Pine Mountain Olive Farm Celebrates First NYIOOC Win

Pine Mountain Olive Farm from the United States has won a Silver Award at the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's most prestigious olive oil quality contest.

Winning a Silver Award at the NYIOOC makes us very proud. We are a small, family operation... To win this award and be judged as a peer among so many great, world-famous olive producers is a huge honor.

Roger & Kate Schafer, owners

In the 2020/21 crop year, the company produced 240 liters of organic extra virgin olive oil in California from Nocellara del Belice, Frantoio, Coratina, Leccino, Maurino and Pendolino olives using methods. Pine Mountain Olive Farm earned the Silver Award for its organic medium blend.

"Winning a Silver Award at the NYIOOC makes us very proud," owners Roger and Kate Schafer said. "We are a small, family operation. We harvest by hand with a small team of 10 to 15 family members and friends."

"We bottle, cork and label in our dining room," they added. "To win this award and be judged as a peer among so many great, world-famous olive producers is a huge honor."

The Schafers said that the main challenge they faced during the harvest was the wildfires that burned across California for much of last summer.

"Here in California, we had several wildfires and many, many smoky days," the two said. "We were concerned about the smoke tainting the olives, but they were fine."

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.