­lowed by the United States (95), Spain (82), Croatia (80) and Greece (56) as the most suc­cess­ful coun­tries in the com­pe­ti­tion.

While the usual sus­pects dom­i­nated results, pro­duc­ers from lesser-known coun­tries also tri­umphed, includ­ing farm­ers and millers from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Japan and Jordan.

Judging for extra vir­gin olive oil pro­duc­ers from the Southern Hemisphere will begin in the autumn.

Irrespective of their coun­try of ori­gin, pro­duc­ers agreed that receiv­ing recog­ni­tion from the NYIOOC rewarded their efforts dur­ing a dif­fi­cult har­vest and improved their prospects of enter­ing new mar­kets.

“We are very proud to have won in New York, a great city and mar­ket with great peo­ple,” said Leonardo Francalanci, the chief exec­u­tive of Tuscany-based Fattoria San Michele a Torri, which won a Gold Award for a medium-inten­sity Frantoio.

Despite high sum­mer tem­per­a­tures fol­low­ing a poor fruit set in the spring, the com­pany pro­duced 30,000 liters of extra vir­gin olive oil in the 2023/24 crop year with plans to export a sig­nif­i­cant por­tion. ​“We believe this award will help us bet­ter estab­lish our­selves inter­na­tion­ally,” Francalanci said.

Along with improv­ing brand posi­tion in the United States, pro­duc­ers from lesser-known olive oil-pro­duc­ing areas said the World Competition awards help pro­mote the pro­file of their entire regions.

“[Winning a Silver Award] is a recog­ni­tion of a job well done,” said Fatima Elizalde, the mar­ket­ing man­ager of Bodega Nekeas, located in the north­ern Spanish region of Navarre.

“This award improves the posi­tion­ing of Navarre as an area where top-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil is pro­duced,” she added.

Producers have reported that win­ning at the NYIOOC pro­vides com­mer­cial ben­e­fits, includ­ing improv­ing a brand’s stand­ing in the eyes of prospec­tive and exist­ing cus­tomers.

However, many see the awards as more than a sales pitch. The con­clu­sions of the NYIOOC analy­sis team are viewed as an endorse­ment of more expen­sive organic prac­tices.

According to Olive Oil Times World Ranking data, organic brands earned 205 awards from a record-high 329 entries.

“Winning these awards gives us more con­fi­dence that we are doing the right thing,” said Milagros Castro, the olive con­sul­tant for California-based Marciano Estate.

The Napa Valley pro­ducer earned a pair of Gold Awards for a medium Italian blend and medium Arbequina, har­vested from its cer­ti­fied organic grove in St Helena.

Among its organic prac­tices, Marciano Estate grazes sheep among the trees to remove weeds and pro­vide nat­ural fer­til­izer.

Along with organic entries, Olive Oil Times World Ranking data indi­cates that mono­va­ri­etal oils are gain­ing momen­tum.

Seventy-one per­cent of mono­va­ri­etal NYIOOC entries were awarded in 2024, com­pared to 57 per­cent of blends. Between 2016 and 2022, there was far more par­ity between the suc­cess of sin­gle-vari­etal oils and those com­bin­ing two or more cul­ti­vars.

While the most com­mon olive vari­eties con­tinue to dom­i­nate as the most awarded – includ­ing Picual, Koroneiki, Frantoio and Arbequina – pro­duc­ers world­wide said inter­na­tional recog­ni­tion encour­ages them to embrace local cul­ti­vars.

In Turkey, award-win­ning pro­duc­ers sought to high­light the country’s numer­ous endemic vari­eties. Twenty-four of the 29 win­ning brands were crafted with native olive vari­eties.

“Winning two Gold Awards at the 2024 NYIOOC is truly an honor for us and a tes­ta­ment to our team’s ded­i­ca­tion and hard work,” said Tuba Yilmaz, the owner of Gaia Oliva.

“For our com­pany, these awards val­i­date our efforts to pro­duce high-qual­ity olive oils that show­case the unique fla­vors and char­ac­ter­is­tics of Turkish olive vari­eties,” she added.

Along with local vari­eties, World Competition awards high­light the role of olive grow­ers as cus­to­di­ans of tra­di­tional land­scapes and olive bio­di­ver­sity.

Situated in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada, the pro­duc­ers behind Olivaia’s OLA cel­e­brated win­ning two Gold Awards for blends that incor­po­rate wild olives har­vested from cen­te­nar­ian trees.

“Not only were we thrilled about the awards, but we felt that the value we saw in our trees was val­i­dated,” co-owner Giulio Zavolta said. ​“The trees had proven their value as the source of a unique oil, as the con­veyor of the region’s rich her­itage and as a cul­tural land­mark.”

While plenty of pro­duc­ers cel­e­brat­ing their vic­to­ries have pre­vi­ously been awarded at the com­pe­ti­tion, the 2024 edi­tion also saw many first-time win­ners.

“This was my first time enter­ing the NYIOOC, and I am very excited and happy,” said Ante Đuderija, the owner of OPG Garmica.

Situated on the island of Hvar off the coast of south­ern Croatia, the pro­ducer said the Gold Award for his medium Levantinka comes after a chal­leng­ing har­vest.

“For OPG Garmica, this is just the begin­ning; I hope for con­ti­nu­ity in olive oil qual­ity in the years to come,” Đuderija con­cluded.