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South Amer­i­can pro­duc­ers enjoyed unprece­dented suc­cess at the 2019 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Com­pe­ti­tion, bring­ing home a record-break­ing 26 awards, includ­ing four Best in Class Awards.

Brazil, Chile and Argentina all set records for the num­ber of awards they brought home, with 11, 10 and four tri­umphs, respec­tively. Uruguay also won a Best in Class Award for the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive year.

How­ever, Brazil­ian pro­duc­ers were undoubt­edly South America’s biggest win­ners, bring­ing home a Best in Class, a record-break­ing eight Gold Awards and one Sil­ver. In the pre­vi­ous four years in which Brazil­ian pro­duc­ers have entered the com­pe­ti­tion, they have com­bined to win six awards.

Rodrigo Costa and Oli­vares Costa Doce were among the biggest win­ners in Brazil, bring­ing home two Gold Awards for their medium blend and medium Koroneiki as well as a Sil­ver for another medium blend.

“It was the first time that we entered at NYIOOC,” Costa told Olive Oil Times. ​“We are very happy because these results are recog­ni­tion for our family’s work, which is done with so much ded­i­ca­tion and pas­sion.”

But for Oli­vares Costa Doce, which is based in the south­ern state of Rio Grande do Sul, these awards are much more than an ego boost. They also serve as an incred­i­ble sales pitch.

“The con­test is very well rec­og­nized and from the dis­clo­sure of results we are receiv­ing con­tacts for inter­views and new sales oppor­tu­ni­ties,” he said. ​“The result of this con­test will cer­tainly encour­age us to seek good results in other con­tests.”

Like many oth­ers in the indus­try will attest to, Costa believes that Brazil­ian olive oil is expe­ri­enc­ing an upswing and awards from pres­ti­gious inter­na­tional com­pe­ti­tions, such as the NYIOOC, prove to the world that Brazil­ian olive oils are among the best in the region as well as the world.

“The Brazil­ian olive oil indus­try is work­ing hard with a spe­cial focus on qual­ity and health, cer­tainly Brazil­ian oils will soon be as rec­og­nized as those of older pro­duc­ers in other coun­tries,” Costa said.

Among the other Brazil­ian win­ners were Pros­per­ato, which took home a Best in Class and Gold Award; Verde Louro Azeites, which won three Gold Awards; Azeite Irarema and Casa Mon­tiva, both of which won a sin­gle Gold Award; and Oli­vas do Sul, which won a Sil­ver Award.

How­ever, Brazil­ian pro­duc­ers were not alone in their unprece­dented suc­cess. Chilean pro­duc­ers were fol­low­ing close behind, bring­ing home a record-break­ing 10 awards, includ­ing two Best in Class, five Gold and three Sil­ver Awards.

Their 43 per­cent suc­cess rate in this year’s edi­tion of the NYIOOC also smashed their pre­vi­ous record, achieved last year, by 16 points.

Diego Liv­ing­stone, of Agri­cola Pobeña, told Olive Oil Times that there were two impor­tant fac­tors behind Chile’s unprece­dented suc­cess.

“First of all, most of us arrived with fresh oils this sea­son, which is impor­tant at the time of the com­pe­ti­tions,” he said. ​“The other fac­tor was the cli­mate. It was a year of scarcity in terms of water and there were ther­mal oscil­la­tions in the sum­mer, which caused greater stress to the plants and there­fore yielded more com­plex oils.”

This year, Agri­cola Pobeña won one of Chile’s two Best in Class Awards, for their del­i­cate Coratina, as well as two Sil­ver Awards, for their del­i­cate Koroneiki and a medium blend.

“First of all, we are very happy to con­tinue win­ning these awards,” he said. ​“This shows us that the work we have been doing and all the ded­i­ca­tion that we put to deliver the best pos­si­ble qual­ity has paid off.”

Liv­ing­stone added that the NYIOOC was rais­ing the stock of Chilean olive oils all around the world, which was attract­ing more cus­tomers and adding value to the oil that they will con­tinue to pro­duce.

“The impact of win­ning prizes is that we are becom­ing rec­og­nized in the world of olive oil,” he said. ​“It gives us a good place to show­case our prod­ucts and attracts inter­est from buy­ers in vis­it­ing us and hav­ing our oils. It gives a great added value to our oil.”

Along with Agri­cola Pobeña, Agri­cola Mon­te­o­livo won the other Best in Class, as well as two Gold Awards. Viña Morande, Agroin­dus­trial Sir­a­cusa and Oli­vas Ruta del Sol each won a sin­gle Gold Award. Mean­while, Oli­vares de May­ermo won a Sil­ver Award.

While not achiev­ing the same lev­els of suc­cess as its neigh­bors to the west and north, Argen­tin­ian pro­duc­ers still enjoyed a record-year at the NYIOOC as well.

“Argentina was the first Latin Amer­i­can olive oil pro­ducer, and is now try­ing to show the world that we are pro­duc­ers of great qual­ity,” Patri­cia Calderón, of Olivum, told Olive Oil Times.

Olivum took home both Gold Awards, for a pair of medium blends. It was the San Juan-based com­pa­ny’s first year enter­ing the com­pe­ti­tion. Mean­while, Men­doza-based Mil­lan won both of the Sil­ver Awards.

“Our hap­pi­ness was immense to ver­ify that only by com­ply­ing with our usual pro­ce­dures, we could obtain a Gold medal,” she said. ​“The awards obtained con­firm that our work and method­ol­ogy allows us to obtain oils of excel­lence and con­firms to us that what we are doing works.”

Calderón added that Olivum would not rest on its lau­rels, and like many other pro­duc­ers in Argentina, they would con­tinue to work on improv­ing their oils in order to com­pete with other pro­duc­ers in South Amer­ica as well as the rest of the world.

“Argentina and Olivum are just mak­ing them­selves known to the world and we have a long way to go,” she said.

For the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive year, Uruguay sub­mit­ted two entries and won one Best in Class at the NYIOOC. This year’s win­ner of that pres­ti­gious award was Oli­vares de Santa Laura.

“It’s the first time we’ve received a NYIOOC award,” Gon­zalo Aguirre said. ​“We are very grate­ful to be part of the cho­sen ones for this pres­ti­gious con­test.”

Aguirre said that for Uruguayan pro­duc­ers, as well as oth­ers in South Amer­ica, get­ting oil to the NYIOOC in time is a race against the clock.

“For the South­ern Hemi­sphere, we are at the begin­ning of the har­vest and the Coratina that we needed for the blend was har­vested 10 days before the clos­ing of sam­ples recep­tion,” he said. ​“We ran against the clock, even with the logis­tics of the courier that deliv­ered the sam­ples the day before 3pm dead­line.”

How­ever, the rewards for win­ning this race have proven to be ample enough for Aguirre and his wife with whom he runs the grove, Laura.

“Our prod­ucts are sold in bou­tique stores in Uruguay, and we are notic­ing grow­ing inter­est from Brazil­ians ask­ing about our oils,” he said. ​“As we are in the South­ern Hemi­sphere, we have an advan­tage, which is to have fresh oil at this time of year, a com­ple­men­tary attrac­tion for buy­ers of qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils from the North­ern Hemi­sphere.”