Le due Benedette Wins 2 Awards in World Competition

Le due Benedette from Italy has won a Gold Award and a Silver Award at the 2022 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's most prestigious olive oil quality contest.

The company produces organic extra virgin olive oil in Terra di Bari, Puglia (Italy) from Coratina and Ogliarola olives using traditional harvesting methods.

"I'm happy, truly happy because this result marks a new beginning for my farm Le due Benedette," Benedetta Stallone Desantis said after receiving news of the awards.

"After the dark years (2020 and the most of 2021), when, because of the Covid, there were closed shops and markets, postponed fairs, now we are starting over," Stallone Desantis added. "Nothing more welcome now than the NYIOOC award."

Le due Benedette won a Gold Award for its La Pizzicocca, an organic medium Coratina, and a Silver Award for its Peragineto, an organic delicate blend.

It has been a difficult road to winning the olive oil industry's most coveted quality awards, the company's owner admitted.

"In 2021 there was a manpower shortage because of the required Covid vaccinations in Italy. The seasonal workers, often foreigners, couldn't come. As a result of climate change, in 2021 in the summer there was a drought for a long time. Sometimes there were showers in certain areas, luckily in the contrada la Pizzicocca, and Peragineto too," Stallone Desantis told Olive Oil Times.

The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, held each spring in New York, is the world's largest and most prestigious olive oil contest and 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 in the Official Guide to the World's Best Olive Oils