Rio Bravo Ranch Win 3 Awards at 2024 NYIOOC

California producer Rio Bravo Ranch has won three awards at the 2024 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Winning awards is always an honor and a testament to the hard work we put in year-round to produce the highest-quality oil we can.

Stefanie Wickensheimer, executive assistant

Situated outside of Bakersfield in central California, the company earned a pair of Gold Awards for its organic medium-intensity Miller's Reserve Blend and a medium Coratina. The producer also took home a Silver Award for an organic medium Picual.

"Winning awards is always an honor and a testament to the hard work we put in year-round to produce the highest-quality oil we can," said Stefanie Wickensheimer, the executive assistant at Rio Bravo Ranch.

"Our goal is to provide our customers with high-quality olive oil, and winning at the NYIOOC shows that we have accomplished just that," she added.

Rio Bravo Ranch previously earned a Silver Award for its Coratina in 2019 and three Gold Awards in 2023.

Along with many other California producers, Rio Bravo Ranch enjoyed a production rebound in the 2023/24 crop year but still had to overcome several climate-related challenges.

"We were very fortunate to have a successful harvest, although we did see some effects from the weather events early on in the year," Wickensheimer said. "We found that we had to quickly make some irrigation changes during harvest, which our sandy soil allows us to do."

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.