`Three Veterans of the Croatian War of Independence Craft Award-Winning Olive Oils - Olive Oil Times
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Three Veterans of the Croatian War of Independence Craft Award-Winning Olive Oils

By Nedjeljko Jusup
May. 6, 2024 14:20 UTC

As the old say­ing goes, ​“noth­ing suc­ceeds like suc­cess,” and the pro­duc­ers behind Oleum Maris have achieved this by win­ning four Gold Awards at the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

With olive groves on the Istrian penin­sula in north­west­ern Croatia, the pro­duc­ers have won 16 World Competition awards since 2019. ​“Yes, and all Gold,” said Velimir Jurić, one of Oleum Maris’s three founders.

Indigenous vari­eties, inte­grated cul­ti­va­tion, timely har­vest­ing, fast pro­cess­ing and care­ful stor­age are the keys to the first-class qual­ity of our extra vir­gin olive oil.- Velimir Jurić, co-founder, Oleum Maris

The com­pany won its first Gold Award for an Istrian Bjelica, fol­lowed by three more awards for mono­va­ri­etals in 2020 and four awards in 2022, 2023 and now 2024 for autochtho­nous Istrian vari­eties: Istrian Bjelica, Rozinjola, Vodnjanska buža and Žižolera.

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Oleum Maris’ six monovarietals

“The NYIOOC awards are the Oscars for olive grow­ing,” Jurić said. ​“They mean a lot to us because they are the best con­fir­ma­tion of our ded­i­ca­tion to the qual­ity of our olive oil.”

See Also:Producer Profiles

Oleum Maris was founded in 2009 by Jurić, Martin Milas and Mladen Kocijančić, all vet­er­ans of the Croatian War of Independence from Vodnjan. They started from scratch after receiv­ing a state con­ces­sion for 80 hectares of burned land.

“Pines grew there, and fires broke out almost every year,” Jurić said, who, along with his part­ners, land­scaped the area and planted 15,000 olive trees on 55 hectares, mainly indige­nous vari­eties of Buža, Istrian Bjelica, Rosignola, Žižolera and Buža.

profiles-the-best-olive-oils-production-europe-three-veterans-of-the-croatian-war-of-independence-craft-awardwinning-olive-oils-olive-oil-times

Velimir Jurić, one of the founders of Oleum Maris

They also have planted Leccino and Pendolino olive trees, native to Italy, which are excel­lent pol­li­na­tors for the afore­men­tioned Istrian vari­eties.

Maslinik is located on the main road between Pula, the largest city of Istria, and Vodnjan, an almost ideal loca­tion for grow­ing olives.

“The ter­rain is rugged, south-fac­ing and sunny at an alti­tude of about 85 meters,” Jurić said. ​“Our olive groves offer a unique view of the Brijuna Islands, the dis­tinc­tive Vodnjan bell tower and the ancient, 3,000-year-old city of Pula.”

In the mean­time, the well-known entre­pre­neur Vlado Ćorluka from Zagreb, the Croatian cap­i­tal, joined the founders.

With invest­ment in new equip­ment and tech­nol­ogy, they achieved high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil pro­duc­tion and cre­ated the Oio Vivo brand, which trans­lates to ​“liv­ing oil” or ​“oil of life.”

“Indigenous vari­eties, inte­grated cul­ti­va­tion, timely har­vest­ing, fast pro­cess­ing and care­ful stor­age are the keys to the first-class qual­ity of our extra vir­gin olive oil,” Jurić said.

They have no prob­lem sell­ing the olive oil at a mod­ern shop and tast­ing room nearby Galižana. The oil is also sold at a shop and bar in the cen­ter of Zagreb and to buy­ers across Europe online. The founders also took advan­tage of Istria’s rapidly grow­ing olive oil tourism.

“We have guests from all over the world, includ­ing the United States,” Jurić said with­out hid­ing his sat­is­fac­tion.

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Oleum Maris is one of the most successful olive growing companies in Istria.

In addi­tion to olive grove tours, they offer three types of tast­ings: oil tast­ing with bread, cheese and pro­sciutto or with other Istrian del­i­ca­cies. Ice cream with Istrian bjel­ica is served for dessert.

Visits to the olive grove, from which there is a view of the sea and Brijuni National Park, also include rides in an old, but for this occa­sion mod­i­fied, Land Rover Defender jeep, which is espe­cially attrac­tive to guests.

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In the 2023/24 crop year, Oleum Maris pro­duced 50,000 liters of extra vir­gin olive oil, which is in line with its pro­duc­tion in most years. ​“The har­vest was suc­cess­ful in every respect; the fruits were healthy, and the oil was excel­lent,” Jurić said.

Unlike most Istrian and Dalmatian pro­duc­ers, their work was not spoiled by bad weather or pests like the olive fruit fly.

“We have 13 employ­ees who imple­ment all agrotech­ni­cal mea­sures in a timely man­ner,” Jurić said.

When the olive fruit fly appeared, the company’s agron­o­mists reacted quickly and neu­tral­ized the most seri­ous olive pest with min­i­mal and selec­tive insec­ti­cide use.

profiles-the-best-olive-oils-production-europe-three-veterans-of-the-croatian-war-of-independence-craft-awardwinning-olive-oils-olive-oil-times

Groves of Oleum Maris

In addi­tion to timely pre­ven­tion, Oleum Marisa employ­ees started har­vest­ing olives at the right time.

“We have the most mod­ern tech­nol­ogy, shak­ers and plat­forms that col­lect the fruit and remove the leaves so that it goes straight to the mill undam­aged and clean,” said Jurić, opti­mistic that the busi­ness can only go for­ward.

Along with tra­di­tion, ideal ter­roir and exten­sive knowl­edge of olive grow­ing, har­vest­ing, milling and olive oil stor­age, Jurić con­cluded that the NYIOOC awards are the best mar­ket­ing tool and serve as a rec­om­men­da­tion to cur­rent and future fans of Oio Vivo.

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