PDO and PGI Producers Celebrated at Ercole Olivario

The win­ners of the 31^st Ercole Olivario were announced ear­lier this month in the Sala dei Notari of the Palazzo dei Priori, a land­mark of Perugia, the Umbrian cap­i­tal.

Organized by the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Crafts and Agriculture, the national com­pe­ti­tion ded­i­cated to the best Italian extra vir­gin olive oils handed out 12 awards, half of which went to Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indications (PGI)-certified pro­duc­ers.

Lazio, Sardinia and Sicily were the most awarded regions, with three prizes each, fol­lowed by Campania, Puglia and Tuscany, with one prize each.

Additionally, seven spe­cial awards were handed out to a larger group of pro­duc­ers who excelled in organic and mono­va­ri­etal pro­duc­tion and busi­ness areas such as pack­ag­ing, dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, female and young entre­pre­neur­ship and oleo­tourism.

The spe­cial men­tion for the organic extra vir­gin olive oils went to U’ Ciuri PGI Sicily, pro­duced by Miceli & Sensat.

“It is a great sat­is­fac­tion to have achieved such recog­ni­tion from as pres­ti­gious an insti­tu­tion as the Chamber of Commerce,” Paolo Miceli told Olive Oil Times. ​“We obtained this oil from the fruits of our organic Nocellara del Belice plants, which thrive in a won­der­ful, pris­tine val­ley near the vil­lage of Roccamena, which is home to our farm.”

A day ear­lier, the orga­niz­ers opened the prize-giv­ing by announc­ing win­ners of the sec­ond edi­tion of La Goccia d’Ercole (Ercole’s Drop) ded­i­cated to small-scale pro­duc­ers. Sicily and Puglia were the most rewarded regions, with two awards each, fol­lowed by Campania and Tuscany.

“Ercole Olivario is a pact that we have made with the olive oil world to enhance this extra­or­di­nary prod­uct,” said Giorgio Mencaroni, pres­i­dent of the Umbrian Chamber of Commerce, dur­ing the event.

He high­lighted the impor­tance assumed over time by this com­pe­ti­tion as a tool for pro­mot­ing the high-qual­ity Italian extra vir­gin olive oil sec­tor and an incen­tive for pro­duc­ers to improve their pro­duc­tion processes.

“Proof of this is that every year the judges rec­og­nize the increas­ingly higher qual­ity of the entries,” he said.

The clos­ing cer­e­mony in Perugia was the cul­mi­na­tion of a series of steps that started weeks before with the tast­ing ses­sions of the regional pan­els.

Among these is the team of pro­fes­sional tasters of the Chamber of Commerce of Rome, who selected the win­ners of the Premio Roma Evo, pre­vi­ously called Orii del Lazio, at its 30^th edi­tion.

The anniver­sary was cel­e­brated on March 11^th in the sug­ges­tive set­ting of the Vibia Sabina and Hadrian’s Temple of Rome, where the orga­niz­ers unveiled the brands from Lazio that would par­tic­i­pate in the national com­pe­ti­tion.

“It feels great to receive recog­ni­tion of our pro­fes­sion­al­ism with this award earned thanks to our two flag­ship extra vir­gin olive oils, the PGI Roma, made up of Salviana and Carboncella, and the Sabina PDO, a blend of Salviana, Carboncella and Frantoio,” said Alessandro Donati of Frantoio Narducci, in Moricone, after receiv­ing a men­tion of merit for young entre­pre­neurs.

“Despite the sum­mer drought, the weather con­di­tions got bet­ter with the approach of the har­vest, which helped us to obtain a good yield and excel­lent prod­ucts,” he added.

A com­plete list of the 2023 win­ners may be found on the Ercole Olivario web­site and social media pages.