Croatian olive oils took away 27 gold medals and 11 silver medals at NYIOOC 2018
Istrian olive oils won big at the New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC), reports Glas Istre on April 28, 2018.
"The NYIOOC, held each April in New York City, is the world's largest and most prestigious olive oil contest and its annual listing of award winners is widely considered to be the authoritative guide to the year’s best extra virgin olive oils. The 2018 competition saw 1,000 entries from 28 countries participating -- the largest variety of extra virgin olive oils ever assembled in one place", cites the Official Index of the World's Best Olive Oils for 2018.
As a rule, the judging panel has an international character as well; the 2018 edition of NYIOOC had eighteen judges who assessed the oil samples, including a representative of Croatia, Dr. Karolina Brkić Bubola.
Awards were granted in the categories of the northern and southern hemisphere, monovarietal and blends, and in a separate category - organic olive oils.
Croatia is gaining a more glowing reputation on the global olive oil map with each passing year. This time around, Croatian olive oils took away a total of 27 gold and 11 silver medals, with two of the sumbitted samples scoring the Best in Class award.
The olive oil 'Bilini' from Istria, produced by OPG Rakovac in Pula, is one of the Croatian contenders who ended up taking the gold at the NYIOOC. "As a small family farm from Istria, we're extremely honoured to have won a gold medal in such a versatile competition", said the owners of OPG Rakovac who have been producing olive oil for the last couple of years. They added they're very pleased that the high quality standard of their Bilini got some recognition on the international level, and concluded they see the award as an enticement to work even harder in the future.
Both 'Best in Class' awards that went to Croatia were also taken away by Istrian producers: OPG Lupić from Istria won Best in Class for their buža Bembo, while Buršić Marija OPG took the coveted award with their De Kleva medium blend.
You can see the full list of awarded olive oils from Croatia here.
