La Olivilla Wins Gold in World Olive Oil Competition

La Olivilla has taken home a Gold Award yet again at the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for its Dehesa de la Sabina organic Picual.

I feel great satisfaction, joy and a great sense of relaxation after all the accumulated stress of the harvest. The award is the best recognition we can have for the great effort we made and is confirmation that our company produces one of the best olive oils in the world.

Juan Ignacio Valdes, president

Based in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, La Olivilla produces organic extra virgin olive oil using traditional and biodynamic methods.

"I feel great satisfaction, joy and a great sense of relaxation after all the accumulated stress of the harvest," president Juan Ignacio Valdes said. "The award is the best recognition we can have for the great effort we made and is confirmation that our company produces one of the best olive oils in the world."

In spite of their success, the 2019/20 season was marked by significant challenges for La Olivilla, according to its president.

"Basically the climate has caused the ripening to become very irregular, so it has been very difficult to choose the right moment to harvest in order to get all the expression of the aromas of the Picual variety," he said.

"Rain during the harvest also presented a challenge," Ignacio Valdes added. "It has rained frequently and that forced us to stop the harvest and make a very careful selection in order to make high quality oils."

The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, held each spring in New York, is the world's largest and most prestigious olive oil contest and 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