Istria’s Valencano Wins 3 Gold Awards

Valencano from Croatia has won three awards at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's largest olive oil quality contest.

It is a very great honor for me and my wife to win Gold Awards for all three Valencano products with our first participation.

Jörg Knebusch, co-owner

The Istrian producer earned Gold Awards for an organic medium Bianchera, an organic medium blend and an organic medium Istria Buza.

"It is a very great honor for me and my wife to win Gold Awards for all three Valencano products with our first participation," co-owner Jörg Knebusch said.

He also paid tribute to the previous owner Mario Paunović, "hose many years of preparatory work we can now continue."

During his stewardship of Valencano, Paunović earned Gold Awards for its blend in 2018 and every year from 2020 to 2022. He also earned a Gold Award in 2021 for a Buza monovarietal.

The 2022/23 crop year was the first harvest season for Knebusch and his wife and provided the couple with plenty of challenges to overcome.

"As it was for us our first olive harvest, it was, in general, a very big challenge," he said, highlighting the difficulty organic farmers faced this season "in connection with the weather conditions and the race against the olive fly."

"However, a very dry summer, rain in September and a sunny October resulted in a successful end to the season," Knebusch added.

Held each spring in New York, the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition is the world's 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 in the Official Guide to the World's Best Olive Oils.