Greece won more than twice as many olive oil awards in 2018 as in the previous year, according to one ranking system. The EVOO World Ranking by the World Association of Journalists and Writers of Wines, Liquors and Others states that Greece won 437 awards in 20 of the contests they considered. Some of the top ranked winners from Greece share their reactions.
At the EVO International Olive Oil Contest (EVO IOOC) in Paestum, Italy this year, 70% of the Greek extra virgin olive oils that entered won awards. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Paestum--originally the ancient Greek city of Poseidonia in Magna Grecia--formed a striking backdrop for the ceremony where premium Greek olive oils received 52 of the awards. [Update: guide to winners now available.*]
Greek extra virgin olive oils won 39 quality awards at the TerraOlivo Mediterranean International Olive Oil Competition this year. TerraOlivo CEO Eyal Hasson praised Greeks’ “great performance this year” in competition with 506 samples of oil from 20 countries. Some of the top Greek winners discussed their olive oil, olive variety, location, and “secrets.”
In 2018, three Greek olive oil companies won awards or distinctions at four prestigious international olive oil competitions in Italy that honor an unusually small number of olive oils. This acclaim for Kyklopas, Pamako, and Argali confirms once again that Greek extra virgin olive oils belong in the kitchens of the most discerning cooks and chefs.
What do the Spanish embassy chef, an Italian olive oil producer, the Lebanese ambassador, a Japanese woman living in Athens, and the former chef for the late French president François Mitterrand have in common? An olive oil tasting day in Athens for the 242 award winning extra virgin olive oils at the Athena International Olive Oil Competition (ATHIOOC).
At the London International Olive Oil Competitions this year, 16 judges from 11 countries evaluated the quality of 426 olive oils from 21 countries around the globe. Greek extra virgin olive oils won 99 Quality Awards. In the International Health Claim and Design competitions, Greeks won another 25 awards for extra healthy oils and exceptional packaging.
At Olive Japan this year, Greek extra virgin olive oils won 20 Gold Medals and 25 Silvers in a tough competition with 727 entries from 22 countries. Impressed by the increased number and quality of samples from Greece, competition director Toshiya Tada noticed “many wonderful oils from Greece” and suggested more of them deserved to be popular in Japan.
At the 3rd Athena International Olive Oil Competition (IOOC) in Delphi last month, Greek extra virgin olive oils competed with 359 samples from 12 countries, 52% of them from outside of Greece. 20 olive oil experts from 11 countries awarded Greek olive oils 1 Double Gold Medal, 23 Golds, 53 Silvers, and 30 Bronze Medals, plus a number of special awards.
In one of the world’s largest, most important organic extra virgin olive oil competitions, judges from 14 countries awarded Greek olive oils 5 Extra Gold Medals, 10 Gold Medals, and 12 Silver Medals. After competing with 500 olive oils from 15 nations in this 23rd edition of the BIOL competition in Italy, Greek winners commented on their success.
At the March 18 awards ceremony for the fourth Cretan Olive Oil Competition, the top scoring Cretan extra virgin olive oils of the 100 entered in the contest received 6 awards and 16 honorable mentions. Headed by olive oil experts of worldwide acclaim, the competition emphasized the high quality that results from hard work and attention to detail.
The Filaios Olive Oil Society, organizers of the third Kotinos Quality Competition for packed, branded extra virgin olive oils, presented awards and honorable mentions to 39 Greek olive oils at the Food Expo on March 11 at the Metropolitan Expo Center near the Athens airport. A number of olive oil varieties from several different Greek regions were awarded.
Competing with 658 extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) from 371 producers representing 19 countries, Greek EVOOs took home numerous quality and design awards at this year’s Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition. Several of the top Greek winners explained what this means to them and how they managed to produce such excellent olive oils.
Selected Greek extra virgin olive oils have been recognized as some of the most highly awarded olive oils in the world because of their success in international olive oil competitions in 2017. Greek olive oil companies view these distinctions as an affirmation of their teams’ hard work, passion, and continuous endeavors to produce high quality olive oil.
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.
The Athena International Olive Oil Competition was created by the first woman wine sommelier in Greece, who decided olive oil deserved as much attention as wine, and a former Paris urban planner who fell in love with wine in the City of Light. Maria Katsouli and Constantine Stergides are now “trying to bring [their] knowledge about wine to olive oil.”
At the Terra Olivo Mediterranean International Olive Oil Competition in Jerusalem this year, 632 olive oils from 20 different countries were evaluated by judges from 7 nations. Even in the face of tough competition among 65 different varieties from 80 producing areas, Greek extra virgin olive oils received 34 awards, including 4 Grand Prestige Golds.
On May 11, the second annual Olympia Health & Nutrition Awards ceremony took place in Athens, Greece. With 800 samples of olive oil from Greece, Spain, Italy, USA, Croatia, and Cyprus evaluated solely on the basis of their health benefits, 50 Gold Awards were presented to producers of extra healthy olive oil with over 1000 mg/kg of phenolic compounds.
In Málaga, Spain in May, the Health Matters International Convention included the 4th Congress of the Oleocanthal International Society and the awards ceremonies for the World Best Healthy EVOO Contest and the Health and Food Awards. Scientists discussed research, and some of the world’s healthiest olive oils, including three from Greece, received awards.
For the first time, an established mainstream international olive oil competition (IOOC) included not only quality and design contests, but also a health claim competition focused on olive oils’ health benefits as well as their taste. The competition was the 2017 London IOOC, where many Greek extra virgin olive oils were recognized for their merits.
At this year’s second edition of the Domina International Olive Oil Competition in Palermo, Italy, 26 of the 347 entries from 19 countries were Greek extra virgin olive oils. Samples were analyzed by 20 judges from 9 countries, and an impressive 70% of the Greek olive oils received Gold or Silver medals, even in this difficult harvest year.
Competing with 611 entries from 21 countries in a harvest year plagued by weather problems, Greek olive oils managed to capture 1 Gold Medal and 26 Silver Medals at the Olive Japan International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition, a prestigious competition that emphasizes fairness and accuracy while providing visibility for companies in the Asian market.
In one of the largest, most important international competitions focused on organic extra virgin olive oils, 8 BIOL Gold Medals and 12 BIOL Silver Medals were awarded to Greek olive oils by 30 jurors from various countries. After this 22nd edition of the BIOL competition in Italy, with 350 olive oils from 15 countries, some Greek winners offered comments.
September 2022, Mendoza, Argentina. Registration and samples due by August 1. Awards announced in September.
Cumberland Park, South Australia. Entry deadline September 1; medal winners announced October 9; award presentation October 26. Organized by the Australian Olive Association for extra virgin and flavored olives oils, plus table olives.
"With 90 awards earned at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, producers from Greece reaffirmed their devotion to quality."
"Despite a challenging harvest season, producers, farmers and bottlers from across Greece combined to earn a total of 79 awards at the 2022 NYIOOC."
"Winners from Greece continue to share their enthusiasm for their record number of NYIOOC awards, a sign that the Greek olive oil sector is alive and well."
Nice vignettes by Costas Vasilopoulos featuring a few of the Greek winners at the New York International Olive Oil Competition.
Four Greek olive oil companies were ranked among the top ten healthy extra virgin olive oils at the unusual World’s Best Healthy EVOO Contest in Spain.
"With the highest ever turnout from Greece, producers from Crete were among the most successful at this year’s NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition."
These are the Greek winners at the famous NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for 2020. For more about some of the Greek winners, see also Greek Producers Achieve Record Wins at NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition and Greek Producers Continue to Celebrate Record Year at 2020 NYIOOC.
In spite of poor weather and trouble with pests, Greek producers took home a total of 35 awards at the 2019 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.
"With the historically poor harvest season behind them, Greek producers who managed a win in New York are setting their sights on brand building and achieving consistent quality."
The COOC has been instrumental in elevating the extra virgin olive oils produced in Crete; here are some of the brands to look out for.
A list of the very healthy, high phenolic winners of the Aristoleo Awards for extra virgin olive oil and table olives, with a chart showing different uses for olive oils according to their phenolic content.
Greek producers like these New York International Olive Oil Competition winners have studied modern olive oil production methods and engaged in the persistent efforts necessary to make some of the world's best olive oils.
Costas Vasilopoulos spoke with several Greek winners at the 2018 New York International Olive Oil Competition, where Greece won more awards and more gold awards than it ever had before.
At the 4th Panhellenic Olive and Olive Oil Festival, which is organized by the Kalamata Agricultural Cooperative in cooperation with the regional and local government and other groups, important issues and food pairings were discussed, three people were honored for their contributions to the olive sector, and the Kalamata Olive Oil Awards were presented.
Thanks to science, experimental new methods and minute attention to detail, olive oil producers on Crete are forging new paths with an age-old product.
The winners of these awards produce especially healthy, high phenolic extra virgin olive oils. This is a good list to check out for particularly spicy olive oils full of health benefits. Awards ceremony at the 2nd Annual Aristoleo Conference “The Future of Olive Oil,” April 27-28, Nicosia, Cyprus.
When the Oleocanthal International Society convened last month, healthy Greek extra virgin olive oils won several awards at the World Best Healthy EVOO Contest and the Health and Food Awards, and scientists discussed research related to olive oil polyphenols.
First notes and photos from Cyprus about the recent conference focused on ultra-healthy high phenolic extra virgin olive oils, with awards presented to some of the healthiest olive oils in the world, including many from Greece and others made by Greek Cypriots.
Producers, marketers, and exporters of this year's best Greek olive oils share what their New York International Olive Oil Competition awards mean to them, how they manage to produce olive oils good enough to earn top honors, and how this fits in with their company philosophies.
"EVOOs were awarded by variety according 3 high phenolic types: Organic, Traditional, & Wild and based on the concentration of polyphenols in the 3 categories: TOTAL PHENOLS, OLEOCANTHAL & OLEACEIN, and OLEOCANTHAL." Many Greek EVOOs were winners.
The third edition of the competition had more entries and a higher percentage of organic olive oils than in previous years.
Twenty-one Greek extra virgin olive oils and two Greek flavored olive oils received Great Taste Awards in the United Kingdom this year.
Seven Greek olive oil companies won 10 of the awards at one of the world’s most eminent extra virgin olive oil contests, the OLIVINUS competition in Argentina.
The Oleocanthal International Society Conference and Olympia Health & Nutrition Awards featured breakthroughs in olive oil research, a new olive tree varietal, and an olive oil competition for high-phenolic oils.
Here is a list of award-winning companies from the 2016 Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition. Notice, for example Village Batch’s Best of Class Gold Medal and the Gold Medals of PJ Kabos (2 of them) and Laconiko.
Award-winning Greek producers discuss their reactions to the New York International Olive Oil Competition results and their efforts to produce the best olive oils in the world.
Here is a list of award-winning Greek companies from the 2016 New York International Olive Oil Competition (where some non-Greek companies happen to show up). See the article above for more details about the top Greek winners.
Toward the bottom of this page, you’ll find the lists of Silver, Gold, and Extra Gold medals for this competition in Puglia, Italy in March, with Greek companies on each list under the country “Grecia.” Note that Kyklopas, Olvia Green, and Mythocia won Extra Gold Medals.
The 2nd Cretan Olive Oil Competition took place March 19 to 20 in Rethymno, Crete, awarding prizes for the best standardized conventional and organic Cretan extra virgin olive oils from the 2015-16 production season.
If you click on the final word at the end of the paragraph on the linked page, it will take you to a list—unfortunately only in Greek—of the winners of the 2016 Kotinos competition in Athens.
The first Cretan Olive Oil Competition (in 2015) sought to promote high-quality Cretan olive oil brands and the special characteristics of the best Cretan olive oils, to improve their position in the local and global markets, and to upgrade the overall quality of Cretan oils by developing the expertise of participants.