Six Greek early harvest organic extra virgin olive oils won prizes at the first international competition of the 2017/18 harvest year in the northern hemisphere, Biolnovello, in early December. Greek extra virgin olive oils captured two silver awards and four extra golds at this competition, which will be followed by the BIOL International Prize in March.
Konstantinos Papadopoulos’s extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) were awarded not one, but two Extra Golds at Biolnovello in Italy. Papadopoulos emphasizes the importance of adding these two awards for Mythocia Olympia PGI and Mythocia Omphacium EVOOs to their impressive list of prizes, since “they prove our stability in quality for one more year.” He decided to participate in the Biolnovello competition for several reasons: “because it’s the first of the year,” so that it shows his olive oil’s quality level for this new harvest season; he considers it and the BIOL Prize the top competitions for organic olive oil; and the competition provides “analyses for all the olive oils that participate,” offering producers useful information.
Papadopoulos believes passion, knowledge, and technical expertise make “the perfect combination to produce high quality olive oil.” In addition, “having our own team of producers and our own facilities for pressing and packaging allow us to control the quality at all stages of production.” Finally, “because we are in love with what we are doing, we look after every detail, and we constantly evolve so we can produce high quality olive oil each year.”
Angelos Spyropoulos was pleased that his Centaurs Olive Groves EVOO won an Extra Gold medal this year, following Biolnovello Extra Gold, Biolmedia, and BIOL Extra Gold awards in 2016 and 2017. Spyropoulos believes his use of homodynamic cultivation, his early harvest in October, his same-day oil extraction, and his love of olive trees help him produce such excellent fruity, spicy olive oil from the Koroneiki olives, wild olives, and extremely healthy, extra high phenolic Olympia olives of his region. Spyropoulos emphasizes Centaurs EVOO’s “very high percentage of polyphenols, which is very beneficial for human health” because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
The Centaurs Olive Groves website explains that the homodynamic cultivation methods Spyropoulos uses grew out of the principles of biodynamic theory, emphasizing “the harmonic dialogue between the earth and the universe” as “a prerequisite for good health of trees and plants. This is achieved through the use of a minimum quantity of homo dynamic preparations, which are derived from natural substances that are dissolved in water.” Spyropoulos lets his olive groves grow much like a natural forest, without pesticides, but “full of wild greens and flowers that give flavor and fragrances to the olive oil.”
Richard Schweger, co-founder of Noan, is pleased to add another Biolnovello Extra Gold to his list of awards, since “every success makes a difference for the team that worked hard and helps us better market the oil and make our Noan Project a success.” This is important, because “Noan is a charitable not for profit entity, donating all its proceeds to projects for children’s education” in Greece and other countries. “To be able to succeed, we have to produce a great product, a product people will love to buy.”
Schweger adds that Noan has been producing its Greek Noan Classic Oil for 10 years. “Every year we have been able to produce a great oil with slight variations in taste due to nature. This harvest has been a very good one. As Noan only produces its oil from the best olives available, we only have one quality available for sale. Exactly the same oil sent to the competition is bottled and made available for our clients.” He concludes, “we are proud and happy about what we have achieved and look forward to continuing on this path in order to enable people to enjoy our products and to donate to many more children’s projects in the years to come.”
While the BIOL Prize for certified organic extra virgin olive oils has been awarded in an international competition established by C.I.BI., the Italian Consortium for the Organic Sector, in Apulia, Italy since 1996, Biolnovello began more recently, in 2014.
As the BIOL website indicates, Biolnovello is “an event reserved for extra virgin organic olive oil of the new season, or, in the countries of the Mediterranean, produced before November 15 of each year. Biolnovello was created with the specific purpose of allowing producers a timely promotion of the olive oil to market as well as [to] provide an effective indication to families” of the olive oil’s quality, so that producers can “correct and improve the process of production and storage” if necessary, and celebrate successes where appropriate.
The Winning Greek Olive Oils at the 2017 Biolnovello Competition
Extra Gold
- Mythocia Olympia PGI -- Konstantinos Papadopoulos & Co.
- Mythocia Omphacium – Konstantinos Papadopoulos & Co.
- Centaurs Olive Groves – Angelos Spyropoulos
- Noan – Noan Gmbh
Silver
- Kontogiannis Family Organic Premium – Kontogiannis Family
- Olvia – Michael Tzortzis
_____________
Thanks to Konstantinos Papadopoulos for the photos of his award-winning products.
