`After Devastating Year, Brazilian Producers Defy Odds - Olive Oil Times
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After Devastating Year, Brazilian Producers Defy Odds

By Paolo DeAndreis
Dec. 10, 2024 15:37 UTC

Intense rain­fall inun­dated the south­ern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul between April and May 2024, sig­nif­i­cantly hin­der­ing the efforts of local olive grow­ers.

During the cru­cial har­vest weeks, 800 mil­lime­ters of rain — more than half the annual expected vol­ume — drenched a large por­tion of the region in less than 15 days. The flood­ing caused 181 fatal­i­ties and inflicted $3.7 (€3.47) bil­lion in dam­age across the region.

It’s excit­ing to think that this could lead to a grow­ing olive oil cul­ture in our coun­try.- Luiza Osorio, co-owner, Al-Zait

While the flood­ing did not dam­age many groves, dev­as­tated by spring­time rain in September 2023 that pre­vented pol­li­na­tion, pro­duc­ers reported dif­fi­cul­ties ship­ping prod­ucts, receiv­ing pack­ag­ing mate­ri­als and deal­ing with per­sonal losses.

In such a chal­leng­ing con­text, it is unsur­pris­ing that the num­ber of Brazilian extra vir­gin olive oils sent to the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition dropped to just 14, com­pared to 53 entries the pre­vi­ous year.

See Also:The best extra vir­gin olive oils from Brazil

Estância das Oliveiras, located in Viamão, Rio Grande do Sul, was among the 2024 win­ners. It earned a Gold Award for its flag­ship extra vir­gin olive oil, a blend of Arbosana, Arbequina and Koroneiki olives. This marks its third con­sec­u­tive win.

However, par­tic­i­pat­ing in the NYIOOC this year required extra­or­di­nary efforts from the fam­ily-owned com­pany.

“Our state faced the worst cli­mate dis­as­ter in Brazil’s his­tory, with mas­sive flood­ing in sev­eral major cities, includ­ing our cap­i­tal,” said man­ag­ing part­ner Rafael Sittoni Goelzer. ​“Despite all the dev­as­ta­tion, we pro­duced olive oils that won inter­na­tional acclaim.”

“The air­port in our region was com­pletely sub­merged and remained inop­er­a­tive for six months, from May to October,” he added. ​“We had to travel over 1,000 kilo­me­ters to ship our oils to com­pe­ti­tions from an air­port in another state. Yet, all this effort and resilience were rewarded with sig­nif­i­cant acco­lades.”

Rio Grande do Sul remains the most cru­cial Brazilian olive oil-pro­duc­ing state, account­ing for about 75 per­cent of the national yield. However, the state pro­duced just 193,150 liters of olive oil in 2024, 67 per­cent below the record-high 2023 yield and well beneath the five-year aver­age of 295,346 liters.

the-best-olive-oils-competitions-production-south-america-after-devastating-year-brazilian-producers-defy-odds-olive-oil-times

Estância das Oliveiras achieved a third-consecutive win at the 2024 NYIOOC. (Photo: Estância das Oliveiras)

“Many pro­duc­ers here lost their har­vests this year due to the rains in September and October 2023, which directly impacted their olive groves,” said André Bertolucci, the co-owner of Olivas de Gramado in Rio Grande do Sul.

“This sad­dened us greatly because we under­stand the immense chal­lenges of invest­ing in olive cul­ti­va­tion here, as it is not among the rec­og­nized ​‘com­modi­ties’ of Brazilian agribusi­ness,” he added.

While many regions in the state were severely affected by rain­fall and floods, Olivas de Gramado was spared.

The com­pany won a Silver Award for its Terroir Serrano, a blend of Arbequina, Picual, Frantoio, Koroneiki, Ascolana and Manzanilla olives.

“For us here in Serra Gaúcha, in the inte­rior of Rio Grande do Sul, being awarded for the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive year at the NYIOOC is a great honor, espe­cially con­sid­er­ing the par­tic­i­pa­tion of excel­lent pro­duc­ers from all over the world,” Bertolucci said.

“Being among the best is an incred­i­ble recog­ni­tion of the hard work, ded­i­ca­tion, and love from the entire Olivas de Gramado team,” he added.

This year’s award was also spe­cial because it was the first one where Bertolucci and his team pro­duced olive oil in their own mill. Previously, they relied on the Goelzer fam­i­ly’s mill.

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“This year, the milling respon­si­bil­ity fell on me, and with the sup­port and encour­age­ment of won­der­ful peo­ple from across the national olive oil sec­tor, we man­aged to do a good job,” he said.

According to Bertolucci, Brazil is home to a bur­geon­ing scene of high-qual­ity olive oil pro­duc­ers.

the-best-olive-oils-competitions-production-south-america-after-devastating-year-brazilian-producers-defy-odds-olive-oil-times

Andre Bertolucci celebrated a second-straight NYIOOC award. (Photo: Olivas de Gramados)

“It is a new era, pro­duc­ing high-qual­ity oils using cut­ting-edge tech­nol­ogy and skilled labor in olive grove man­age­ment, har­vest­ing and the extrac­tion process,” he said.

Despite the har­vest chal­lenges, pro­duc­ers were not com­pletely sur­prised by the country’s con­tin­ued suc­cess at the World Competition.

“We knew we were on the right path, study­ing exten­sively, exchang­ing ideas and infor­ma­tion with other Brazilian pro­duc­ers, and invest­ing in our olive grove as well as build­ing our mill, which opti­mized the entire process,” Bertolucci said.

“We also believe that the influ­ence of our unique ​‘ter­roir’ was one of the key fac­tors in achiev­ing these extra­or­di­nary results,” he added.

Another award-win­ning pro­ducer, Al-Zait, cel­e­brated another year of suc­cess at the 2024 NYIOOC with its Picual mono­va­ri­etal.

the-best-olive-oils-competitions-production-south-america-after-devastating-year-brazilian-producers-defy-odds-olive-oil-times

The extreme flooding in Brazil impacted producers including Al-Zait. (Photo: Al-Zait)

“Our tri­umph in New York was an incred­i­ble moment for us,” said co-owner Luiza Osorio. ​“Being rec­og­nized once again among the best in the world is a great honor and a reflec­tion of our com­mit­ment to pro­duc­ing high-qual­ity olive oil.”

“For us, it’s a val­i­da­tion of all the hard work, pas­sion and ded­i­ca­tion we put into each har­vest,” she added. ​“This recog­ni­tion moti­vates us to con­tinue push­ing the bound­aries of excel­lence and proudly rep­re­sent Brazil on the global stage.”

Al-Zait’s oper­a­tions were directly affected by the extreme weather events.

“The excess rain sig­nif­i­cantly impacted our olive groves,” Osorio said. ​“The heavy rain­fall not only threat­ened fruit qual­ity but also led to a reduc­tion in our over­all pro­duc­tion vol­ume.”

“Additionally, we expe­ri­enced vary­ing flow­er­ing peri­ods due to unex­pected heat waves dur­ing the win­ter, which fur­ther com­pli­cated the growth cycle of our olives,” she added. ​“Despite these set­backs, our team worked tire­lessly to main­tain the high­est stan­dards through­out the process.”

According to Osorio, the wins at the NYIOOC for Brazilian-made high-qual­ity olive oils rep­re­sent an oppor­tu­nity for all stake­hold­ers.

“Winning this pres­ti­gious award shines a light on the qual­ity of Brazilian extra vir­gin olive oil and helps edu­cate local and inter­na­tional con­sumers about the poten­tial of our prod­ucts,” Osorio said.

“We believe that as more peo­ple rec­og­nize the crafts­man­ship and ded­i­ca­tion behind pro­duc­ing olive oil of this cal­iber, it will inspire greater appre­ci­a­tion and demand for high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil in Brazil,” she added.

“It’s excit­ing to think that this could lead to a grow­ing olive oil cul­ture in our coun­try,” Osorio con­cluded.

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