Competing with 811 olive oils from 27 countries, Greek companies took home 77 medals from Olive Japan 2021: 19 Gold awards and 58 Silvers. In its tenth year, this international olive oil competition attracted more contestants than ever before. The top Greek winner was Mediterre Eurofood SA, with the Best of Greece award, six Gold medals, and two Silvers.
Goutis Estate also excelled at Olive Japan this year, with four Gold awards and three Silvers, while Terra Creta added two more Golds to its long list of awards. Several other Greek companies also won multiple awards.
For example, Laconiko captured a Gold and eight Silvers for a wide range of its flavored olive oils, as well as one of its extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs). Hellenic Agricultural Enterprises earned a Gold for its ACAIA EVOO, plus five Silvers for its ACAIA, L&Ko, and Aeolian Olive brands.
Mediterre Eurofood SA claimed the Best of Greece award and a Gold medal for its Mediterre Alea, a medium intensity monovarietal Koroneiki EVOO. Using four different olive varieties, Mediterre also captured Gold medals this year for five other EVOOs, as well as two Silvers for its flavored olive oils. The company makes both monovarietal EVOOs and blends from Koroneiki, Kolireiki, Manaki, and Olympia variety olives.
Mediterre’s Giouli Galanopoulou explains that Olympia variety olives are “cultivated exclusively in the region of Ancient Olympia” in Ilia, Greece. The company’s olive trees grow at an altitude of 200 to 400 meters above sea level in that ideal Mediterranean climate.
Galanopoulou credits the Mediterre team’s “persistence, passion and experiments during harvest time” for their success. “Each choice is the result of a careful study and precise technical and strategic evaluations, aimed exclusively at the highest quality of the final product.” In spite of the difficulties of the pandemic, “all these years of our participation in competitions worldwide helped us gain experience so as to be always prepared for every harvest period.”
Many experienced Greek olive oil teams earned awards at Olive Japan, along with a few that are less well known on the olive oil scene. All the winners were striving to produce the best possible Greek olive oils to share with the world.
Greek Gold Medal Winners at Olive Japan, 2021
(See the competition website for the Silver medal winners.)
Company – Product – Intensity – Olive Variety
- Agriston Simple Member Ltd – Agriston – Robust – Chalkidikis
- AMACS - Goutis Estate – Goutis Estate Sea Breeze – Medium – Koroneiki
- AMACS - Goutis Estate – Goutis Estate Bella Vista – Medium – Koroneiki
- AMACS - Goutis Estate – Goutis Estate Metron – Medium – Koroneiki, Nemoutiana
- AMACS - Goutis Estate – Goutis Estate Balanced – Medium – Koroneiki, Manaki
- Laconiko – Laconiko Rosemary – Flavored Koroneiki
- Garofallos Dimitrios – Marmaro – Medium – Chalkidiki Variety
- Hellenic Agricultural Enterprises – Acaia Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Medium – Kolovi
- Mediterre Eurofood SA – Mediterre Alea – Medium – Koroneiki
- Mediterre Eurofood SA – Mediterre Omphacium – Medium – Olympia
- Mediterre Eurofood SA – Mediterre Omphacium Organic – Medium – Olympia
- Mediterre Eurofood SA – Mediterre Lena – Medium – Koroneiki, Manaki
- Mediterre Eurofood SA – Mediterre Olymp Olympia PGI – Medium – Koroneiki, Kolireiki
- Mediterre Eurofood SA – Mediterre Olymp Olympia PGI Organic – Medium – Koroneiki, Kolireiki
- Kyklopas Elaiotriveio Argyri Kelidi – Kyklopas Early Harvest – Medium – Makris
- Michail Tzortzis – Olvia Extra Virgin Organic Olive Oil – Medium – Adramitini 70%, Kolovi 30%
- Olicobrokers PC – Olico Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Medium – Koroneiki
- Terra Creta SA – Terra Creta Grand Cru Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Medium – Koroneiki
- Terra Creta SA – Terra Creta Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Medium – Koroneiki
Thanks to Mediterre for the photos used with this article.
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