You don’t need the hills of Tuscany to get good olive oil, turns out the World’s Best is right here in South Africa, says international award.
De Rust, South Africa (09 May 2023) – 97 points set South Africa’s De Rustica Olive Estate a point above some of the world’s greatest olive oil producers. The only South African olive oil to be in the competition, the local estate beat out the likes of Italy, Portugal, Spain and Brazil to be named the world’s best olive oil at the 2023 International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Quality Awards – EVOOLEUM Awards.
The EVOOLEUM Awards is a Spanish competition promoted by Mercacei magazine and AEMO (Spanish Association of Olive Tree Municipalities). The estate had entered their Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) for the 8th edition of the awards and this time was the charm! Its olive oil, made from the Coratina variety, earned a total of 97 out of 100.
The EVOOLEUM Top 100 chooses the very best in the world. They pride themselves on strict competitive parameters to ensure fairness and quality. The competition jury is made up of 26 tasters from 10 different countries who this year, evaluated almost 1,000 blind samples from all corners of the planet before selecting the 100 best EVOOs in the world.
“This is a unique contest and the most rigorous in terms of quality and promotion of olive juice. A most exclusive and prestigious group of expert tasters worldwide is responsible for assessing the organoleptic quality of the samples presented, from which comes the exclusive TOP100 of the best extra virgins in the world in each campaign, as well as the best in their different categories, varieties and countries.
The different categories established in the contest – some of them unpublished to date – allow fully covering the entire spectrum of extra virgins, taking into account their organoleptic characteristics, origin, olive varieties, PDO or PGI, packaging design, etc. without overlooking the organic oils of Integrated Production or with Kosher and Halal certification.
To ensure maximum strictness, the EVOOs submitted must come from a batch of at least 2,500 liters and the candidate must keep it in their facilities until at least 30 days after the closing date. The entire process of the contest and the tasting is made before a notary, and includes the verification of origin of at least 10% of the selected samples, which are randomly designated by the notary.”
With this in mind, the win for De Rustica is even more impressive. What’s even better, is the team not only got the highest score, they won the overall competition, beyond all categories and can now be called “the absolute best”.
The olive oil also won the title for “Best Monovarietal”, “Best Mixture of Green and Mature Fruit”, “Best of South Africa”, and “Best Coratina”.
“We are so proud of this exceptional and outstanding achievement!” – Rob Still, of De Rustica Estates
We managed to chat to the team about the win, finding out what the secret was to being the world’s best.
“Tender loving care (wink). And climate, water quality, cultivar selection and management and state of the art equipment.”
De Rustica Estates is situated in the Swartberg mountains of the Western Cape near the town of De Rust. The estate farms Dohne Merino sheep and olives. The olives are planted over some 140 hectares at altitudes ranging from 400-650m and enjoys cold winters, pure mountain water and Cape sunshine.
Established in 2006, the Estate has regularly and consistently won multiple awards in both South Africa and internationally for the quality of its Extra Virgin Olive Oils.
In an international market that is dominated by the Mediterranean, this achievement yet again showcases the quality of South African Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
This is a massive win, not only for the De Rustica team but for local olive oil producers too!
“It’s a phenomenal achievement for us personally and we are incredibly proud of our team. It is also great for the South African olive industry.”
The team can now add another sticker to this incredible and proudly South African product!
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