Marqués de Valdueza Extends Winning Streak at NYIOOC

Spanish producer Marqués de Valdueza has won two awards at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's largest olive oil quality contest.

After all of the suffering during this quite horrible harvest, the NYIOOC awards for our two oils are just desserts.

John Cancilla, sales manager

Based in Extremadura, the company earned two Gold Awards for its Merula and Marqués de Valdueza brands, both medium-intensity blends.

"After all of the suffering during this quite horrible harvest, the NYIOOC awards for our two oils are just desserts," sales manager John Cancilla said.

"Winning at this competition is always important for our farm and family, but winning this year made us feel like all of the trials and hard work were worth the sometimes overwhelming effort," he added.

Since 2018, Marqués de Valdueza has won 12 NYIOOC awards. Still, Cancilla said the 2022/23 crop year was the most difficult he has faced in two decades.

"This was the most difficult harvest since I began working with Marqués de Valdueza 20 years ago," he said. "We produced 50 percent of our average production of the last 10 years."

"Drought and adverse weather conditions stressed the orchard to a terrible degree, but careful farming made our very small production one of our best in terms of oil quality," Cancilla added.

The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition held each spring in New York, is the world's 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 in the Official Guide to the World's Best Olive Oils.