The changes, developed in collaboration with the IOC, aim to harmonize international standards and enhance olive oil quality and purity assessments, while taking into account global production and the impact of climate change. 

In a decision published in June 2025, the Council of the European Union said it will support updating the method for measuring waxes and fatty acid ethyl esters, adding a method for determining diglycerides and triglycerides; adding a footnote to adjust the total sterols limit for Koroneiki and Nocellara del Belice monovarietal oils, pending further studies; and removing the test for halogenated solvent traces.

According to the council, the proposed adjustments will ensure fair competition and align E.U. regulations with global standards. According to IOC data, the E.U. was responsible for 61 percent of international olive oil production over the past half-decade.

However, not all stakeholders are convinced. Some industry representatives argue that the new sterol composition requirements, which revise the acceptable levels of delta (7)-stigmastenol, a naturally occurring compound in olive oil, could disadvantage certain European olive-producing regions.

Producers’ primary concern is that sterol content may fluctuate due to regional climate, and some olive varieties might yield oils that fall outside the new thresholds, even if they are otherwise high-quality extra virgin. 

They are further worried that this could result in unfair disadvantages for traditional producers in affected regions, potentially impacting their ability to market their oils under certain quality classifications. Others are concerned that stricter regulations may increase compliance costs for smaller olive oil businesses.

In response to these concerns, the IOC indicated that discussions are still ongoing within relevant expert groups, and the members would examine the issues when they meet at the 121st session of the Council of Members.

“We welcome the updating by the European Union of the olive oil standard, which is the result of the close collaboration between our experts and the European authorities,” said Mercedes Fernández, the head of research and standardization at the IOC.

Beyond its significant role in production, the E.U. is also the leading exporter and consumer of olive oil. 

The 27-member bloc was responsible for 45 percent of olive oil consumption over the past half-decade. Meanwhile, E.U. countries also shipped 63 percent of global olive oil exports over the same period.

Fernández noted that the changes to the standard were agreed initially as part of the E.U.’s June 2024 decision to align its marketing standards for olive oil with those of the IOC.

“This development marks a significant step,” Fernández said. “The IOC will continue to work to ensure that its standards serve as a global reference, safeguarding product authenticity and protecting consumers.”

• Euractiv

A landmark for Italian producers, Ercole Olivario is a national competition for the best extra virgin olive oils, organized annually by the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce for Industry, Handicraft and Agriculture (Unioncamere), in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce of Umbria.

During the closing event, the organizers handed out trophies consisting of miniature replicas of the temple of Hercules Olivarius, built in Rome in the 2nd century B.C., from which the name of the contest originated.

Twelve extra virgin olive oils – half of which were Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) certified – out of 116 finalists were awarded after assessments carried out by a panel of 16 experienced tasters representing the competing regions.

The panel leader Stefania D’Alessandro led the team composed of Antonietta Altieri, Giuseppe Giordano, Francesco Girardi, Antonietta Matteo, Erika Pozzetto, Stefano Roggerone, Gianfranco Pontoglio, Donatella Di Sebastiano, Paolo Di Paolo, Nunzia Floriana De Palma, Piera Bacciu, Giovanna Montalto, Franco Pasquini, Piero Damiani, Erika Betti and Stefano Scuppa.

“The quality of the extra virgin olive oils participating in this edition was extremely high,” the tasters said unanimously after the tasting sessions. 

They observed how, despite the many challenges of recent years, the Italian producers have been able to constantly improve their expertise both in the field and in the mill.

Lazio was the most awarded region with four accolades, followed by Emilia-Romagna, Abruzzo, and Sicily, each with two awards. Tuscany and Sardinia each obtained one recognition.

Another dozen special awards were presented, including a mention for the best organic extra virgin olive oil, which went to a producer from Lazio. Additionally, two producers from the same region were recognized for the best monocultivar, along with one producer from Campania and one from Puglia.

The latter region was the most awarded, with four accolades, at La Goccia d’Ercole (The Drop of Hercules), the section dedicated to small-scale producers. Puglia was followed by Umbria, with two awards. Sicily, Tuscany, Umbria, Campania and Calabria each took home one award.

Ercole Olivario has always been a showcase for the Italian producing regions. Over the last few years, oleotouristic initiatives have been put in the spotlight by the competition through the introduction of a new award, the ‘Giorgio Phellas Oleotourism Mention of Merit’, intended for companies that invest in the sector. This year’s mention went to a Sicilian company.

“We must continue to work on the territories with promotional actions to link food to tourism.”

said Andrea Prete, the president of Unioncamere, during the award ceremony. “We aim at enhancing a quality oleotourism offer, with a view to meeting the ever-growing demand.”

A distinctive feature of Ercole Olivario lies in preliminary selections. Every year, the extra virgin olive oils that participate in the national competition are selected during a first round of assessment by regional panels. 

In Lazio, this led to the creation of a regional contest for the best extra virgin olive oils, which, over time, has gained a reputation. The Premio Roma Evo, held at the Chamber of Commerce of Rome, is now in its 32nd edition.

Among the winners is Azienda Agricola Alfredo Cetrone. After earning one of the first prizes at Premio Roma Evo, it entered the national competition, where it ranked first in the category PDO/PGI Intense Fruity with its Daje Colline Pontine PDO and second in the intense fruity category with its Cetrone In.

“It is a great satisfaction to win in this prestigious contest, and especially in the PDO and PGI category, since we have a special bond with our territory and we aim at highlighting it,” co-owner Giulio Cetrone told Olive Oil Times.

His company manages 20,000 Itrana olive trees spread across 100 hectares of mainly terraced terrain at elevations of 450 to 500 meters above sea level in Sonnino, in the province of Latina.

Traditionally processed for table olives in Lazio, where it originated, this olive variety has also been widely used in recent times to create excellent extra-virgin olive oils, often characterized by herbaceous and tomato notes.

“Our family has a long tradition of olive growing, and I am the fifth generation to manage these orchards,” Cetrone said. “We used to produce table olives until my father, Alfredo, had the intuition to harvest earlier and to use Itrana to obtain a monovarietal. This choice turned out to be successful.”

“Most of our plants are centuries-old and some of them are likely a thousand years old,” he added. “Our youngest olive trees were planted to produce oils with different profiles, but also aiming at biodiversity conservation. We collected cuttings of the different ecotypes of Itrana from across the province. We therefore planted them on a flat plot to form rows, each representing a town on the Pontine Hills. This is a further way to praise and protect our beautiful territory.”

Registration is now open until September 30th for Extra Cuoca, a contest dedicated to professional women chefs working in Italy and other countries. Ercole Olivario will award the best recipes created with the winning extra virgin olive oils.

More information on Extra Cuoca and a complete list of 2025 Ercole Olivario winners, including those from the table olive competition, can be found on the organization’s website and social media pages.

On the foothills of Mount Guardiabella, an offshoot of the Prealps, Tèra de Prie cultivates 4,500 trees scattered over 15 hectares of terraced orchards at 300 to 400 meters of altitude. 

The groves are located throughout the hamlets of Aurigo, Borgomaro and a few other villages of the Impero Valley, near Imperia.

“This area has always been rich in stones and trees,” co-owner Nicola Ferrarese told Olive Oil Times. “The first peoples who arrived here, the Ligurians and then the Romans, started using the tree wood to build their boats and collected the stones to create the terraces, turning a problem into a resource.”

Hence, the name of the company, Tèra de Prie, which in the Ligurian language means ‘land of stones’ or ‘land made of stones.’ The company logo depicts a stylized human figure wielding a magaglio, a local word indicating a type of three-toothed hoe. It can be seen as a farmer hoeing, gearing up for the olive harvest or struggling to fix a retaining wall.

The latter image evokes the constant maintenance required by the terraced plots, whose slope gradient is at least 45 degrees. Every year, the company restores between 180 and 200 square meters of dry stone walls on the property.

The result of this commitment towards the territory, shaped by a thousand years of heroic farming, is Tèra de Prie Biologico Monocultivar Taggiasca, which earned a Gold Award at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

“Our work of preservation has not only a historical and cultural value – just consider that UNESCO recognized the art of dry stone walling as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity – but it also has other major implications,” Ferrarese said. 

“A good maintenance of the dry stone walls drastically reduces the hydrogeological risk,” he added. “Due to the importance of this activity, the European Union covers part of the cost necessary for their restoration. However, well-done work always requires an extra amount of expense, as well as additional efforts.”

The use of traditional agricultural techniques, such as dry-stone terraces, is widely recognized as an adaptation measure to mitigate the effects of climate change.

The E.U. manages funding programs, such as “Using Dry-Stone Walls as a Multi-purpose Climate Change Adaptation tool,” the goals of which are to restore and maintain dry stone walls in a long-term manner, as they enable excellent water drainage and effectively minimize the risk of landslides and floods.

“Among their environmental benefits, these walls provide a specific natural ecosystem for many species,” Ferrarese said. “Moreover, they act as temperature regulators, creating a microclimate, thanks to the stone’s ability to store the heat of the sun and then to release it.”

Ferrarese manages the company alongside his father, Franco, and last year, his wife, Sonia, joined the team to oversee marketing and business initiatives. The couple has two children, eight-year-old Andrea and six-year-old Francesca, who has already shown interest in the family’s commitment to olive production.

“Every year, our kids are the first tasters of our extra virgin olive oil, and they love getting involved in the harvest, which for them is an exciting experience,” Ferrarese said. “Speaking of the link between generations, most of these lands have been passed down to us from our ancestors. Both my mother’s and my father’s families were, in all likelihood, olive growers since 1700.”

The origins of their entrepreneurial venture date back to the mid-1980s, when Franco Ferrarese began revitalizing an abandoned olive grove.

“He then recovered other plots and we started making oil for household consumption,” Ferrarese said. “After purchasing some neighboring land, at the end of the 1990s, he established a small mill, and in 2000, he created a company.”

In 2011, the farm was certified organic. In 2016, Ferrarese joined his father in managing the business, and together they founded Tèra de Prie.

“We have a precious collaborator, Emad Balat, who began working with us 25 years ago, and today he is a true expert in the construction of dry stone walls. His skill is invaluable. Building this type of wall without using binding material not only takes effort but also calls for great expertise,” Ferrarese said. “Emad and I also take turns in managing the company mill, equipped with advanced Mori-Tem technology.”

“Another great collaborator, Zeka Ilmi, works in the olive groves all year, and in the summer he takes care of our vegetable garden,” he added. “This is where we source the vegetables for our hotel’s restaurant.”

The Ferrarese family manages a hotel in Diano Marina, whose catering section is supplied with extra virgin olive oil and other fresh, organic agri-food products from their farm. The hotel guests can participate in olive oil tastings and tours of the farm and mill.

“We organize events for our guests and for all those who want to visit our olive groves and the milling facility, which is regularly updated with the best technical innovations,” Ferrarese said. “We make an olive oil tasting, and I give them some information about these terraces and the history of Ligurian agriculture, trying to convey both our passion and some useful information to recognize a good extra virgin olive oil.”

The company’s pursuit of quality has always been closely tied to its commitment to environmental sustainability. Before applying for organic certification, the Ferrarese family began focusing on organic methods of production.

“We minimize tillage and let the spontaneous herbs grow on our terraces to improve biodiversity and attract beneficial insects,” Ferrarese said.

“We mow grass just once a year before harvesting, and actually, I can say that the wild boars help us practice green manure, as they loosen up the soil under the trees while in search of food,” he added. “Indeed, our olive groves are rich in wildlife, and we aim to preserve this healthy environment.”

Most of the plots face southwest, offering excellent exposure to the sun that benefits the Taggiasca olive trees. The orchards also include a few dozen trees belonging to yet unknown varieties, which ancient farmers used to improve pollination. The company is currently studying them in collaboration with a university research group.

The average width of a terrace is approximately three meters, but in some cases, it can be as little as two meters. As a result, each terrace typically contains one row of olive trees, while only a handful have sufficient space for two rows. For optimal use of space, due to logistical and safety reasons, the company conducts regular and meticulous pruning of its olive trees.

“The activities on these orchards can often be strenuous, and especially for this, our collaborators deserve to work in a serene and pleasant environment,” Ferrarese said. “I believe that the respect for the land cannot be separated from the respect for and enhancement of people who work and live in it.”

“Every time we hire someone, even just for a season, the first oil that comes out of the mill goes to them, because they helped us create something unique like a high-quality extra virgin olive oil,” he added. 

“True quality is not an end in itself, but aims at everyone’s well-being. It seeks the common good and acts in the best interest of the entire community. This is what we strive to do, and it is reflected in the care with which we protect this fascinating territory.”

Tunisian, Moroccan and Egyptian producers showcased the results of their resilience and adaptation to labor shortages, high temperatures and insufficient rainfall at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Considering the low harvest of the previous season, Tunisian olive oil production rebounded in the 2024/25 crop year.

Local institutions anticipate that by the end of the season, the country will export up to 300,000 tons of olive oil, most of which is shipped in bulk, with a significant share destined for the European Union. 

However, Tunisian producers showcased that the country is also home to award-winning quality, earning 12 awards from 18 entries at the 2025 NYIOOC.

Producers in neighboring Morocco and Egypt also had to cope with complex conditions, primarily due to the impact of reduced rainfall.

Two Moroccan producers combined to win a Gold and Silver Award at the 2025 NYIOOC, with Egyptian producer Wadi Food earning two Silver Awards. 

“Our olive season in Tunisia is truly at the mercy of climate change these days,” said Naouel Bouabid, owner at Massiva, which earned three Silver Awards for its flagship Damya line of olive oil. “We’re seeing more and more unpredictable weather.”

Bouabid cited the out-of-season heatwaves and erratic rainfall as examples. “All of this makes farming a continuous effort of adaptation,” she noted.

“Adding to that, the prickly pears – vital for our biodiversity and even olive oil quality – are under severe attack.” 

“The cochineal insect has caused damage, costing us a huge part of our natural heritage,” Bouabid added. “Thankfully, the government and international partners are actively seeking solutions.”

In Tunisia, prickly pears support olive farming by stabilizing soil, conserving water and serving as windbreaks. 

Their resilience in arid climates reduces erosion and wildfire risk. By diversifying income and enhancing biodiversity, they help create a more sustainable, climate-adaptive environment for high-quality olive oil production.

Despite these challenges, Bouabid said that the unique terroir, harvesting approach, and practices as well as the milling technologies, contributed to Massiva’s triumph in New York.

“We also maintain meticulous attention to detail in the cultivation of our olive trees, employing sustainable practices to ensure their health and longevity,” she added.

According to Bouabid, “winning an award at a prestigious competition like NYIOOC is an incredible feeling.”

“It’s a powerful validation of all the hard work, dedication, and passion we pour into every step of the olive oil making process, from nurturing the trees to the careful extraction and storage. It’s a moment of immense pride for our entire team,” she said.

Winning in New York is also relevant for the company as it focuses on exports to the United States.

“Effectively marketing our unique, high-quality Tunisian olive oil in the U.S. is a major challenge,” Bouabid said. “We compete with larger, established global brands with greater marketing power, requiring significant effort and investment in branding, origin and nationwide outreach.”

Other high-end producers in the country agree with Bouabid, as many challenges had to be faced.

“We had a pack of challenges, ranging from workers’ availability and management to a very hot weather during summer,” said Ahmed Hamza, co-founder and managing director of Olyfo. “In some days it exceeded 48 ºC.” 

Olyfo won a Silver Award at the World Competition for its 2500 Years of Tradition brand, a medium-intensity blend of Koroneiki, Arbequina, Arbosana and Chemlali olives.

According to Hamza, winning in New York fills him with pride and satisfaction. “It feels like our work is appreciated; it is an important recognition of the quality of the extra virgin olive oil we are selling to the world,” he noted.

In Morocco, the persistent drought and water scarcity have impacted the country’s production. Both high-end producers and other farms experienced challenges.

“We experienced a reduced harvest due to adverse weather conditions. The lack of rain in

Morocco was a disaster,” said Mohammed Dakir Berrada, founder and owner of Noor Fès in Morocco, and Ghizlane Tazi, general manager of the company.

Noor Fès earned a Gold Award at the 2025 NYIOOC with its monovarietal Moroccan Picholine.

“Climate change is now a global issue, and it is increasingly affecting olive production,” they said. “Climate change is reshaping our environment, but it also pushes us to do better.”

“Our olive oil, produced with regenerative and biodiverse systems, not only tastes better and offers more nutritional benefits, but it’s also part of a sustainable future,” Berrada and Tazi added.

The two noted that the award won by the company is the result of several sustainable practices, technologies and innovative procedures.

“This is our fifth consecutive award, which reinforces the consistency and excellence of our quality year after year,” Barrada and Tazi said.

“Furthermore, we are very committed to the U.S. market, which is a top priority for us,” they added. “Winning an award at the NYIOOC is helpful as it reassures U.S. consumers,”

According to the new report of the central inspectorate for quality protection and anti-fraud of agri-food products (ICQRF), more than 8,200 of 54,000 food inspections targeted vegetable oils, with most of them related to extra virgin olive oil.

Using a network of laboratories maintained by the inspectorate and its partner universities, ICQRF found that in nearly 15 percent of the samples taken, the declared contents of the containers did not match the actual contents.

Overall, 23 percent of samples yielded “irregular results,” meaning the contents of the container did not match the labels or there was some other mistake in identifying the product.

Inspectors found 19 percent of the operators to be noncompliant with current regulations.

In 2024, 72 criminal reports, 896 administrative sanctions, 843 formal warnings and 76 seizures corresponded to the olive oil sector.

Altogether, authorities confiscated 455,000 kilograms of non-compliant olive oil valued at more than €4 million.

These figures make olive oil one of the most heavily sanctioned sectors in the Italian agri-food system.

This focus is no coincidence. Olive oil is considered a high-risk sector due to its susceptibility to fraud.

According to ICQRF, one of the keys to the anti-fraud operations is the national digital olive oil registry (RTO).

The RTO is a system meant to trace the olive oil supply chain at the national level. It allows authorities to control and monitor in real-time every movement of olives, olive oil and olive pomace oil.

All olive traders, olive oil mills, bottling companies, bulk olive oil traders, refineries and pomace dealers must maintain an updated registry for each of their facilities.

According to ICQRF, the national digital olive oil registry, combined with broad controls in the region and the deployment of a specialized police force to detect fraud, is a globally unique feature for preventing food fraud.

In its report, ICQRF included several examples of the numerous coordinated operations conducted by the agency and its specialized police forces in 2024.

In Veneto, discrepancies totaling more than 72,000 kilograms were identified between physical stock records and digital registry records.

In Umbria, authorities uncovered a fraudulent scheme involving E.U.-origin oil passed off as Italian, along with blends of seed oils and lower-grade olive oils sold as premium extra virgin olive oil.

In Tuscany, investigators shut down the sale of counterfeit extra virgin olive oil made from seed oil and pomace, colored with chlorophyll and beta-carotene.

In Campania, 8,000 liters of falsely labeled extra virgin olive oil were seized after tests revealed adulteration with sunflower oil and synthetic colorants.

One of the largest seizures occurred in Bari province, where 340,000 kilograms of unregistered, organic, virgin olive oil, worth approximately €3 million, were confiscated.

In Liguria, 18,000 liters of E.U. olive oil were sold as high-value Taggiasco Italian oil, while €230,000 worth of product was traded off the books.

In the province of Rome, more than 100,000 liters of irregular olive oil destined for restaurants were taken off the market.

Some enforcement efforts extended beyond Italy’s borders. Following a tip from French authorities, Italian inspectors intercepted mislabeled extra virgin olive oil at the border, leading to the seizure of nearly 92 tons of vegetable oils and more than 10,000 falsely branded packages.

In 2024, agri-food exports from Italy exceeded €70 billion, eight percent more than in the previous year.

As a whole, the agri-food sector represents 15 percent of the Italian Gross Domestic Product, with a turnover exceeding €200 billion.

“This remarkable achievement would not be possible without an effective control system that ensures the authenticity and safety of our products, safeguarding the reputation of ‘Made in Italy’ and protecting the work of producers who follow the rules,” Francesco Lollobrigida, minister of agriculture, food sovereignty and forests, said during the presentation of the report.

“Controls play a crucial role along the entire supply chain, from farm to table. Competent authorities such as ICQRF are at the forefront of ensuring that Italian products meet high quality standards,” he added.

“In addition to territorial surveillance, ICQRF works in partnership with international bodies, e‑commerce platforms, and customs offices to prevent the spread of falsified and counterfeit products, which threaten the reputation of ‘Made in Italy’ in global markets,” Lollobrigida continued.

“Thanks to these activities, thousands of falsely labeled products are seized each year, protecting both consumers and producers who invest in quality and authenticity,” he concluded.

Farmers, millers and bottlers in the Golden State, which is responsible for virtually all of the estimated 10,000 metric tons of United States olive oil production in the 2024/25 crop year, overcame high temperatures at key moments of olive development, the emergence of the olive fruit fly and logistical challenges throughout the harvest.

While climatic and economic challenges are ever-present in a producer’s mission to craft world-class extra virgin olive oil, some entrants faced more personal trials and tribulations.

For Nancy Frishberg of Rancho Milagro, this year’s harvest was particularly emotional. Her partner, who had managed the ranch since its inception, passed away unexpectedly in October.

“He was only 75 and had a lot of things to accomplish,” Frishberg said. “And then, you know, he was gone.” 

The loss left Frishberg in charge of the operation, which she had never anticipated. “This is my first year of being the manager of the harvest,” she said. “I’ve had to learn the ropes, but I think I’ve done okay.”

The past year also brought rain during harvest, forcing producers to adjust their schedules. Additionally, extreme summer heat, reaching 109°F (43°C), posed challenges for the olive trees. 

“We had some really, really hot days last summer. It got to 109ºF when we left. That was exceptionally high, I thought, for this part of California,” Frishberg said.

Her background is in marketing and linguistics, a stark contrast to the agricultural expertise her late partner brought to Rancho Milagro.

“I was an academic. I have a Ph.D. in linguistics, specializing in sign languages,” she said. “Then I spent years in tech, working in user experience and human-computer interaction. None of that had anything to do with olive oil.” 

Despite the steep learning curve, she embraced the challenge, hiring a consultant to refine their olive oil blends. 

“I said to her, ‘Here’s what I know about what’s in these barrels. Put together a blend for me that represents our ranch and that uses as much of those three other varieties as possible.’ And she did that. And it’s been winning awards,” Frishberg said.

Among them was the NYIOOC Gold Award for its medium-intensity Frantoio monovarietal. Additionally, the ranch’s Field Blend of Frantoio, Hojiblanca, Coratina, and Picual olives received a Silver Award.

The shift from opportunistic blending to intentional blending proved to be a game-changer. 

“I needed to have somebody to help me on the blend. This is the key difference between the opportunistic blend and the intentional blend,” Fishber said.

For Elise Magistro, owner of Luretík Estate, winning at NYIOOC was a powerful validation of her team’s commitment to quality. 

“Winning in New York confirms the rigorous standards we hold ourselves to, from the grove to the bottle,” she said. “We see it not only as recognition of our work but as a signal to our growing community of customers and collaborators that Luretík delivers a truly world-class extra virgin olive oil experience.”

Magistro added that the NYIOOC award increases customer awareness and has improved the brand’s presence in retail, culinary and hospitality channels.

“It also affirms our forward-looking work: blending varieties for complexity and balance, investing in sustainability at the grove level, and building new formats like micro-batch bottlings and curated sensory experiences,” she said.

Magistro also highlighted how California’s success at NYIOOC is reshaping global perceptions of the region’s olive oil. 

“The steady presence of California oils at NYIOOC is shifting how the world views our producers,” she said. “Luretík is part of that evolution here on the Central Coast. We’re fortunate to grow in Santa Barbara County, which enjoys a Mediterranean-like microclimate where our Italian cultivars thrive and give us a diverse palette for crafting nuanced blends.”

Rather than focusing on monovarietals, Magistro said she produces blends to express her experience at Luretík. 

“From the outset, it has been important for me to craft oils that reflect who I am and where I come from,” Magistro said. Our approach is rooted in creating blends that are deliberate compositions rather than a California version of an Italian monovarietal oil.”

The 2024/25 harvest yielded slightly lower results compared to California’s standout 2023/24 season, but producers observed high harmony scores, elevated phenols, and complex aromas in certain varieties. 

“We made strategic adjustments during harvest timing as well as in post-harvest blending, decisions which paid off: the result was a gold medal oil that exemplifies both precision and adaptability,” Magistro said.

However, she highlighted logistical challenges of scaling production. “Ensuring rapid transport to our organic-certified milling partner is critical to preserving fruit integrity, and we’ve been disciplined about maintaining that 12 to 24-hour window,” Magistro said.

“We’re also developing long-term partnerships to bring milling closer to the grove, part of a broader investment in regenerative and operational resilience,” she added.

Looking ahead, Magistro remains optimistic about the 2025/26 harvest, noting steady budding across nine varieties and favorable spring weather supporting optimal flowering conditions.

“We’re continuing to deepen our biodiverse practices and expand grove capacity, laying the groundwork for future growth in both volume and innovation, like micro-lots and climate-responsive cultivation.”

Meanwhile, in the hills of San Miguel, known for its Mediterranean climate and rich agricultural heritage, Richard and Myrna Meisler of San Miguel Olive Farm also celebrated a triumphant season.

The couple, aged 86 and 87, started their farm in 2006 with only ten trees. Nestled in the Central Coast’s rolling hills, the perennial winners celebrated a ninth straight year of success at the NYIOOC.

“We are also very proud to have received four Gold Awards for our endeavors this year,” they said. “The accolades reinforce their unwavering commitment to quality and sustainability.”

Their success, alongside other producers, highlights the resilience and dedication of California’s olive oil industry. “We both feel Californians are known for facing challenges well and moving forward,” they said.

Looking ahead, California producers are bracing for another active wildfire season. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, more than 2,000 fires have burned approximately 30,000 hectares as of 2025. 

While olive growers have experienced limited exposure, smoke has not been shown to affect olive oil quality; however, they continue to monitor environmental conditions closely. 

At Rancho Milagro, the ranch manager only mulches pruning leftovers while brief rains continue—once the heat sets in, fire danger makes such practices too risky.

“We haven’t had a fire in this part of California since 2021… But starting soon, it will be the dry season,” Frishberg said. “And by the time August comes around and September, that gets to be iffy because there’s lots of fire danger.”

According to the ministry’s official figures, the average price of one liter of extra virgin olive oil was €11.40 in April 2025 (approximately €12.45 per kilogram).

In the same month, the ministry recorded prices ranging from €3.96 per kilogram in Spain to €9.55 per kilogram in Italy.

In April 2025, while the average price in the European Union was €6.13 per kilogram, Croatian olive oil reached €12.50 per kilogram, 104 percent higher. This marks an 18 percent increase compared to the previous month.

The ministry also noted that the April 2025 price is nearly identical to the one recorded in April 2024.

After a year of fluctuations, Croatian olive oil prices are rising again, continuing a trend seen in recent years.

On average, the wholesale price in 2024 was 23 percent higher than the previous year, 50 percent higher than in 2022 and 73 percent higher than in 2021.

In 2020, the average retail price of packaged olive oil in Croatia was €5.47 per liter. It rose to €5.75 in 2021, €6.74 in 2022, €8.83 in 2023 and reached €12 in 2024.

According to ministry graphs, Croatian olive oil has consistently been priced well above that of other major producing countries in the European Union.

The ministry attributed this to several factors, including growing consumer awareness of quality products.

Other drivers include international market trends and the volume of local olive oil production. Imports are playing an increasingly important role in shaping market prices.

Data from the International Olive Council shows that Croatia has produced an average of almost 4,000 metric tons of olive oil annually over the past five years, while yearly consumption exceeds 8,000 tons.

“There are several reasons why Istrian olive oils are often more expensive than many other European olive oils,” Rudolf Nemetschke, managing director at Avistria, an award-winning producer, told Olive Oil Times.

Referring specifically to Istria, Croatia’s northwesternmost region, Nemetschke explained that most producers manage small, family-owned plots that require intensive manual labor and face higher costs.

“Due to topography, mechanization is often limited,” Nemetschke said.

Much Istrian olive oil is produced under European Union Protected Designation of Origin and Protected Geographical Indication certifications, which require strict quality standards.

“Istria’s microclimate, shaped by the Bora wind, sunshine, limestone and red soil, creates ideal conditions for top-quality oils,” Nemetschke said.

“This leads to intense, complex flavors highly valued in the market. Such unique growing conditions are limited and therefore more expensive,” he added.

Nemetschke also noted that Istrian oils are mainly exported to niche markets, such as gourmet shops and high-end restaurants, which affects distribution costs.

Another factor is labor. “Labor is expensive and scarce in Istria, where the booming tourism industry has absorbed most of the available workforce,” Nemetschke said.

Although mills in the region now utilize advanced equipment, these investments are relatively recent and still impact operating costs.

“This might also put some pressure on the price level,” Nemetschke said.

Additional challenges are shared with producers across Europe.

“Glass prices have risen dramatically in recent years. The cost of bottles has more than doubled, and small producers suffer most since glass prices are degressive,” he said, where the cost per unit decreases as the quantity purchased increases.

Nemetschke believes that higher prices can influence how consumers perceive the quality of olive oil.

“Many consumers associate a higher price with better quality, especially for gourmet or specialty products like olive oil,” he said. “For Istrian producers, higher prices help position the oil as a luxury or artisanal product.” 

However, high prices can also act as a barrier. “If premium oils are positioned only as luxury items, it might alienate average consumers who feel excluded from good olive oil,” Nemetschke warned.

“Higher prices can definitely raise awareness, but only if producers combine them with smart consumer education,” he added.

This includes transparent labeling, featuring harvest date, variety and polyphenol content, as well as tastings, workshops and storytelling about terroir, family production and awards.

“All of these help consumers understand why high-quality olive oil costs more, and why it’s worth it,” Nemetschke said.

Tedi Chiavalon, co-owner of the award-winning Istrian producer OPG Chiavalon, noted that market prices alone rarely offer an accurate picture.

“I find the use of the terms ‘high’ or ‘low’ price often misleading in the olive oil world, because we are rarely comparing products of the same category or quality,” Chiavalon said.

He believes the focus should shift from price and origin to the actual quality of the oils.

“Under the ‘extra virgin’ label, the market offers everything from low-grade industrial oils to small-batch, early-harvest artisanal oils,” he said.

“Comparing their prices is like comparing a diamond to a piece of gravel: both may come from the earth, but they’re fundamentally different in value.”

Chiavalon argues that a product is not overpriced if it sells consistently.

“A product becomes ‘too expensive’ only when buyers are no longer willing to pay for it, and it remains unsold,” he said. “In our case, the exact opposite is happening: tanks are empty well before the new harvest. The demand for premium extra virgin olive oil continues to grow exponentially, year after year.”

“For consumers who seek truth, purity and traceability, the price is not a deterrent. It’s part of the value proposition,” Chiavalon said. “Yes, some may adjust their purchasing habits, but those committed to real food will continue to seek out honest oils, even if they cost a little more. In that sense, price becomes an indicator, not a barrier.”

Chiavalon said this trend is not limited to Croatia.

“It applies to all genuinely crafted, small-batch extra virgin olive oils, regardless of origin,” he said. “These oils are becoming increasingly rare as climate challenges grow and industrial production expands.”

In Chiavalon’s view, the prices of high-quality extra virgin olive oils will remain high or rise even more.

“Not because they’re marketed as premium, but because they are fundamentally different from the mass-market alternatives they are too often lumped together with,” he concluded.

The Italian producers and millers received the highest number of awards for the tenth year in a row, making their entry in the Official Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils with a record 163 Gold Awards and 37 Silver Awards. 

They also have submitted the highest number of entries, 258, just two short of the record 260 entries set in 2021.

Such significant figures crown a successful decade, during which farmers across the country have consistently proven their quality and demonstrated an ever-growing expertise in crafting outstanding blends and monovarietals. 

Overcoming pressing issues, such as the effects of climate change and increased production costs, they have remained true to the value of sustainability, implementing organic and regenerative practices that are now widely adopted among top-tier producers.

The 2025 NYIOOC saw a massive participation of producers from central and southern regions of the country, including Tuscany, Puglia, Sicily, Umbria, Campania and Lazio. 

Entries also came from Liguria, Marche and Abruzzo, as well as the island of Sardinia, and the northern regions of Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige.

“We had a great harvest, thanks to a good distribution of rainfall throughout the year, not excessively long dry periods and that, in any case, prevented olive fruit fly outbreaks,” said  Daniel Ronca of Frantoio Il Mandorlo.

“The flowering was very good both in terms of ‘mignolatura’ (bud growth) and pollination, so let’s say it was an ideal year,” he added.

His family’s company received a Gold Award for Il Mandorlo Bio, an organic blend primarily composed of Frantoio and Moraiolo, with smaller percentages of Leccino and Pendolino.

Scattered over six hectares of organic land, their 2,000 olive trees thrive on the Florentine hills, north of the Tuscan capital, where the company mill was established in 1974. Today, the facility boasts the latest generation technology.

“We also work for third parties, and some of our clients participated and won awards at the NYIOOC,” said Ronca, who has been in charge of the milling operations since 2019. 

“This adds to the satisfaction of obtaining our Gold. We decided to participate in the World Competition because it offers prestige and recognition, as well as through tools like the Olive Oil Times World Ranking,” he added. “Since we have customers in the U.S. and worldwide, our participation was aimed precisely at giving them further proof of the quality of our oil.”

In the adjacent town of Pontassieve, the hamlet of Sieci is home to the organic producer La Gramigna, which received a Gold Award for its Olio Grullo, a Maurino monovarietal.

This and other native varieties, such as Leccino, Frantoio, Moraiolo and Pendolino, for a total of 6,000 olive trees, many of which are centuries old, are cultivated on the hills east of Florence by Renata Conti and her family.

“This oil is the result of a great harvest, probably the best of the last years, both in terms of quantity and quality, but also of the great care that we put in producing our extra virgin olive oils in our small, state-of-the-art mill,” she emphasized. “The NYIOOC is an important showcase on the international market, and this award pays off our commitment to quality.”

“We have chosen this name for our oil because we like to joke a bit,” Conti pointed out, referring to grullo, a regional word often used affectionately to describe a loopy person. “The label, which my son designed, includes a ‘funny story’ that changes every year.”

Deep corporate values counterbalance light-heartedness in packaging. The company is firmly committed to protecting the environment, maintaining soil health and preserving the landscape.

“Our orchards are sustainably managed, and renewable energy sources power our facilities,” Conti said. “Furthermore, we are engaged in safeguarding the beauty of this landscape, both carrying out recovery interventions of abandoned olive orchards and planting new trees, also aiming at restoring the hydrogeological cycle.”

In northern Lazio’s Tuscia, an excellent harvest earned Pietro Re top honors for Tamia Gold Organic, at its tenth accolade, and Tamia Caninese Organic, at its seventh Gold Award.

“I am glad to say that this is our tenth successful World Competition and we rank seventh among the Italian companies in the World Ranking,” Re said.

At the Sergio Delle Monache farm in Vetralla, he enhances native varieties, including Caninese, used to create the namesake award-winning monovarietal, along with Maurino, Frantoio, Bolzone and Leccino, some of which are accurately blended to create the flagship blend, Gold Organic.

Favorable weather during the warm months secured an excellent fruit development. The olives were then crushed in a latest-generation mill in the area.

“The World Competition is a global reference point and gives us producers visibility, also thanks to [its] effective communication system,” Re noted. “Indeed, we became known to our importers thanks to the Best in Class that we won at our first participation in 2014, and from that moment on, we have participated every year.”

Producers in the south had to face more challenging weather conditions, primarily due to drought, which in some cases led to lower production volumes; nonetheless, quality remained high.

Among the Apulian extra virgin olive oils recognized in the Official Guide to the World’s Best Olive Oils, three monovarietals were produced by I Pavoni in Cerignola: Pavoni Masseria Fortificata Coratina, at its seventh Gold Award in a row; Pavoni Masseria Fortificata Peranzana, at its second Gold Award; and Pavoni Masseria Fortificata Leccino, which received a Silver Award (its sixth accolade).

“We had a medium to low production in terms of quantity, but the quality was still excellent,” owner Giovanni Simeone said. “Last summer was dry, but we could irrigate the orchards and overcome this issue. Drought is certainly one of the most urgent challenges at the moment. Therefore, we recently invested in building a new well and improving our irrigation system.”

An ancient masseria lies at the heart of the estate, which encompasses 30 hectares of organic olive groves featuring 9,000 trees of various varieties, including the native Coratina, Peranzana, and Bella di Cerignola, as well as Ascolana, Nocellara and Leccino.

“After converting to organic farming, at our first participation at the NYIOOC years ago, we obtained a Gold Award. It was thanks to this competition that we found our current importer and entered the international market,” Simeone revealed, adding that today they export almost 60 percent of their production to the United States.

In Sicily, the Mandranova farm is situated a few kilometers from the southern coast of the island, in Palma di Montechiaro, in the province of Agrigento.

“This year, we participated in the World Competition with Selezione, a new blend that we have created in the mill with our Nocellara, Biancolilla, Cerasuola and Giarraffa,” co-founder Silvia di Vincenzo specified after receiving a Gold Award for this extra virgin olive oil made up of autochthonous varieties.

Promoting biodiversity and protecting the environment are core values of the family company. The Mandranova estate spans approximately 180 hectares and encompasses nearly 40 hectares of olive groves, many of which are centuries old. Younger trees have been recently added to increase production.

“We can better manage the quality of our products thanks to an irrigation system and careful monitoring of the orchards,” Di Vincenzo said. “Very high temperatures and drought are ever more frequent, making the farming operations more challenging. Nevertheless, we are structured to cope with all the variables at play. We check on the olives daily, and we carry out an early harvest. The fruit is crushed in our state-of-the-art mill, which allows us to set every detail of the production process.”

The Sicilian farmer explained how sustainable farming practices have become not only necessary to preserve the environment, but also beneficial in improving soil health.

“We let the spontaneous herbs grow, and the no-tillage technique helps us keep the soil moisture high,” she said. “We mow the crop a couple of times a year, which acts as a natural fertilization.”

Farmers from the northern regions had to contend with various weather challenges, but thanks to careful production management, the results were still outstanding.

San Massimo, located in the south of Valpolicella, near Lake Garda, is where Azienda Agricola Ca’ Crespana produces Paneolio Amethyst and Paneolio Peridot, as well as Leccino and Grignano monovarietals, both of which have received a Gold Award.

“We are really happy about these awards,” said Johannes Pan, the co-owner of the family company. “They are an important confirmation of the work we do every day with passion.” 

“We always face the challenges of agriculture with enthusiasm, to constantly improve,” he added. “The bar is always raised higher, and this motivates us. These awards also serve as a significant showcase in the international market. Even if our main focus remains the regional market, we are happy to make our products known beyond the borders.”

The nearby lake creates a Mediterranean microclimate ideal for the olive trees, which enjoy the wide temperature range between day and night typical of these northern latitudes. Very calcareous and well-drained soils, shaped by glaciers millions of years ago, offer optimal conditions for olive farming.

“Last crop year was quite challenging – we had more rain than in recent years,” Pan said. “In agriculture, everything can change radically from one year to the next, and you always start from scratch.” 

“Thanks to targeted agronomic measures carried out by my brother and a very disciplined harvest, we still managed to obtain excellent quality,” he concluded. “This shows how important experience, flexibility and teamwork are.”

Attendees, who traveled from eight countries, examined olive oil sensory analysis, best practices in farming and production, health benefits, nutrition, culinary applications and quality assurance over the week-long course.

An interdisciplinary and international team of renowned experts led the rigorous program, which incorporated tastings of 100 olive oil samples from every producing region.

Among the participants was Reema Shihadeh, who joined the program to help improve her family’s olive oil business.

“I wanted to deepen my understanding of what defines exceptional quality,” she said. “As an entrepreneur in the beauty and wellness space, I’m especially interested in its health benefits and its impact on skin health.”

“The Olive Oil Times Sommelier Course offered an incredible deep dive into every aspect of olive oil, from tasting and chemistry to harvesting and production,” she added. “I now feel more equipped to discuss the ingredient and look forward to sharing its health benefits with others.”

Olivia Ramos of Olivia LaBomba also joined the course to support her professional efforts, importing high-quality extra virgin olive oil from Spain. “The course was professional, comprehensive, well-planned and impeccably executed,” she said.

Meanwhile, Lela Krstevska said she enrolled to learn more about olive oil quality and health benefits as she plans for her future olive grove. 

“The quality in lectures, the diversity of experts and shared knowledge exceeded my expectations for this project,” she said. “Even more, getting to have a network of great like-minded people who share the same values is just priceless.”

With education squarely in mind, Angelo Lampousis joined the course in preparation for his new general education course at the City College of New York.

“[It was an] extraordinary opportunity to learn from distinguished instructors and from a number of discerning classmates from a wide variety of fields,” he said.

After retiring from the United States Department of Agriculture, Linda Feldman said she joined the course to nourish her love of learning and interest in “growing, producing, cooking and eating food.”

“The course was a perfect blend of information on growing and producing olives and olive oils, and learning how to identify the quality and characteristics of extra virgin olive oil,” she said.

“I loved how the instruction built on itself each day, enriching what I learned in previous sessions,” Feldman added. “The instructors were top notch. The 85 or more tastings over five days capped off the course.”

The Olive Oil Times Education Lab offers innovative courses and online programs to empower a generation of olive oil educators.

Enrollment is already open for the Olive Oil Times Sommelier Certification Program Europe, which will take place in ‘s‑Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, from September 22nd to 26th.

“The story began when I was at NYU [New York University] finishing my Bachelor’s degree in pure mathematics in Japanese in 2019,” said Arsen Khachaturyants, the founder of Arsenio.

At that time, Khachaturyants, whose family lives in Florence, the capital of Tuscany, saw an opportunity to begin producing wine.

“We started planting vineyards, which take about three to five years before the first harvest,” he said. “While waiting for the vineyards, I saw that we had all these beautiful old olives and decided to produce olive oil.”

Khachaturyants was already familiar with the product, having worked in Michelin-starred restaurants in France, and was eager to experiment with the local varieties.

He began harvesting the centuries-old trees that remained in good condition, taking the olives to a local mill equipped with state-of-the-art Mori-Tem equipment to transform them with minimal oxygen exposure. 

Khachaturyants also replaced some trees damaged by the 1985 frost, adding new Tusan olive varieties.

“We specialize only in Tuscan varieties: Frantoio, Leccino, Leccio del Corno and Moraiolo,” he said. “I especially like Leccio del Corno, which is not a very famous Tuscan variety, but I decided to plant it because I think it has a very nice balance as a monovarietal and in the blends.”

Khachaturyants harvests and mills each organically cultivated variety separately at its peak of ripeness, then meticulously tastes each batch to craft the Ora brand.

His goal is to balance bitterness and spiciness that is still widely appealing to the public, who may be accustomed to milder olive oils.

“We must be balanced,” Khachaturyants confirmed. “We must not overpower with spiciness. Although we still make it spicier than the average olive oil, balancing with the sweetness of Leccino.”

On social media, Khachaturyants posts videos to educate people that the bitterness and spiciness of extra virgin olive oil indicate it is rich in polyphenols, adding that the North American market, especially in California, is quite receptive to the message.

Khachaturyants’s mission to produce high-quality and flavorful extra virgin olive oil has been internationally recognized, with the Ora brand receiving consecutive Gold Awards in the 2024 and 2025 editions of the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

“Entering quality competitions is a nice way to understand that you are moving with the markets in the same direction and that others appreciate your taste profile,” he said. “These competitions also show your customers that you are legitimate as a producer.”

“With the blend, we see olive oil with the same philosophy as wine production,” Khachaturyants added. “We don’t try to make the same blend every year. Olive oil is a living product, so it should not be the same every year.”

For example, the 2024/25 crop year was marked by an extremely hot summer in Tuscany, which Khachaturyants said resulted in a smooth and less spicy blend.

Looking ahead to the 2025/26 crop year, he said the situation in the groves appears promising after a warm start to spring gave way to cooler weather, although excessive rain could alter that. 

“ Since we’re at the top of the hill, the microclimate is very particular, and the terroir is also distinct,” he said. ”The flowers are blooming, and the germination is just beginning.  Right now we have a lot of rain, maybe too much, but I’m sure we still have a lot of surprises to come.”

Khachaturyants is sanguine about the situation. He said the rain has not been very heavy so far, which has not interfered significantly with pollination. 

As part of his efforts to educate his customers about olive oil, he provides frequent social media updates from the olive grove. 

“ We try to give these updates to our consumers and followers, so they understand what’s happening,” he said. “We try to be fully transparent about what’s happening in our olive grove.”

Khachaturyants believes this openness with consumers helps them understand why extra virgin olive oil costs significantly more than other edible oils.

Through the videos and posts, they can see the labor-intensive nature of the manual harvest, which Khachaturyants cannot mechanize due to the steep terrain.

His production costs are further elevated by harvesting earlier, which frequently achieves a six to ten percent oil yield, and by his decision to maintain full-time employees to complete the harvest instead of hiring seasonal workers. 

While it increases his annual costs, Khachaturyants said he never has to worry about having enough people to harvest, a problem cited as a top concern by 34 percent of producers in the 2024 Olive Oil Times Harvest Survey.

“I don’t believe in hiring seasonal workers,” he confirmed. “You need to train them to identify trees ready to harvest and select healthy olives while discarding unhealthy ones.”

Instead, Khachaturyants said that climate change and its links to an increase in extreme weather events are the main challenges facing olive oil producers in Tuscany, citing extreme heat at unusual times of the year and heavy rainfall during others as examples.

Based on some of his university coursework, including a mathematics and climate change class, Khachaturyants believes a tipping point has been reached; current and future generations must adapt.

“If you stop all the production of oil and gas, stop deforestation and plant millions of hectares of forest, there’s not much chance of changing what’s happening,” he said. “For sure, we need to be ready for the impacts of climate change to escalate.”

Leaning once again on his background in mathematics, Khachaturyants said artificial intelligence could provide a solution for olive oil producers, augmenting the natural resilience of the olive tree.

For example, he said AI analysis of data collected from special sensors or image detection could quickly identify olive peacock spot disease on olive leaves and the telltale signs of olive fruit fly damage.

Khachaturyants has installed several meteorological stations in the olive groves and vineyards to analyze soil, wind, and rain patterns, as well as temperatures and humidity.  

“ AI can help us react faster,” Khachaturyants added, citing its potential to breed more heat and drought-resistant olive tree varieties.

“At some point, we can start thinking about clonal selection like the wine industry,” Khachaturyants said. “They try to use the same variety, but a clonal variation that might be better adapted to climate change.”

Each year, Khachaturyants produces between 8,000 and 10,000 bottles of Ora, which he mainly sells via e‑commerce. He is beginning to export to China, Japan and the United States and plans to expand to the United Kingdom in 2026.

“China is an interesting market, it’s a growing market, and you feel that they have this interest in olive oil,” he said. “It’s not as strong yet as the Japanese market. The Japanese love Italian food and culture, but China is growing quickly.”

“This year we are also going to enter the American market on Amazon,” despite the ten percent tariff imposed by the United States on nearly all imports, he said. 

Khachaturyants anticipates that the cost of paying the tariff will be somewhat offset by using Amazon’s transport network compared to his usual e‑commerce platform. However, he said raising prices is a possibility.

“We  don’t have large margins,” he said. “We try to give to our customers the best possible product with the most realistic price we can provide them.”

The enthusiasm for the record olive oil crop of 475,000 metric tons has been toned down by the uncertainty that looms over the country’s olive oil sector due to low producer prices, high production costs and irresolute government policies such as the sudden imposition and lifting of export bans of bulk olive oil from Turkey.

The impact of the drought that affected the Eastern Mediterranean last autumn was more noticeable in some of the country’s regions, such as Bursa and Balikesir, two traditional Turkish olive-growing areas. 

Nevertheless, producers in most of Turkey’s olive oil-producing regions enjoyed abundant olive oil crops this season.

In the Milas district in southwest Turkey, local producer Goldere Gida has succeeded since its inception two years ago.

The prominent producer built on last year’s NYIOOC accolade to win two Gold Awards at the 2025 NYIOOC for their Funoli brand from the indigenous Memecik variety.

“The news that we won the NYIOOC Gold Award for the second year was an immense moment for us, especially considering that it was also our second year as olive oil producers,” co-owner Tolga Erkok told Olive Oil Times.

“Last year, we won a Gold Award with Funoli Goldere, and this year we added our Funoli Organic series as a Gold Award winner,” he added.

Erkok noted that the 2024/25 harvest was better than the previous one in many ways, despite a very hot summer followed by a dry autumn up until the harvest began.

“Our local Memecik variety olive trees stood up well,” he said. “I hope we have contributed to this by pruning to harvest fewer but healthier olives.”

“We plan to consistently produce top-quality extra virgin olive oil with our careful milling operation and deliver it to olive oil lovers worldwide,” Erkok added.

First-time entrant Green Amour celebrated a Gold Award in New York for a medium-intensity extra virgin from the Trilye variety.

Green Amour, owned by the Özdoğan family, grows 23,000 olive trees on the mountain slopes around Salihli in the province of Manisa.

“This is the first time we have participated, and we are so happy to receive the Gold Award,” chief executive Yurdakul Özdoğan said.

The NYIOOC accolade marked a successful 2024/25 harvest for Green Amour. With such abundant olive oil yields across the country, Turkish producers may struggle to compensate for their labor throughout the long harvest season.

“The harvest season was very productive,” Özdoğan said. “However, due to the excess product, prices were very low. We closed the season with a loss, especially because of the high labor costs.”

However, in the following 2025/26 crop year, some initial estimates suggest that Turkey will experience moderate olive oil production of around 250,000 tons.

Özdoğan added that, after winning the NYIOOC award, Green Amour plans to export to the United States, anticipating that the tariff scheme implemented by the Trump administration will improve and become “very reasonable” for Turkey.

Apart from validating cultivation and production techniques, the NYIOOC accolades can also be the key for producers to enter the highly competitive North American market. 

Three NYIOOC awards brought joy and satisfaction to Zagoda Olive Oil, another Manisa-based producer, after a demanding harvest.

“Winning at the NYIOOC is an incredible honor, validating our effort and commitment to high-quality extra virgin olive oil,” owner Ceren Su Sahin said

Su Sahin added that unpredictable weather conditions throughout the harvest season required them to be more precise with their harvest timing.

“Since we handpick our olives and press them the same day to preserve the highest polyphenol content, our production costs increased,” she said. “Despite this, maintaining our quality standards remained our top priority.”

Zagoda Olive Oil, whose founder was inspired by a poem by world-famous Turkish-Polish poet and novelist Nâzım Hikmet, exports extra virgin olive oil to Michigan in the United States.

The company has also won three awards in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the World Competition. This year, the producer earned two Gold Awards for the Zagoda Ayvalik and Trilye monovarietals and a Silver Award for an Arbequina.

Producers from Turkey’s northwestern regions were also recognized at the 2025 World Competition for their signature olive oils.

“The Gold Award at the NYIOOC is the most valuable reward, the best compensation for the hard work and commitment of all of our farm workers,” said Mehmet Taki, co-owner of Bata Tarim ve Gida Urunleri, after being awarded for the sixth straight year at the World Competition for the Safitad Early Harvest blend from Ayvalik and Domat olives.

The producer from the Dardanelles Straits produced 50,000 liters of extra virgin olive oil this crop year.

“Compared to the last two seasons, I can call this season flawless,” Taki said. “Everything progressed as expected, including the drought we got used to in the last couple of years.”

For their part, True Olive also relied on an improved harvest compared to last year to secure two Gold Awards at the 2025 World Competition.

“It was an incredible experience,” co-founder Nicole Babaoglu said after the results were out.

“Compared to last year’s harvest, which was heavily impacted by the drought, the 2024/25 harvest was a much better year.”

This crop year, True Olive produced 7,000 liters of high-quality olive oil from the family groves close to the Dardanelles Strait. A decade ago, the groves were ravaged by fire. With proper nurturing, however, the olive trees regenerated and began bearing fruit again.

“We felt deeply honored for the awards,” Babaoglu said. “Not just for the recognition, but for the opportunity to carry on our family’s legacy. It means so much to be able to represent everything they’ve worked so hard to build.”

Artem Oliva from Izmir on Turkey’s Aegean coast, one of the country’s largest olive oil producers and exporters, proudly received a Silver Award at the 2025 NYIOOC for their Domat extra virgin from the eponymous native olive variety.

“As Artem Oliva, we are honored to be recognized with a Silver Award at the NYIOOC this year,” managing partner Can Candeger said.

“This award is particularly meaningful given the fruitful harvest season in 2024/25,” he added. “We have proudly produced Turkish olive oils with exceptional aroma, balance, and stability.”

Candeger also noted that the awards Turkish producers have won at the World Competition over the years indicate the country’s high standing in the global olive oil scene.

“When we look at Turkey’s performance trend across 2021 to 2025, with success rates ranging from 48 to 69 percent, it becomes clear that Turkey has firmly established itself as a key player in premium olive oil production and strong branding,” he concluded.

European Commission data show that Portugal produced 177,000 metric tons of olive oil in the 2024/25 crop year, finishing at the low end of initial estimates. Producers across the country attributed the production increase to plentiful winter rain and otherwise favorable weather during most of 2024.

In Alentejo, Portugal’s largest olive oil-producing region by a significant margin, five farmers and millers combined to earn ten World Competition awards.

The biggest winner from the country and region was Esporão, which earned five awards for a series of monovarietals, including the native Cordovil and Cobrançosa.

“This is the validation of our commitment to producing exceptional extra virgin olive oils while preserving native Portuguese olive varieties,” said Ana Carrilho, the head of Esporão’s olive oil business unit.

“It is a recognition that motivates us to continue pushing boundaries in olive oil quality and reinforces the value of what we do in the Alentejo region, by working with more than 60 local olive farmers,” she added.

Carrilho said awards from the World Competition serve as an important benchmark for clients and consumers worldwide after an ‘off-year’ resulted in a lower-than-anticipated harvest.

“Weather conditions were unpredictable, thus the most important thing was ensuring optimal ripeness at the time of olive picking, while maintaining the health of our organic groves,” Carrilho said.

While super-high-density olive groves flourish in the region, Alentejo is still home to plenty of traditional groves, including those of Monte Vale de Baio, which yielded a Silver Award at the 2025 NYIOOC.

“Alentejo has many small producers of excellent extra virgin olive oil, and we are happy that we were able to increase the focus on our region a little,” co-owner Bart Hubertus Janssen said.

“We encourage other producers to participate in international tasting events and competitions, which will help put our region more firmly on the map of the world’s olive oil producers,” he added.

Monte Vale de Baio was awarded for its early-harvest organic Galega monovarietal, which boasts notes of green apple, green olive leaf and a slightly spicy finish.

Hubertus Janssen said the 2024/25 harvest was significantly lower than the previous one, with the small producer harvesting six tons of olives compared with 25 tons in 2023/24, but yielded more bitter and pungent oils.

“The annual alternation of production volume is typical for traditional, organically managed olive groves – the soil needs more than a year to recover from a large harvest,” he said.

“We don’t irrigate or fertilize,” Hubertus Janssen added. “If nature wants to give us more in a particular year, we gratefully accept; if not, we hope next year will be better. Obviously, we are fortunate that extra virgin olive oil is not our only business.”

Hubertus Janssen cited working with a third-party miller as one of the most significant challenges to producing award-winning quality olive oil, especially since he believes in a very early harvest to get the best out of the Galega variety.

“In 2024, we harvested in the first days of October,” he confirmed. “The yield will not be as good, but that is of less concern to us. Another major challenge for our consultant every year is contracting a team of harvesters.”

Elsewhere in Alentejo, the producers behind Est. Manuel da Silva Torrado celebrated winning a Silver Award for its medium-intensity Saloio blend.

“Our best market is the United States, so in terms of promotion and recognition is very important to have this distinction,” said Manuel Norte Santo, the company’s export and commercial manager.

“Our customers value the presence of a medal from this competition on the bottle, so it is something that helps us a lot on a commercial level,” he added.

While the company generally had a better harvest in 2024/25 than the previous crop year, Norte Santo added that quality was an issue due to the impact of widespread disease.

“The main challenge in the 2024/25 harvest was the increase in the gafa in the field, which increased the acidity of the olives and, at some point, degraded 100 percent of the fruit,” he said. This was a condition that increased in a very short time, not allowing farmers to prepare for it.”

Despite the challenges, Norte Santo emphasized the importance of the awards for promoting the profile of Alentejo olive oils on the global stage.

“The NYIOOC award helps a lot in the recognition of the Alentejo olive oil,” he said. “It is very important to promote Portugal and Alentejo, as one of the best regions to produce olive oil.”

Situated in the sun-scorched Eastern Algarve, south of Alentejo, the producers Viveiros Monterosa won a Silver Award for a medium Picual, the company’s eleventh consecutive World Competition accolade.

Meanwhile, two producers in Beira, which borders Alentejo to the north, combined to earn two awards. In Ribatejo, north of Alentejo and west of Beira, Sociedade Agrícola Ouro Vegetal earned seven awards for its line of monovarietals in collaboration with Veronica Foods.

“Veronica Foods reports that the award reception has been great among their retailers,” chief executive Alberto Serralha said. “By providing this additional marketing material, fresh, high-quality Portuguese extra virgin olive oil has been highlighted throughout North America, demonstrating that through education, even some of the more uncommon Portuguese varieties can be broadly accessed and celebrated.”

Despite high temperatures during the early harvest, Serralha said the company achieved “some of our best oils ever,” from a medium crop, similar to the previous year.

“Early harvest is always complicated in Portugal due to high temperatures, and the past season was no exception,” Serralha said. “Having instant paste chilling ability using high vacuum malaxation has allowed us to keep up with quality, even during warm September and early October. Planning has also been a key part in shortening the time between harvest and processing as much as possible.”

Despite its modest yields compared to the rest of the country, seven producers in northern Trás-os-Montes combined to win 14 awards at the World Competition, including perennial World Competition winners and newcomers.

“Since 2016, our Casa de Santo Amaro extra virgin olive oils have won awards at the NYIOOC competition every year,” co-owner António Pavão said. “They are the result of a huge effort by all the Casa de Santo Amaro team, who work daily to make this recognition possible.”

This year, the producer earned two Gold Awards for an organic Cobrançosa and a delicate blend and a Silver Award for another Cobrançosa.

The haul of three awards capped off a fruitful harvest at Casa de Santo Amaro, which saw production increase by 50 percent compared to the previous one.

“In 2024, the weather was good, with several rainy seasons, which had not happened for several years,” Pavão said. “As usual, by bringing forward the harvest, which began in October, we avoid the appearance of pests and diseases in the olives. Only fresh and healthy olives can produce high-quality olive oil.”

The producers behind fellow serial World Competition winner Quinta dos Olmais celebrated an eighth award in nine years for its flagship organic Cobrançosa monovarietal.

“Being awarded for the eighth time at the NYIOOC is not just a recognition,” founder Julio Alves said, “it’s a reaffirmation of everything we believe in and work for.”

“Olmais owes a great deal to that first medal we won years ago,” he added. “Without it, the brand might not even exist today. That early recognition gave us the courage to believe that a small producer from Trás-os-Montes could stand shoulder to shoulder with the best in the world.”

Indeed, Alves sees winning awards at the NYIOOC as one of the best ways to showcase the quality of his fellow producers from the relatively unknown Trás-os-Montes.

“When a Portuguese extra virgin olive oil from the rugged hills of the northeast earns a medal in New York, it tells a global audience that tradition, authenticity and excellence live here,” he said. “It’s not just about Olmais—it’s about elevating our entire region and honoring the hardworking producers who dedicate their lives to this craft.”

On a personal level, Alves said the NYIOOC awards are particularly meaningful because they confirm that he and the rest of the team have timed the harvest perfectly. 

Picking the olives at the optimum moment of ripeness and getting them to the mill within hours to preserve their natural aromas and complexity is always one of the main challenges of producing award-winning extra virgin olive oil.

“But this year, like many others, we were also affected by the chronic lack of labor in the sector—a problem that’s worsening and threatening traditional agriculture,” he added. “Yet despite these difficulties, we remained true to our methods and spirit, and that dedication paid off.”

Along with multi-year victors, Trás-os-Montes saw a first-time winner at the world’s largest olive oil quality competition: Wildly Virgin.

Chief executive Nader Aknoukh said he was “thrilled” to win a Gold Award for the company’s organic medium-intensity Joaquim’s Reserve Cobrançosa monovarietal.

“Part of our mission at Wildly Virgin is to bring more attention to the amazing quality of Portuguese extra virgin olive oil to United States consumers,” he said. “The American market is primarily California, Italian and Spanish oils.” 

“A Gold Award from the premier olive oil quality competition in the world is a great testament to the quality of Portuguese extra virgin olive oil,” Aknoukh added. “The retailers we work with in the U.S. will certainly have a more favorable perception of Portuguese olive oil with this award.”

Even though the company experienced a challenging harvest and lower yield than average, Aknoukh said he was pleased with the quality. Instead of in the groves or mills, he said the most significant challenge was getting his product to the U.S. ahead of anticipated tariffs.

While it remains too early to predict how the coming 2025/26 crop year will turn out, producers across Portugal said they are optimistic given the current conditions.

“We are optimistic,” Aknoukh confirmed. “Portugal is fortunate that water is less of an issue than in other southern European areas due to the Alqueva dam.”

Meanwhile, Hubertus Janssen described a spectacular bloom in his olive groves in Alentejo, setting the stage for a “top year” in the coming harvest.

“We hope the weather normalizes soon, as the region has received too much rain year to date,” he said.

In Ribatejo, Serralha is optimistic that the abundant rainfall and significant flowering will result in a good fruit set, laying the groundwork for a good harvest in 2025/26.

“The weather forecast shows mild temperatures for the coming weeks, and conditions look ideal for an adequate fruit set,” he said. “Our reservoirs are overflowing, so there won’t be a lack of water for irrigation this year.”

Back in Trás-os-Montes, Pavão and Alves agreed that the outlook remains positive.

“It may still be early in May, but the weather has been good, with several rainy seasons, and we are hopeful that the next harvest, starting in October, will be very good,” Pavão said.

“Everything suggests we could be on the path to another promising year,” Alves added. “But as always, nature has the final word.” 

“We hope we’ll be spared from late rains or hailstorms that could endanger the crop,” he concluded. Until then, we’ll keep nurturing the groves with the same care and devotion that brought us here.”

Entrants from Greece nearly doubled last year’s tally of 56 awards, registering their second-best appearance in New York after the record 99 awards in 2021.

This year’s 96 awards came after 146 Greek brands were submitted to the World Competition, which translates to a 66 percent success rate, their highest ever.

After the poor harvest in the previous 2023/24 crop year, the country’s olive oil production reached satisfactory levels of around 250,000 tons in 2024/25. Even so, the harvest did not come without its challenges.

The prolonged drought that southern Greece experienced in the autumn dried the olives on the trees, raising concerns about another below-par olive oil crop.

However, Greek producers and millers demonstrated their expertise and nimbleness to navigate the treacherous waters and present world-class, award-winning olive oils at the 2025 NYIOOC.

In addition, the drought finally gave way to abundant rains in November, arriving in time to avert another poor crop year in the country.

“We had to adjust to summer temperatures of around 40 ºC and the drought that lasted for more than 40 days before any rain fell,” said Alexis Karabelas of AMG Karabelas from the western Peloponnese, a winner of four Gold Awards.

“We were in our groves every day, watering our trees and sprinkling special organic substances to protect the olive drupes from thermal stress,” he added.

The Olympia-based producer has established a four-year winning tradition in New York, and this year, they achieved their highest honor at the competition for the Laurel & Flame and Olymythos brands.

“With four Golds, our joy for winning at the prestigious New York competition for another year is multiplied by four,” Karabelas said.

Around 75 to 80 percent of the olive oil produced in Greece each year is classified as extra virgin, making the country the world’s top producer of extra virgin olive oil when measured as a percentage of the total national production.

Depending on the year’s harvest, some regions in the country can enjoy even higher percentages of extra virgin olive oil, such as Chania in eastern Crete, where around 90 percent of this year’s olive oil crop was of the highest quality.

“This season, our olive oil yield was perfect both in quantity and quality,” local producer Eftychios Androulakis said. “We are so happy to win again at the world’s most prestigious competition.”

Androulakis further solidified his long-established consistency at the World Competition, being awarded for eight years in a row for the Pamako brand. This year, the producer garnered two Gold Awards for an organic monovarietal from the local Tsounati variety and an organic blend.

More Cretan producers, including Skoutari, Efkrato and Kydonakis Bros, crossed the finish line at the competition to win World Competition awards for their signature olive oils.

If Crete is the heart of the Greek olive oil industry, then the Peloponnese is its lungs. Producers on the peninsula confirmed their high standing at the World Competition for another year.

The Master Miller, the evolution of Papadopoulos Olive Oil, once again stood out at the World Competition, bringing back to its homeland, close to Ancient Olympia, a remarkable tally of five Gold Awards, the most accolades among Greek producers.

A multi-time winner at the World Competition, the producer has also captured the second overall position among producers worldwide in the Olive Oil Times World Ranking.

“This year’s awards and the second position in the world reaffirm our constant commitment to excellence,” said founder and chief executive Konstantinos Papadopoulos.

Like other producers in the country, Papadopoulos said that the adverse weather and the steep drop in olive oil prices were the biggest challenges for the company this season.

“However, our quick reflexes and timely intervention in the olive groves, along with the proper preparation of our partner olive growers, allowed us to stay on top of the situation,” he added.

Across the Aegean Sea, producers on the island of Lesbos also felt the thrill of being awarded at the 2025 NYIOOC.

“We have been in the business for three years, and we have participated in the New York competition each year,” said Antonis Tirpintiris, the owner of Falcon. “We have won eight Gold Awards and a Silver Award in these three years of competing, filling us with joy and pride.”

Falcon won two Gold Awards and one Silver this year for its Oleve monovarietals and blend from Koroneiki, Kolovi and Adramytini olives.

The company has transformed 200 hectares of previously barren land on the western part of the island into a sustainable olive grove with more than 12,000 olive trees of 12 different varieties.

“The changing climate will continue to make the cultivation of olive trees harder by the day,” Tirpintiris said. “So we have shielded our trees with wells for watering, special nutrients and cutting-edge technologies.”

He added, however, that the most complex problem producers face is olive oil prices at origin, which remain very low and do not compensate for all the work required to maintain a traditional organic olive grove.

From their vantage point in the Ionian Sea, Dr. Kavvadia and Olive Fabrica represented the island of Corfu at this year’s World Competition, winning a Gold and a Silver Award, respectively.

“Winning a Gold Award at the NYIOOC is a reward for our efforts and persistence,” Apostolos Porsanidis, owner of Dr. Kavvadia, said. “It is a good reason to continue evolving and becoming better.”

In the opposite corner of the country, in the southeastern Aegean sea, Natura Rodos from Rhodes extended its winning streak at the World Competition with its fifth NYIOOC accolade this year, a Silver Award for a medium-intensity Koroneiki.

“For the fifth time, our hearts are filled with pride and gratitude,” said the Kallas family, the producers behind Natura Rodos. “This recognition results from hard work, tradition and our deep love for the land.”

The NYIOOC is also the ideal scene for producers looking to inject world recognition into their extra virgin olive oils for the first time.

For Yapapi, a Peloponnesian producer from Kalamata, to win a NYIOOC accolade was the perfect scenario for their new olive oil brand.

“We never imagined that our olive oil would be considered something special on such an international stage,” said brothers Aggelos and Panagiotis Giannoutsos, the owners of Yapapi.

“Over the past five years, we’ve dedicated ourselves more and more to understanding and pursuing true quality, and through the NYIOOC, we have come to see the real worth of that effort,” they added.

Yapapi won a Gold Award for a high-phenolic monovarietal from Koroneiki.

The Giannoutsos brothers come from a family with a five-generation-old tradition of olive oil production. To fully reap the benefits of their labor, the young farmers and entrepreneurs decided to bottle their olive oil instead of selling it in bulk.

“Selling oil to distributors at such low prices makes it nearly impossible for a producer to care for their trees properly – and that’s heartbreaking for those of us who deeply love this land and our hard work,” the brothers said.

A wet and mild winter and spring in 2024 provided relief to Spanish producers after consecutive years of high spring temperatures and drought resulted in two historically poor harvests. 

Spain produced 1.41 million metric tons of olive oil in the 2024/25 crop year, significantly more than the 665,800 tons produced in 2022/23 and 852,600 tons the year after.

“Thankfully, this year we recovered production and quality, a very important combination that is allowing us to win back customers who, due to the cost of the last two seasons, had reduced their consumption,” said Rosa López, the company director of Aires de Jaén.

The Andalusian producer earned a fourth consecutive Gold Award for its Consum brand, a medium-intensity blend.  

“For Aires de Jaén, winning an international award, particularly a Gold in New York, is a source of pride and recognition for our work promoting high-quality extra virgin olive oil,” López said. “The teamwork of a highly qualified staff, perfectly ripe fruit and state-of-the-art machinery is allowing us to produce extra virgin olive oil recognized worldwide.”

She added that winning awards at the NYIOOC is especially important for companies seeking to export to the United States.

“The United States is a very important market for Spain; it is the country that imports the most olive oil, and being able to showcase our extra virgin olive oil with an award is important, as the NYIOOC is a very important entry point,” López said.

Elsewhere in Andalusia, producer and bottler Goya en España celebrated three Gold Awards for its Goya Organic, Goya Robusto and Goya Único brands.

“Each campaign is a new challenge, and achieving these types of results confirms that we are on the right path,” said Antonio Carrasco, Goya en España’s general manager. “It’s not just about winning awards, but about reaffirming our commitment to offering a superior quality product to consumers 

Carrasco added that the 2024/25 crop year had been challenging in the company’s main production areas, with the impacts of the prolonged drought and high prices at origin creating a range of challenges for the company.

Off the back of a challenging harvest, Carrasco said winning at international olive oil competitions is especially important, not just for Goya en España but for Spanish producers in general.

“Spain is the world leader in olive oil production, but sometimes that position isn’t clearly reflected in international consumer perceptions of quality,” he said. “Competitions like the NYIOOC are a great help in raising awareness of the level of excellence that many brands, like Goya, bring to the market.” 

“They are an important boost for distributors and consumers and strengthen the image of Spanish extra virgin olive oil as a gourmet, healthy and sustainable product,” Carrasco added.

Overall, producers from the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, the world’s largest olive oil producer by a significant margin, combined to win 60 awards at the World Competition.

In the southeastern Andalusian province of Almería, the team behind OleoAlmanzora celebrated winning its debut World Competition accolade, a Silver Award for a medium Arbequina.

“For us, it’s an honor to have achieved this distinction,” said Sidoro Haro Rubio, head of sales and marketing. “Winning the medals is very important, both in terms of marketing and image in the country where we received them, but also at the provincial level, as we continue to consolidate our product as an image of gourmet quality in Almeria.”

While López said Aires de Jaén had a very good harvest, Haro Rubio admitted that the company’s production was lower than expected in 2024/25.

“The challenges are always many: monitoring the olive grove year-round, ensuring the olive trees have enough food and water, treating the olives well, and during harvesting, remaining faithful to our principles of strict control over the harvesting and processing temperatures, harvesting the fruit very early, being very fast in the milling process and continuing to focus on ensuring the correct temperature,” he said.

Andalusia is responsible for the majority of Spanish olive oil production. Still, farmers, millers and distributors in five of the country’s other regions also celebrated winning World Competition accolades.

Two producers in the Balearic Islands and Extremadura combined to win two awards at the 2025 NYIOOC. Meanwhile, 12 producers and distributors combined to win 17 awards in Catalonia.

Eight producers in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha won ten awards, including Olivapalacios. The Ciudad Real-based company earned two Gold Awards for an Arbequina and a Picual.

“These awards act as an indisputable seal of quality and attract the attention of consumers and distributors; it can also justify a higher price for the product, recognizing the excellence and effort behind it,” export manager Luís Rubio said. 

While he acknowledged that the ongoing drought and a few heat waves at critical moments resulted in increased irrigation and other challenges, Rubio said the company had a very good harvest.

“For us, it was a good harvest; the quality was excellent, and in terms of quantity, there was a slight increase compared to the previous year,” he said.

In northern Spain, three producers in Navarre, including the team at Bodega Nekeas, combined to win four awards.

Spain’s northernmost producer of scale, boasting 215 hectares of olive groves, earned a Gold Award for its endemic Arróniz monovarietal and a Silver for an Arbequina.

“Our olive grove and vineyard are in the Nekeas Valley, the northernmost area in Spain for olive growing,” export manager Carlos Biurrun said. “We are also located at an altitude of 420 to 650 meters, which makes for harsher cold and rain conditions. We believe these very conditions create the unique characteristics that make our oils regularly awarded.”

As a result of the climate and elevation, he said the company’s main challenge is harvesting the Arbequina in early November before the nighttime frost arrives, which can cripple a harvest.

“Interestingly, Arróniz, the native variety, is not sensitive to frost and can be harvested later,” Biurrun said. “I think these awards give good visibility to extra virgin olive oil produced in Navarre, especially to the unknown native variety Arróniz. Navarre has a long tradition of gourmet food production, and extra virgin olive oil is part of Navarre’s rich offering.”

Back in Andalusia, the founder of Villa Gaspar celebrated winning a Gold Award for its medium Picual, its third World Competition recognition since 2022.

“Winning a Gold Award at the NYIOOC was an incredible honor and deeply emotional for us,” José Javier Anguís Horno said. “Receiving such a prestigious recognition validates all the passion, hard work, and care we put into every step of our process. It’s a huge motivation to continue striving for excellence.”

The Úbeda-based producer said the 2024/25 harvest marked a strong recovery after two incredibly challenging seasons.

“We finally saw relief from the prolonged drought, and unlike previous campaigns, we were not impacted by extreme weather events such as the hot Saharan winds that can devastate flowering,” Anguís said. “As a result, both production and quality improved significantly.”

However, he said the campaign came with plenty of challenges, including higher costs for agricultural imports and an ongoing labor shortage, which made it more difficult to harvest quickly and efficiently.

“Looking ahead, we anticipate a weaker or mid-range production due to the natural cycle of the olive tree, known as vecería, where a strong harvest year is often followed by a lighter one,” Anguís said. “While it’s too early to predict the exact outcome, we’re managing the groves carefully and focusing on maintaining tree health and fruit quality.”

Anguís’s Andalusian peers indicated that current conditions make them optimistic, but the summer conditions would play a significant role. 

“We’ve had a rainy winter, and spring is also bringing us very good rain. For now, everything points to the 2025/26 season being better than the 2024/25 season,” López of Aires de Jaén said. “Even so, we have to wait because we are always exposed to adverse weather conditions.”

“Everything looks very good right now, although we have to wait and see because of the climate in Almeria, you never know, and we have to be constantly alert,” Haro Rubio of OleoAlmanzora added. “The flowering is wonderful, so right now we’re very happy with what we see.”

Based on current conditions in the groves outside Andalusia, producers expect another good harvest in 2025/26.

“We anticipate a very good harvest in terms of quantity and quality, considering the current condition of the olive trees,” Rubio of Olivapalacios said.

“The olive grove is doing well. We’ve had a lot of rain since autumn 2024, and it’s continuing,” Biurrun of Bodega Nekeas concluded. “We hope the temperature rises and calms down by June. The flowering season and average temperature will determine the harvest, as there’s usually excess water here (except in 2022).”

Competing among entries from 30 countries across six continents, Croatian producers secured 125 awards, including 101 Gold and 24 Silver distinctions. Only Italy ranked higher, with 200 awards from a much larger pool of 258 entries. Croatian growers, who submitted 143 entries, achieved an extraordinary 87 percent success rate—the highest of all major participating countries.

“We are second in the world,” said Ivica Vlatković, a well-known olive grower from Novigrad and one of Croatia’s successful entrants at this year’s competition.

Success Across Croatia

The achievement is celebrated from Savudrija to Prevlaka, with growers from all regions contributing to the result. Croatian oils outperformed those from Greece (96 awards), Spain (93), the United States (92), Portugal (34), Turkey (30), France (19), and Tunisia (18).

“This success is thanks to all our olive growers who submitted their oils to this prestigious competition,” said Vlatković, who earned two Gold Awards this year for his Fortica Coratina — Leccino and Fortica Šoltanka brands.

Along with large producers like Avistria d.o.o. and Oleum Maris, Vlatković stands out. Since first entering the NYIOOC, his oils have collected 17 awards, reinforcing his reputation for excellence.

The grower said that the two most recent Gold Awards confirm that he has maintained a high standard of quality, and he hopes the success of Croatian producers at this year’s event will inspire a new generation of young olive growers.

Overcoming Difficult Conditions

This year’s achievements were even more remarkable given the severe climatic challenges olive growers faced: extreme heatwaves during the crucial oil accumulation period, followed by hefty rains just before harvest.

Vlatković said the key was extracting quality despite these weather extremes. He emphasized that Croatia’s strength lies in the artisanal approach to olive farming. Unlike vast industrial plantations, Croatian growers can personally tend to each tree, adjusting care according to seasonal needs.

Large plantations are much more vulnerable to climate extremes, he explained. In Croatia, growers’ close attention to each tree helps maintain the highest standards of quality, even in challenging years.

Defending the Value of Croatian Olive Oil

Addressing criticism that Croatian olive oils are among the most expensive in the world, Vlatković pointed to the competition results, noting that Croatia’s oils outperformed those from all major Mediterranean producing countries, including Greece, Spain, Turkey, Portugal, and Tunisia.

He said the path to a liter of high-quality extra virgin olive oil requires not only knowledge and dedication but also favorable weather conditions and considerable luck. Success depends on surviving the critical months without pests or extreme weather, finding skilled labor for the harvest, ensuring careful processing at the mill, and overcoming consumer habits that still often favor cheaper, lower-quality oils.

Vlatković stressed that quality olive oil plays a significant role in promoting health, noting that oils containing at least 250 mg of phenolic compounds per kilogram meet EU food safety recommendations for preventing cardiovascular and malignant diseases. Unfortunately, he added, few consumers consistently seek out oils of this quality.

He emphasized that changing consumer habits requires education, workshops, and guided tastings to teach people how to recognize excellent oils.

To those who argue that Croatian olive oils are overpriced, Vlatković suggested they try growing olives and producing oil themselves to appreciate the dedication and difficulty involved.

A Growing Legacy

In small Croatia, a country with thousands of islands, it seems that almost everyone can produce world-class extra virgin oil.

Today, official statistics show that Croatia has nearly as many olive trees as people—an apt reflection of the country’s deep connection to this noble Mediterranean plant and its growing role as a leader in quality olive oil production.

However, U.S.-based farmers and millers have again proven they can produce high-quality extra virgin olive oils that match those from their Old World counterparts.

Farmers and millers from Arizona, California and Oregon combined to win 92 awards at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the third-highest total since the competition began in 2013.

From early frosts in Oregon to unpredictable weather and rising labor costs in California, producers overcame a growing list of familiar challenges to craft well-balanced, flavorful, and defect-free olive oils.

California Olive Ranch (COR), the country’s largest producer, won awards for five 100-percent California products and two of its “Global Blends.” The company also won awards for its Lucini brands, which were produced in Italy.

Mary Mori, COR’s vice president of quality and product, said the COR team was “immensely excited” about the news of the awards. The unprecedented haul motivated the company to continue solidifying its commitment to quality.

“We take pride in the awards and results and always review the feedback shared in the analysis for both winning and non-winning oils,” she said. “We then share this with our team to identify areas for improvement.”

“One difference of NYOOC is its focus on overall quality and good taste rather than individual judge preferences,” Mori added. “This allows us to better control our processes, whether by modifying the oils we purchase or by adjusting our own harvest timing to prioritize fresher, early-harvest oils.”

This year’s awards come after what Mori described as a plentiful harvest compared to previous years. 

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. olive oil production slightly exceeded the five-year average, reaching 10,000 metric tons in the 2024/25 crop year. The vast majority of this production is located in California.

“While it’s typically an alternate bearing year, we’ve implemented farming changes, focusing on irrigation and precise deficit irrigation techniques, to better stabilize and significantly improve the quality of the olives delivered to the mill,” Mori said.

While many of the country’s largest producers — including Corto Olive, which earned a Silver Award, and Baltimore-based Pompeian, which claimed three Gold Awards — celebrated their NYIOOC successes, small-scale producers also showcased their ability to craft award-winning olive oils.

In the prolific olive oil-producing region of Paso Robles, Marcum Olive Oil earned two Gold Awards for a pair of monovarietals.

“Winning these awards serves as an inspiration to continuing our commitment to quality, freshness and perfecting our olive oil-making craft,” co-owner Lonnie Marcum said.

“California produces the vast majority of the olive oil in the U.S.,” she added. “This recognition brings not only prestige and credibility to California, but also increased visibility among consumers who seek out the very finest extra virgin olive oils in the world.”

The Central California producer overcame unpredictable weather using sustainable growing techniques and organic olive fruit fly management to produce its hand-harvested, award-winning oils.

“2024 was an interesting growing year,” co-owner Grant Marcum said. “One of our varieties, Coratina, produced twice as much as the prior year, while the other trees, the Itrana, produced about half as much.”

About 2.5 hours south on highway U.S. 101, the producers behind Ojai Olive Oil Company marked a fruitful end to the harvest, winning four Silver Awards.

“It’s always very satisfying to win at the NYIOOC,” owner Philip Asquith said. “This year’s wins bring our total to over 20 awards, which is wonderful. We’re quite proud of our medals, and have all the trophies on display in our tasting room.”

Along with his fellow Californians, Asquith touted the role of the NYIOOC in promoting California extra virgin olive oil to local consumers.

“Our customers are surprised and impressed to hear that California olive oils win so many awards,” Asquith said. “They also like knowing that California has very high standards for what can be called ‘extra virgin’ here. People often don’t know how far the industry has come in this region.”

While the 2024/25 crop year produced high-quality olives, Asquith said the quantity was lower than the bumper harvest of 2023/24. As has increasingly become the case, he highlighted hiring workers for the harvest as one of the biggest challenges.

“The biggest challenge we faced this past season was the cost of picking,” Asquith confirmed. “Every other aspect of our operation has been quite consistent year to year, but the harvesting expenses have gone up quite a bit in recent years. It’s manageable for us, but has become the single biggest cost component in making a bottle of olive oil.”

On the opposite end of California, Apollo Olive Oil celebrated winning two Gold Awards at the World Competition for a pair of organic blends.

Winning at the NYIOOC “helps small producers like ourselves to have third-party confirmation that your olive oil is of high quality,” partner Steve McCulley said. “Because of the high standards of NYIOOC, its results are highly regarded in California.”

“The new ranking system shines a light on producers who have consistently earned top marks over the years, making it easier for consumers to find high-quality oils,” said the producer of the world’s second-highest ranked olive oil.

While Apollo Olive Oil faced adverse weather events in 2024, McCulley said the harvest was consistently high quality. The main difference he saw was that it started later than usual. 

However, he added that the main challenges for producing award-winning quality extra virgin olive oil remain constant.

“Organizing harvest to get sufficient pickers to hand pick, scheduling efficient delivery of olives to the mill, and fine-tuning our special mill that greatly reduces oxidation during processing all require careful planning,” McCulley said.

Not far from Apollo Olive Oil, the producers behind Organic Roots also celebrated their World Competition success, winning Gold Awards for organic Arbequina and Koroneiki monovarietals.

“Winning two Golds at the NYIOOC feels incredible,” the Polit family said. “We are a family-owned and operated business, and when it’s olive harvest time, it’s all hands on deck. To win Golds while competing internationally shows how much our hard work pays off.”

The Polits added that the awards also help boost the reputation of California organic extra virgin olive oil on the global stage.

“Winning awards at the NYIOOC not only boosts the reputation of individual producers but also elevates the perception of California extra virgin olive oil as a whole,” the family said. “It serves as a testament to the state’s commitment to quality and innovation in organic olive oil production.”

While Organic Roots enjoyed a harvest rebound in 2024/25 compared to the previous two crop years, unpredictable weather is always the company’s main harvest challenge.

“​The 2024/25 organic olive oil harvest marked a notable recovery in production and quality compared to the previous two challenging seasons,” the Polits said. “With a combination of timely rains during winter and cooler, steady spring temperatures have supported strong tree development without the extremes that usually hurt organic yields.”

While California dominates U.S. extra virgin olive oil production in quantity, award-winning quality can be found beyond the Golden State.

In neighboring Arizona, Queen Creek Olive Mill earned four Silver Awards.

“Winning four Silver Awards at the 2025 NYIOOC is an incredible honor and a testament to our team’s dedication to crafting exceptional extra virgin olive oil,” president John Rea said.

He added that the awards also serve as a barometer, allowing Arizona’s only commercial olive mill to measure where they stand compared to domestic and international competitors.

“These awards significantly elevate the perception of Arizona extra virgin olive oil, both locally and beyond,” Rea said. “Many people are surprised to learn that high-quality olive oil can be produced in Arizona’s desert environment, and NYIOOC recognition helps dispel skepticism.”

Rea acknowledged that the company’s World Competition success was partly fueled by favorable weather conditions in the previous harvest. He added that the situation is looking good in the olive groves ahead of the coming crop year.

“The primary challenge was timing the harvest in Arizona’s unique desert-continental climate, which differs from other U.S. olive-growing regions,” he said. “We monitor the grove closely from November into December to ensure the olives are harvested at optimal ripeness, balancing quality with weather risks like sudden temperature drops.”

On the other side of California, two producers in Oregon were awarded at the World Competition. Dark Hollow Farm in southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley earned a Gold and Silver Award in its NYIOOC debut.

Further north, Oregonian olive oil pioneer and perennial World Competition winner Durant Olive Mill added four more Gold awards and a Silver Award to its collection.

Owner Paul Durant said that “it feels great” to win at the NYIOOC and know all the oils the company submitted were top-tier, especially its popular Arbequina monovarietal.

“As always, third-party validation is so important for consumers,” Durant said. “We have to source fruit out of Northern California, and people are always interested in how we handle that logistically and if there are any impacts on quality.” 

“We obviously have great quantitative data indicating extra virgin grade, but the awards from NYIOOC hammer home the point that we are able to craft world-class, high-quality olive oil right here in Dayton, Oregon,” he added.

Due to its northern latitude compared to many other olive oil-producing regions, Durant said completing the harvest ahead of the winter frost and snow is always challenging.

“The biggest issue for us is length, weather and logistics,” he said. “We started grape harvest in late August and did not finish milling until December 15th.”

“We had some early-season freezing weather, and if it hadn’t been for our new frost control wind machines, we would have lost a good portion of our estate fruit,” Durant added. “Instead, we were able to get it all harvested at the time of our choosing and did not have our hand forced by the weather.”

Overall, the company processed over 330 U.S. tons of olives this year and had a “fantastic” season in its two-year-old state-of-the-art Pieralisi mill.

“We hit the intersection of amazing quality and fantastic yield.  In an era of rising costs across the board, having such great yield really helped to keep our unit costs down,” Durant said. “We don’t expect to raise any of our prices in 2025.”

Producers were optimistic about the 2025/26 crop year but cautioned that it is still very early in the season and plenty will change throughout the spring and summer.

“We have a great bloom on the trees, and can already tell that it’s going to be a big harvest for 25/26,” Asquith of Ojai Olive Oil Company said. “Even with minimal rain this winter, the trees seem very happy and are packed with blossoms right now.”

“Right now, the trees are looking healthy and the buds are looking good,” Grant Marcum added.

For her part, Mori from COR said that late rain and cool weather in February and March delayed tree growth and blooming, so it remains too early to tell how the harvest will develop.

“The buds we’re observing look promising, but the true picture will emerge in a month or two once the fruit set is established after flowering,” she said. “In previous years with delayed flowering, we anticipated a late harvest; however, summer heat prevented this, so the outcome of this year remains uncertain. Overall, things look good, and we anticipate a fruitful season.”

Meanwhile, Durant said the situation in Oregon looks good so far. “The trees here a just starting to wake up, and we will see how things unfold and hope for the best,” he concluded.

Italy Leads With Depth and Range

Italy once again topped the charts with 200 awards, led by standout producers like Oleificio Asaro dal 1916, which secured five awards this year and eight in 2024, continuing a legacy from Sicily rooted in over a century of olive oil making. Other Italian leaders included Domenica Fiore and Domenico Manca, each adding to their long histories of excellence.

Croatia’s Rise Continues

Croatia delivered one of the most remarkable performances of the year, earning 125 total awards, driven by consistent winners like Avistria d.o.o., Oleum Maris, and OPG Ivica Vlatkovic. Croatian producers continue to dominate with small-batch, high-quality entries that resonate with judges year after year.

United States: California and Beyond

The United States earned 92 awards, with California-based producers like California Olive Ranch taking home nine awards and Durant Olive Mill and IL Fiorello also turning in strong performances. Manicaretti Italian Food Importers continued its remarkable run, amassing 59 total wins over the years, with a consistent presence at the competition.

Spain: Reliable Excellence

Spain’s presence remained formidable, with 93 awards earned by a wide range of producers, including Aceites Oro Bailen Galgon 99, which secured five awards in both 2024 and 2025. Newcomers and legacy brands alike contributed to Spain’s medal haul, showing that innovation and tradition can coexist.

Producers from Unexpected Places Impress

Smaller or emerging olive oil regions also made an impact:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded an extraordinary 92% success rate, winning 11 awards from 12 entries, featuring boutique producers like Škegro Family Winery.
• Pakistan submitted a single entry and earned a Silver award—a notable achievement for a rare entrant.
• Japan continued its steady emergence with producers like Nippon Olive Co earning multiple awards.

Organic Excellence and Monovarietal Momentum

Organic producers claimed 279 awards this year, up from 210 in 2024. The movement toward sustainable and transparent production methods continues to grow, both in scale and quality. Monovarietal oils remained dominant, with 417 awards, reinforcing consumer appreciation for distinct, single-cultivar expressions.

From the time-honored groves of Sicily to the Pacific slopes of California and the rocky hills of Dalmatia, the 2025 NYIOOC celebrated the world’s best olive oils and the passionate producers behind them. With historic wins, surprising newcomers, and exceptional quality across the board, this year’s results underscored the global reach and growing sophistication of extra virgin olive oil.

New research published in Food Chemistry compiled years of studies on how malaxation temperature, time, oxygen exposure, and the addition of water impact the content and profile of polar phenolic compounds, especially secoiridoids, a subclass of phenols.

“These are the most representative phenolic class in olive oil, and they’re the ones most transformed during malaxation,” Ítala Marx, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Córdoba and co-author of the research, told Olive Oil Times.

During malaxation, larger precursor molecules, such as oleuropein and ligstroside, naturally produced by the fruits, are converted – biotransformed – by enzymes.

Those convey smaller, highly bioactive compounds such as oleocanthal and oleacein, which are linked to olive oil’s pungency, bitterness and antioxidant power.

Decades of research have shown that daily consumption of olive oil rich in phenols produces significant health benefits.

Furthermore, the complete phenolic profile of extra virgin olive oil is deeply intertwined with its aromas and flavors.

“Phenolics are responsible for bitterness and pungency. So if you increase them, you naturally improve sensory complexity,” Marx said. “The consumer wants that ‘green’ flavor, that bitterness. These are linked to the phenolic profile.” 

“That’s why we focused on secoiridoids,” she explained.“They’re at the core of both the sensory experience and the health-related value of extra virgin olive oil.”

“I started this work during my PhD,” Marx added. “My program was completely developed in industrial olive oil mills. All campaigns, from 2019 to 2022, were focused on how to optimize extraction to improve oil’s phenolic content, and malaxation was the core of my research.”

The review paper focused on how the enzymatic biotransformation happens during malaxation and how sensitive the process is to malaxation conditions.

“Everything depends on the olive cultivar. You can’t apply the same temperature and time and expect the same result from different olives,” Marx remarked.

The influence of cultivar, or genotype, is perhaps the strongest variable. “Genotype is the main factor that impacts olive oil’s phenolic composition,” Marx said.

This was made evident by studies in which dozens of olive cultivars were grown under identical conditions and extracted using the same technology and procedure.

“They showed wide variation in phenolic profiles,” Marx said. 

“Even Arbequina, usually considered low in phenolics, can surprise you,” she added, hinting at the profound impact that different farming environments can convey.

“If you extract oil from Arbequina in an intensive orchard, or from Arbequina in a traditional setup, the result will be completely different,” she explained.

Marx introduced research conducted in the Almeria desert, in Andalusia, where Arbequina and Picual olive varieties were cultivated in the same desert conditions.

“It’s a commercial brand. When we analyzed the olive oils, the Arbequina had over 1,000 milligrams per kilogram of phenols. That’s not typical,” she said.

According to Marx, the highly stressful environment of the desert boosted the phenolic synthesis.

“We saw the same happening with Arbequina cultivated in Brazil, amounts of phenolics higher than you’d expect,” she said.

Even more interesting than the total amount of phenols, it was the phenolic profile of the olive oils.

“We observed more oleacein and more oleocanthal in Arbequina compared to Picual. Meanwhile, Picual was richer in glucosides like oleuropein and ligstroside,” Marx said.

“The total amount may be similar, but the profile is different. And that impacts both sensory traits and oxidative stability,” she added.

The phenolic profile is essential. “Take oxidative stability. It is not just about how many phenolics are present, but which ones,” Marx said.

“Oleacein and oleocanthal, which Arbequina has more of, don’t stabilize oil as well as oleuropein glucoside, which is more common in Picual,” she added.

When it comes to milling the olives, these differences should be carefully considered.

“If you have Arbequina in an intensive orchard, and you know its usual phenolic weakness, you might invest in technologies like pulsed electric fields or oxygen control to improve it,” Marx said. 

“But if you’re working with Arbequina from a traditional, stressed environment, you may already be starting with a higher phenolic baseline,” she added.

These nuanced differences point towards a future of tailored extraction strategies.

“It’s not just about the cultivar anymore. It’s about cultivar, plus environment, plus processing,” Marx said. “And if you want to make excellent extra virgin olive oil, you need to take into account all three.”

The paper examined how malaxation temperature and time impact phenolic content.

Studies have shown that moderate temperatures between 20°C and 30°C generally promote better extraction of phenolics, while excessive heat leads to degradation.

“The effect follows a bell shape. We reach an optimal point, often around 20 to 30 minutes of malaxation, and then phenolic content starts to drop,” Marx said. “Longer malaxation promotes oxidation, degradation and enzymatic breakdown of phenolics.”

Still, the olive cultivar is always worth considering.

“You can’t say 25 °C and 30 minutes is always best. For some cultivars, like Arbequina, 45 minutes at 25 °C may work better,” she explained, hinting at the specific analyses on specific cultivars cited in the review paper.

One of the most transformative findings was related to oxygen. “Oxygen promotes phenolic degradation,” Marx noted.

“So when we eliminate it, by using vacuum systems or even controlling the oxygen atmosphere, we can retain more phenolics in olive oil,” she added.

More specifically, some industrial-scale tests using high vacuum during malaxation showed increases of 25 to 48 percent in phenolic content, especially in secoiridoid derivatives.

Even partial oxygen control can help.

“Just reducing the headspace oxygen in the malaxer chamber can make a difference. And cultivars respond differently, some are more sensitive than others,” she remarked.

Many milling processes are carried out by adding water. It is a common way to control the consistency of olive paste, which is what results from crushing olives, and an easy way to improve yield.

But research confirmed that it comes with a hidden cost.

“We tested different amounts of water in industrial mills, again with Arbequina,” Marx said. “And without water, we obtained olive oils with higher phenolic content.”

The reason is chemical. Phenols are hydrophilic. When water is added to the olive oil paste in the malaxer, the water takes the phenolic compounds from the paste.

“If we don’t add water, we have the chance to retain them, to have them stay with the olive oil,” Marx explained.

The research demonstrated the promise of recent, non-thermal extraction technologies.

“Pulsed electric fields, ultrasound and microwaves. All of these can increase both phenolic content and olive oil yield. And unlike traditional methods, they don’t degrade the sensory profile,” Marx said.

Adding temperature, time, or water to improve yields is a well-established practice at many olive oil mills.

“Yes, that worked for yield, but destroyed the phenolics and the taste,” Marx said. “Now, with these new technologies, we can have both: higher phenolics and better sensory attributes.”

Overall, the phenolic profile and total phenols combine to determine an olive oil’s stability, taste and health benefits. Marx pointed out that the research will continue.

“We need to move toward cultivar-specific guidelines,” she concluded. “With the data we have now, and the technology available, it’s possible to produce excellent olive oils, even from cultivars not traditionally known for phenolics.”

From Europe, Spain’s Aceites Oro Bailen Galgon 99 is again demonstrating its pedigree with five awards this year and 45 overall. Italy’s Oleificio Asaro dal 1916 has added five more awards in 2025, maintaining its position among the top producers globally. Portugal’s Sociedade Agrícola Ouro Vegetal has had an especially impressive showing, collecting seven awards so far this season.

France, Greece, and Croatia are also well represented in the rankings. Oliviers & Co of France has earned five awards this year, while The Master Miller P.C. of Greece and Avistria d.o.o. of Croatia have added to their totals, showing the strength of Mediterranean producers across the board.

Topping the list of distributors is Manicaretti Italian Food Importers, based in the United States, with a total of 59 awards across past competitions and three already this year. The importer, known for its collection of artisan oils from Italy, continues to maintain its place at the top through consistency and quality.

Also making a strong statement in 2025 is California Olive Ranch, which has already earned nine awards this season, the most of any U.S. producer so far. With 44 total wins to date, the company is cementing its reputation as a force in the American olive oil industry.

Fellow American producers Durant Olive Mill and San Miguel Olive Farm have also had notable showings, with Durant picking up five awards this year and San Miguel four — strong performances that reflect the continued rise of U.S. estate producers.

Among U.S. producers, Queen Creek Olive Mill and IL Fiorello have each earned four or more awards so far in 2025, reflecting growing momentum among family-run and estate-level operations. Gold Ridge Organic Farms, Enzo Olive Oil, and Apollo Olive Oil have each won multiple awards, showcasing the diversity and quality emerging from California’s groves in particular.

With 15 percent of entries remaining to be evaluated, the final leaderboard may still shift as additional results are published. For now, this snapshot reveals a dynamic and competitive year, with established leaders holding their ground and new challengers making a name for themselves. As the final results come in, producers, olive oil enthusiasts, and food industry professionals worldwide will be watching closely.

Despite steadily increasing olive oil production—the International Olive Council forecasted Albania would produce 30,000 metric tons in the 2024/25 crop year—Danaj said the southeastern European country would never compete with other large olive oil producers in the region in terms of quantity.

 ”We’re competing to have the best flavor and aroma, bitterness and pepperiness,” he told Olive Oil Times, “but we also are competing to have as many polyphenols as possible while keeping everything in balance.”

To that end, Danaj and the rest of the team at Donika Olive Oil celebrated winning a Gold Award for their Premium brand, an organic Kalinjot monovarietal, at the 2025 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. The company previously won a Silver Award for the same oil in 2024.

While the producer performed little differently between the two harvests, Danaj said an upgrade to the malaxer and better storage conditions may have contributed.

His milling team replaced the blades of the company’s malaxer with hollow blades that can be cooled with water, allowing them to keep the malaxing temperature at 22ºC. 

“The blades remain at a constant temperature, and before they used to heat up because of the movement,” he said, allowing the paste to reach 25 ºC. 

Danaj said the goal is to keep the paste from overheating and losing favorable organoleptic properties.

Once the extra virgin olive oil has been decanted and filtered, it is pumped into underground storage tanks until it is bottled to order. “The olive oil has the least amount of contact with oxygen as possible,” Danaj said. 

“There is still room for improvement in storage and filtration,” he added. “We can do a much better job.”

Next year, Danaj will skip the decanting step and filter the oil immediately after production, increasing the number of filter plaques the mill uses and raising the production cost.

“Right now, we are more mission-based than profit-focused,” he said. “Of course we’re making money to sustain ourselves, but we truly believe in producing the best product… and we believed that leaving the olive oil to decant was diminishing this.”

Danaj will skip the decanting step mainly to preserve the naturally abundant polyphenols in Kalinjot olives. Donika Premium has about 800 milligrams per kilogram, far exceeding the 250 required for the medicinal claims required by E.U. Regulation 432/2012.

He aims to reach 1,000 milligrams per kilogram of polyphenols while maintaining a harmonious frutiness, bitterness and spiciness.

Along with the climate and soil conditions of the southern region of Vlorë, Danaj’s team harvests the fruit early from the crowns of the trees, selecting the olives with the most exposure to the sun. 

While harvesting early sacrifices quantity, it allows for more polyphenols in the resulting extra virgin olive oil.

The harvested olives are placed into baskets and transported to the mill in three-hour intervals to complete the milling process as quickly as possible.

Among the annual challenges of the olive harvest in Albania are the country’s mountainous terrain and the poor infrastructure in some rural areas.

“ The terrain here is very difficult and hilly… sometimes you can only transport olives with donkeys or horses… to a main road to take to the mill in a truck,” Danaj said. “When everyone harvests at the same time, there can be bidding wars for the limited number of donkeys and trucks.”

Due to the mountainous terrain, it is also impossible for most producers to mechanize the harvest. Fragmented land ownership means that many farmers own small plots of land, making it more difficult to achieve economies of scale.

“ We cannot [produce at scale], but we can produce very high-quality olive oil from the local variety,” Danaj said.

He believes focusing on its Albanian identity will help raise brand awareness in Donika’s export markets—the company mainly sells olive oil in the United States but is also working to enter Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom—and promote Albanian extra virgin olive oil abroad more generally.

Donika is named after Donika Kastrioti, the grand princess of Albania who was born in what is now Vlorë County and married Gjergj Kastrioti. 

Kastrioti, who was viewed as one of the country’s national heroes, and his wife fought for Albania’s independence from the Ottoman Empire in the mid-fifteenth century.

“ One of the reasons we started Donika is to do what Italy did in the 1980s,” Danaj said, referencing the Made in Italy initiative, which is partially credited for the country’s decades-long dominance in the U.S. olive oil market. “We’re focusing on Albania and Kalinjot, which many people have never heard of.” 

Danaj said there are signs that the Albania and polyphenol-centric marketing strategies are working. He said some stores in California, where the olive oil retails at a premium price, have partly driven sales by telling the brand’s story.

“We have the footprint of success. We just haven’t done it massively yet,” Danaj said. “I think this is going to be our year, where we aim to have as many retail partners as possible [telling that story] and increase our online sales.”