Avistria Navigates Tough Harvest to Win Big

Croatian producer Avistria has won four awards at the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, the world's most prestigious olive oil quality contest.

Again, all our oils won at the NYIOOC. Three Gold Awards and one Silver Award is a big success in a difficult year.

Rudolf Nemetschke, owner

The Istrian producer, which has won a total of 24 awards at the World Competition, tied for seventh most, celebrated three Gold Awards and a Silver Award.

The Gold awards came for a pair of medium-intensity Istria Buza monovarietals and a medium blend. The company's medium Istarska Bjelica earned a Silver Award.

"Again, all our oils won at the NYIOOC," said owner Rudolf Nemetschke. "Three Gold Awards and one Silver Award is a big success in a difficult year."

"We are great fans of the NYIOOC, as the professional judgment of the jury gives us faith and good arguments to sell," he added. "It is the most important quality check for our products, so we know exactly our quality and taste."

In the 2023/24 crop year, Avistria, which exports to the owner's native Austria, produced 1,242 liters of extra virgin olive oil using traditional methods.

"There was too much rain in spring, low temperatures during summer, rain again during the harvest, and, most challenging, an olive fruit fly attack two weeks before harvest," Nemetschke said.

"This cost us about 20 percent of the harvest and shrank the product portfolio from seven oils to four," he added. "All in all, this was the most challenging year of our first decade as olive oil producers."

The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition is the world's preeminent olive oil quality contest. Its annual list of award winners is the authoritative guide to the world's best olive oils and the dedicated producers who craft them.

The complete list of winners can be viewed in the Official Guide to the World's Best Olive Oils.