Al Torcio Triumphant, Winning 8 Awards at 2021 NYIOOC

Croatian producer Al Torcio Olive Mill has won five Gold and three Silver Awards at the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's most prestigious olive oil quality contest.

Knowing that NYIOOC is the world's most prestigious extra virgin olive oil competition and considering the fact that we are a small family-run business, winning five Gold and three Silver Awards is a huge achievement.

Karmino Beletić, CEO

In the 2020/21 crop year, the company produces extra virgin olive oil in Istria from Bianchera, Pendolino, Leccino, Rosulja-Rosignola, Frantoio, Itrana and Moraiolo olives using traditional methods.

Al Torcio earned the five Gold Awards for its medium Bianchera, medium Pendolina, medium Rosulja-Rosignola, medium Itrana and medium Moraiolo. The company earned the three Silver Awards for a medium Leccino, medium Frantoio and delicate blend.

"Knowing that NYIOOC is the world's most prestigious extra virgin olive oil competition and considering the fact that we are a small family-run business, winning five Gold and three Silver Awards is a huge achievement," said Karmino Beletić, the company's CEO.

The win is all the eight awards are all the more special for the family producers after overcoming an average oil yield and successfully transforming olives in their new mill.

"The amount of olive fruit was within the average but the oil yield was very low," Beletić said. "It was the first real year in which we processed olives in our renovated oil mill and with new machines, the challenge was even greater."

"Also, as our production is exclusively eco-biological, the efforts we make to obtain a healthy olive fruit, are even greater," he 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.