La Olivilla Wins 8th Consecutive Gold Award

Spanish producer Ecologica La Olivilla has won a Gold Award at the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's most prestigious olive oil quality contest.

After all the difficulties we have had, receiving this award is a source of great pride and immense happiness for the whole team. Being recognized by such a prestigious tasting panel for the eighth consecutive year, allows us to show our customers that quality is the most important characteristic of Dehesa de la Sabina.

Juan Ignacio Valdés, CEO

In the 2020/21 crop year, the company produced 50,000 liters of organic extra virgin olive oil in Andalusia using traditional methods. Ecologica La Olivilla earned the Gold Award for its Dehesa de la Sabina brand, an organic medium Picual.

"After all the difficulties we have had, receiving this award is a source of great pride and immense happiness for the whole team," Juan Ignacio Valdés, the company's CEO, said. "Being recognized by such a prestigious tasting panel for the eighth consecutive year, allows us to show our customers that quality is the most important characteristic of Dehesa de la Sabina."

For the producers behind Dehesa de la Sabina, this year's award is especially meaningful after a difficult climate greatly complicated the 2020 harvest.

"It seems that every year the ripening of the olives gets earlier and choosing when to start harvesting is becoming more and more difficult," Valdés said. "In addition, this year we have had some rainy days during the harvest, which has forced us to stop, separate batches and check the olives arriving at the mill very carefully."

The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, held each spring in New York, is the world's largest and most prestigious olive oil contest. Its annual listing of award winners is considered the authoritative guide to the year’s best extra virgin olive oils.

The complete list of winners can be viewed on the Official Index of the World's Best Olive Oils.