Croatian Ag Minister Applauds Country’s Most Awarded Producer

With the noti­fi­ca­tion of its four awards ear­lier this week, Avistria became the most dec­o­rated Croatian pro­ducer in the Olive Oil Times World Ranking and this year’s NYIOOC.

Based in the north­west­ern region of Istria, the pro­duc­ers earned three Gold Awards and a Silver Award at the 2024 World Competition, bring­ing their total to 24 since 2018.

“We are proud of our suc­cesses,” own­ers Beatrix and Rudolf Nemetschke told Olive Oil Times. ​“We cel­e­brated each award with friends in Istria and Austria.”

The cou­ple reside in Sankt Wolfgang in north­ern Austria but have grown olives for nearly a decade in Sveti Lovreč. This for­mer seat of the Venetian bishop has the ideal loca­tion and soil for olive cul­ti­va­tion.

Nine years ago, the cou­ple bought about 85 hectares of land with 400 aban­doned olive trees, which they have since restored.

They have planted 1,600 trees, mainly of Istrian and selected Italian vari­eties. The olive grove cur­rently cov­ers 35 hectares, and they intend to expand. ​“Our goal is to have 15,000 trees and grow them organ­i­cally,” Rudolf Nemetschke said.

The couple’s pri­mary focus is on typ­i­cal Istrian vari­eties such as Buža, Storta, Karbonazza, Rožignola or Istarska Bijelica, and they pre­fer Italian vari­eties such as Leccino, Frantoio, Pendolino, Itrana and Amaurino.

Nemetschke said the secret to the company’s suc­cess is the agrotech­ni­cal mea­sures car­ried out dur­ing the year, includ­ing dur­ing the har­vest, and the team behind those mea­sures.

“We have a team of experts and work­ers who have been work­ing together for years,” Nemetschke said. ​“I also try to take part in all the work.”

The com­pany focuses on qual­ity over quan­tity, under­tak­ing an early har­vest each sea­son. In the 2023/24 crop year, Avistria pro­duced 1,242 liters of extra vir­gin olive oil, cit­ing adverse cli­matic con­di­tions and the olive fruit fly as major chal­lenges.

“We har­vest in the early stage of ripen­ing when the fruits are of the best qual­ity,” Nemetschke said. ​“From them, we pro­duce green, espe­cially spicy, appro­pri­ately bit­ter but har­mo­nious oils with accen­tu­ated fruit fla­vors.”

He added, ​“The oils are mostly mono­va­ri­etals, and we also pro­duce a top-qual­ity cuvee Istrian blend.”

The cou­ple har­vests the olives using hand rakes and trans­ports them to the mill within hours. ​“We exclu­sively pro­duce extra vir­gin olive oil,” Nemetschke said. ​“Immediately after pick­ing, we process the fruits in a state-of-the-art Pieralissi oil mill.”

According to Olive Oil Times World Ranking data, Avistria is the most awarded Croatian pro­ducer at the NYIOOC and ranked sev­enth world­wide for the most awards earned.

Al Torcio is the sec­ond most-awarded Croatian pro­ducer with 16 awards, fol­lowed by OPG Ivica Vlatkovic, which has 15.

“We won the first NYIOOC award in 2018,” Nemetschke said. Since then, Avistria has par­tic­i­pated in every edi­tion of the com­pe­ti­tion.

“It’s a great feel­ing to win NYIOOC awards for all the oils we pro­duce,” Nemetschke said. ​“Also, for the first time, gold for our Cuvee Istrian Blend, which has won sil­ver in recent years.”

The company’s sus­tained suc­cess has not gone unno­ticed. When news of their lat­est recog­ni­tion broke, Marija Vučković, Croatia’s agri­cul­ture min­is­ter, con­grat­u­lated the cou­ple.

“As Austrians who grow olive groves in Istria, we are par­tic­u­larly proud,” the cou­ple said.

Nemetschke said the awards and recog­ni­tion that come with it have helped the com­pany mar­ket its extra vir­gin olive oils.

Avistria sells most of its oils in Austria but has local cus­tomers in Istria. Its mar­ket­ing strat­egy is based on the tar­get pop­u­la­tion of con­sumers, pri­vate clients, restau­rants, hotels and cer­tain spe­cial­ized stores.

The cou­ple also plans to build a new coun­try house on their Istrian estate with a tast­ing room and a small oil mill to process their olives.

“We are sat­is­fied,” Nemetschke said. ​“This is a new moti­va­tion for the upcom­ing olive grow­ing year.”