Fuenquesada Wins Gold for Robust Picual at 2021 NYIOOC

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

We were excited last year with the Gold Award. Earning such recognition is hard and implies a lot of work, but the biggest challenge is to maintain the strict quality requirements on a regular basis. This year's Gold Award provides us with the conviction that our methods and efforts are the right ones.

Felix Gonzalez Quesada, co-owner

The company produces extra virgin olive oil in Andalusia from Picual olives using traditional methods. Fuenquesada earned the Gold Award for its robust Picual monocultivar.

"We were excited last year with the Gold Award. Earning such recognition is hard and implies a lot of work, but the biggest challenge is to maintain the strict quality requirements on a regular basis," co-owner Felix Gonzalez Quesada said. "This year's Gold Award provides us with the conviction that our methods and efforts are the right ones to produce a best-in-class extra virgin olive oil."

Despite finding the winning formula, Gonzalez Quesada emphasized that 2020 was a challenging year for a number of different reasons.

"The climate has been one of the biggest challenges," he said. "Summer and fall had well below-average rain. Through very specific night irrigation techniques, we have been able to overcome the issue."

"Covid-19 safety protocols to guarantee the best health and safety conditions of our team, particularly during the harvesting period, also required a lot of attention," Gonzalez Quesada added.

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.