Olivaia Wins 2 Awards With OLA Brand at 2021 NYIOOC

Olivaia from the United States has won two Silver Awards at the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's most prestigious olive oil quality contest.

This award is validation that California's olive legacy has much to offer, both culturally and from a culinary perspective.

Giulio Zavolta, owner

The company produces extra virgin olive oil in Tulare County, California, from Nevedillo Blanca, Sevillano, Manzanilla, Mission and wild olives using traditional methods. Olivaia earned the Silver Awards for its delicate OLA Block X Blend and OLA Block X Heirloom, a medium blend.

"We are proud of having saved Block X's centennial trees," owner Giulio Zavolta said. "They are part of early California's history and olive legacy."

"This award is validation that California's olive legacy has much to offer, both culturally and from a culinary perspective," he added. "Hopefully, the NYIOOC will help get the message out so that we build California extra virgin olive oil diversity and save more centennial trees."

The producer behind the OLA brand added that a combination of a low olive yield in California and the challenges of organic grove management provided plenty of challenges in 2020.

"Aside from the low production, the combination of heavy trimming to let the Central Valley sun do its magic with our olives, and now our third year of organic farming made weed and irrigation management very difficult," Zavolta said. "The grasses may have contributed to the success of our extra virgin olive oil, but they sure made it difficult to farm."

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.