Palazzo di Varignana Wins 2 Gold Awards at World Competition

Italian producer Palazzo di Varignana has won two Gold Awards at the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's most prestigious olive oil quality contest.

We are very enthusiastic. In such a hard year, receiving this award is very important to us.

Eleonora Beraldi, sales manager

In the 2020/21 crop year, the company produced 8,100 liters of extra virgin olive oil in Emilia-Romagna using traditional methods.

Palazzo di Varignana earned the Gold Awards for its Vargnano brand, a medium Nostrana di Brisighella, and Stiffonte brand, a medium Correggiolo. The company also earned two Gold Awards at the 2020 NYIOOC.

"We are very enthusiastic. In such a hard year, receiving this award is very important to us," Eleonora Beraldi, the company's sales manager, said. "The American market is a target market for us. We have a branch in Atlanta that is strategic for us to manage shipments and enhance the culture of high-quality extra virgin olive oil in the United States."

This year's awards are especially gratifying for the producers behind Palazzo di Varignana after they had to face unusually bad weather at the beginning of the crop year.

"2020 was a particular year in which we had to face the ice in May and two hailstorms in July," Beraldi said. "Despite this, the plants reacted very well and the harvest was fantastic."

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.