Two Australian Producers Celebrate Decade of Success at World Competition

Navigating a chal­leng­ing 2024 har­vest, Australian pro­duc­ers have once again felt the thrill of being rec­og­nized for their high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils on the world stage.

Returning entrants Cape Schanck Olive Estate and Cobram Estate from Victoria rep­re­sented the coun­try in the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition Southern Hemisphere divi­sion, com­bin­ing to earn seven awards (two Gold and five Silver Awards).

Victoria is the coun­try’s largest olive oil-pro­duc­ing region, account­ing for more than 70 per­cent of Australia’s annual olive oil pro­duc­tion.

Cape Schanck and Cobram Estate boast a 100 per­cent con­sis­tency score in the Olive Oil Times World Ranking, mean­ing they have con­tin­u­ously achieved award-win­ning qual­ity over the last ten years.

In Australia, last year’s bumper crop of around 19 mil­lion liters (17,480 met­ric tons) of olive oil was fol­lowed by an off-year pro­duc­tion in 2024 with reduced crops in most of the country’s olive oil-pro­duc­ing regions.

According to esti­mates from the Australian Olive Oil Association (AOOA), the coun­try yielded between 13,000 and 14,000 tons of olive oil in the 2024 har­vest, which ended in July.

“The Australian har­vest declined in 2024 due to poor fruit sets and bad weather in some regions,” the association’s pres­i­dent, David Valmorbida, said in August after olive har­vest­ing was com­pleted in the coun­try.

“Other areas were hit by the lace bug, which dec­i­mated groves,” Valmorbida added. ​“Due to the com­bined effect of already being a cycli­cal ​‘off’ year and the impact of poor con­di­tions, few grow­ers have man­aged to pro­duce strong vol­umes this year.”

Cobram Estate, the largest olive oil pro­ducer in the vast south­ern Pacific coun­try har­vest­ing olives from 2.6 mil­lion olive trees each year, once again swept suc­cess in the com­pe­ti­tion, win­ning five awards (one Gold and four Silver Awards).

“To receive recog­ni­tion at the NYIOOC is the great­est honor,” said brand man­ager Erin Wilson. ​“We are thrilled with the results and incred­i­bly proud that the qual­ity and con­sis­tency of our extra vir­gin olive oils are rec­og­nized as some of the best in the world.”

According to the Olive Oil Times World Ranking, Cobram Estate is the top-ranked pro­ducer in the Southern Hemisphere.

The com­pany, for­merly known as Boundary Bend, earned a Gold Award for its epony­mous Coratina mono­va­ri­etal.

The NYIOOC judg­ing panel also handed four Silver Awards for two of the company’s medium mono­va­ri­etals from Picual and Hojiblanca and two medium blends.

Unlike other pro­duc­ers in the coun­try who faced unfa­vor­able weather this crop year, Cobram Estate enjoyed con­di­tions con­ducive to pro­duc­ing qual­ity olive oil, albeit of a decreased quan­tity.

“Every sea­son is unique,” Wilson said. ​”We expe­ri­enced a favor­able win­ter fol­lowed by a mod­er­ate sum­mer with above-aver­age rain­fall early in the oil accu­mu­la­tion process. This sit­u­a­tion led to excel­lent flesh-to-pit ratios boost­ing our oils’ bal­ance and fruity fla­vors.”

“While it was a lower yield year, we com­bined these envi­ron­men­tal con­di­tions with our hor­ti­cul­tural and milling exper­tise to make beau­ti­ful and har­mo­nious, high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oils,” she added.

In the 2024 cam­paign, Cobram Estate pro­duced 10.1 mil­lion liters (9,292 tons) of olive oil, around 65 per­cent of the country’s national pro­duc­tion this crop year.

For Cape Schanck Olive Estate, two medium extra vir­gin mono­va­ri­etals from Coratina and Picual olives won a Gold and a Silver Award in this year’s com­pe­ti­tion.

“Our joy is immense for win­ning at the NYIOOC for another year,” said own­ers Stephen and Sui Tham.

Last April, the pro­ducer pre­pared for a boun­ti­ful crop ahead of the 2024 har­vest. However, heavy down­pours in late spring that coin­cided with the flow­er­ing of the olive trees and lower-than-usual tem­per­a­tures before the har­vest resulted in a lower-than-expected yield of olive oil at Cape Schanck.

“Low yield and mild oil was the gen­eral theme [this sea­son],” the Thams said. ​“With the mild oils, we were par­tic­u­larly anx­ious about how our oils would per­form in the com­pe­ti­tion this year, and we sub­mit­ted what we felt were our stand­out.”

Despite the season’s bumps, the company’s focus on qual­ity, described by the own­ers as the ​‘x‑factor’ for a suc­cess­ful har­vest regard­less of the amount of olive oil pro­duced, pro­pelled Cape Schanck to the NYIOOC winner’s podium for the tenth con­sec­u­tive year.

“Coratina once again stood out, as it has for many years,” the cou­ple said. ​“A sim­ple spaghetti aglio e olio with pros­ecco did it for us, with fam­ily, in cel­e­bra­tion.”

“The awards from NYIOOC rep­re­sent many things for our oil and com­pany,” they con­cluded. ​“Among the many rep­re­sen­ta­tions are that the awards over the years serve as an indi­ca­tion of con­sis­tency, which our con­sumers value very much.”

• Australian Olive Oil Association