French Producers Celebrate Superb Showing at NYIOOC

Part of our con­tin­u­ing spe­cial cov­er­age of the 2022 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

French pro­duc­ers took home 11 awards at the tenth edi­tion of the world’s most pres­ti­gious extra vir­gin olive oil qual­ity com­pe­ti­tion.

The Mediterranean coun­try’s pro­duc­ers com­bined to earn seven Gold and four Silver Awards at the 2022 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition – the country’s sec­ond-best result at the com­pe­ti­tion – after a har­vest com­pli­cated by spring­time frosts.

Mas des Bories from the town of Salon-de-Provence in the coun­try’s south­east earned a Gold Award for its medium blend.

“As new­com­ers to the world of olive grow­ing, we are proud that the qual­ity of our extra vir­gin olive oil is rec­og­nized inter­na­tion­ally in a com­pe­ti­tion as pres­ti­gious as the NYIOOC,” owner Claire de Fina Coutin told Olive Oil Times.

“It is also a feel­ing of deep sat­is­fac­tion to be rewarded for our efforts and work in our con­tin­u­ous search for authen­tic­ity and excel­lence,” she added.

De Fina Coutin said the acco­lade rein­forces their choice of an arti­sanal approach, small-scale pro­duc­tion and con­trol­ling the pro­duc­tion chain from the tree to the bot­tle.

She said the olives for Mas des Bories’s award-win­ning AOP de Provence blend – Salonenque, Bouteillan, Grossane and Aglandau – are har­vested sep­a­rately at opti­mum matu­rity, which is becom­ing increas­ingly dif­fi­cult with the impact of cli­mate change. Immediately after har­vest, the olives are trans­formed indi­vid­u­ally in their mill.

De Fina Coutin said that despite a ter­ri­ble drought and heat, they had a good fruit set. ​“This gives us hope for a good har­vest in 2022,” she said.

Domaine de Leos, from nearby L’Isles-sur-la-Sorgue, also won a Gold Award for its Sélection Fruité Vert, a medium blend.

Joël Gayet, the man­ager of Domaine de Leos, said they were pleased about receiv­ing the award.

“This is the eighth gold medal we have won in 2022,” he said. ​“Personally, I am happy for the team and for the owner, Patrick Bruel, who has made this quest for excel­lence an ambi­tion shared by all.”

“The award is a guar­an­tee, and it val­i­dates the choices we have made so far, even if we are aware that the search for excel­lence remains a quest,” he added.

For Gayat, the con­sis­tency of these awards sets Domaine de Leos apart from its com­peti­tors, adding that they refer to the fla­vor of their oil as ​“orig­i­nal” because it is rem­i­nis­cent of the green olives from which it was cre­ated.

He said the company’s pro­duc­tion was lim­ited due to adverse weather con­di­tions last year, adding that Domaine de Leos is look­ing to con­tinue their quest for excel­lence in the next har­vest.

Another pro­ducer from Provence, Miraval, received a Silver Award for its organic medium Picholine blend.

“We are very proud while hop­ing to do even bet­ter next year,” said Nicole De Luca, the busi­ness devel­op­ment coor­di­na­tor for De Medici Imports, the mar­keter for Miraval in the United States. ​“It shows that we are on the right path in cre­at­ing the best oil pos­si­ble. We strive to do even bet­ter and get a Gold next time.”

“Chateau Miraval is a very spe­cial place, sit­ting at an aver­age of 1,200 feet (365 meters) and roughly 40 min­utes from the coast where olive trees have been grown organ­i­cally for over 3,000 years,” she added. ​“Today, we have roughly 4,000 trees and 13 cul­ti­vars hand-har­vested and processed by our team on our prop­erty.”

“We are ded­i­cated to cre­at­ing the best oil from these spe­cial olives and shar­ing the har­vest from our unique ter­roir,” De Luca con­tin­ued. ​“We are a very small pro­ducer and take spe­cial care at every step of the process to ensure the best qual­ity oil goes into every sin­gle crock.”

De Luca said Miraval’s pre­vi­ous har­vest was aver­age in terms of quan­tity, but they were able to pro­duce extra vir­gin olive oil of the best qual­ity.

“We can no longer pre­dict any­thing,” De Luca said in ref­er­ence to the upcom­ing har­vest. ​“Winters are dryer and warmer each year. On top of that, we’re cur­rently expe­ri­enc­ing an unex­pected major heat wave. So who knows what’s next? Nevertheless, we con­tinue to be dili­gent and care for our trees.”

Château Virant, in the south­east­ern Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence region between Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, took home a Silver Award for its medium blend.

Christine Cheylan, Château Virant’s miller, said she felt proud after their PDO Aix-en-Provence was awarded at the NYIOOC.

“This award is a recog­ni­tion of qual­ity, knowl­edge and work. It’s my first time par­tic­i­pat­ing in the NYIOOC, and my oil has won a prize,” Cheylan said. ​“This is fan­tas­tic.”

She added that the award would make the brand more rec­og­niz­able to con­sumers.

Part of what sets their oils apart is that Château Virant con­trols the whole process of cre­at­ing their oil, from the grove to the mill.

Cheylan added that the com­pany achieved a fan­tas­tic result with their Aglandau dur­ing the pre­vi­ous har­vest.

“For the upcom­ing har­vest, we’ll con­tinue to select trees and vari­eties,” she said. ​“But this sum­mer seems very dry, and olive trees need water to pro­duce. The best water for the tree is water that comes from the sky. So let’s wait and see.”

Away from con­ti­nen­tal France, on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, Moulin Oltremonti earned a Gold Award for its Athea brand’s medium Taggiasca blend.

“We feel extremely happy to have our work and efforts rec­og­nized in the NYIOOC con­test, and of course thrilled to win a Gold Award with our Athea this year,” Moulin Oltremonti co-owner Emilie Borel Berta told Olive Oil Times.

Borel Berta said their award-win­ning oil is made from a typ­i­cal Corsican cul­ti­var, which lends it a unique fruity fla­vor and makes it one of the best in the world.

Despite the suc­cess, she added that labor short­ages were a prob­lem dur­ing the pre­vi­ous har­vest.

“Luckily, we have our own mill, which means that we can work from home. While my hus­band was at the mill day and night, I worked with the team in our olive groves,” she said.

Looking ahead to the upcom­ing har­vest, Borel Berta con­cluded: ​“One big chal­lenge will be the heat wave we are expe­ri­enc­ing at the moment, which surely will be con­tin­u­ing this sum­mer.”