SOTAM Wins 3 Awards with Nichen Brand

The Tunisian Company of Modern Agriculture (SOTAM) has won two Gold Awards and a Silver Award at the 2021 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's most prestigious olive oil quality contest.

Winning these awards encourages us to work even harder to promote the quality of Tunisian olive oil.

Bilel Hachicha, owner

In the 2020/21 crop year, the company produced 300 liters of extra virgin olive oil from Koroneiki, Chetoui, Arbosana and Chemlali olives using traditional methods.

SOTAM earned the Gold Awards for a pair of medium blends under the Nichen and Nichen Blend brands. The company won the Silver Award for its medium Nichen Chetoui monocultivar.

"Winning these awards encourages us to work even harder to promote the quality of Tunisian olive oil," owner Bilel Hachicha said.

He added that 2020 comprised all of the usual challenges for SOTAM, including getting the harvested olives to the mill immediately after picking them.

"Our challenge was to preserve the best olive oil quality; from harvesting the olives in the best conditions to the final product storage," Hachicha said.

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.