Vazart & Sons Beats Odds to Take Gold at 2020 NYIOOC

A "nightmare" harvest season didn't stop Vazart & Sons from winning a Gold Award at the 2020 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

When we start pruning the trees at the end of February, it feels like a never-ending story. But then spring arrives, nature wakes up, and at this moment you know you are the happiest man on earth.

Alexandre Vazart, Owner, Vazart & Sons

The company ran into one problem after another during the harvest from its 4,500 trees, but remarkably overcame them all to place in the world's most important olive oil quality contest. The winning oil was the Vazart & Sons medium blend, produced by VAG di Corti Danieli in Toscana, Italy.

"Anything that could go wrong happened," said Alexandre Vazart, owner of the Toscana, Italy-based company. "From very few olives after an unusually hot beginning of summer that burnt most of the flowers, to [the olive fly] in September. It has been a nightmare. I was left with only a few hundred trees."

Vazart said the award was a great motivator following a difficult season.

"It is an accomplishment!! It encourages us to keep working and keep getting better," he said. "To be honest, when we start pruning the trees at the end of February, it feels like a never-ending story. But then spring arrives, nature wakes up, and at this moment you know you are the happiest man on earth.

The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, held each spring in New York, is the world's largest and most prestigious olive oil contest and its annual listing of award winners is considered the authoritative guide to the year’s best extra virgin olive oils.

The complete list of winners can be viewed on the Official Index of the World's Best Olive Oils