Viaraya Awarded Twice After Challenging Harvest in Tunisia

The Tunisian producer Viaraya has won two awards at the 2020 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, for a pair of its organic monovarietals.

Hard work always pays off in the end! My team and I are so happy to be awarded!

Raya Abid, owner

The company picked up a Gold Award for its Oleastra Sahli brand, an organic delicate Sehli, and a Silver Award for its organic medium Chetoui.

"Hard work always pays off in the end," owner Raya Abid said. "My team and I are so happy to be awarded!"

In the 2019/20 season, Viaraya produced 3,600 liters of organic extra virgin olive oil using traditional methods.

Abid said that while the end result was satisfying, there many headaches along the way to producing the two winning oils.

"Our mill is still under construction, so it was difficult to find the 'right' mill with the machines and the hygiene norms we wanted," Abid said. "Then we had to rent it out entirely, so our maestro could use it exclusively for Oleastra. There were also other headaches of course, including olive transportation, finding the right timing and temperature, as well other logistics."

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