Photo: Andrew Gorman
The estates that produced the top 10 olive oils, divided into three categories, were:
Delicate EVOO: Mount Ceder Olives and Rio Largo Estate Medium EVOO: Serrado and Wildekrans Wine Estate
Intense EVOO: Morgenster Estate, Porterville Olives, De Rustica Estate, Mardouw Olive Estate, Marbrin Farm and Kransfontein Estate.
These winners were selected from the 19 SA Olive Gold Seal Award winners. This year was also the first year in which 10 olive oils were awarded. In previous years, only five received awards.
According to John Tshabalala, managing executive at Absa Western Union, the decision to increase the number of awards offered reflected the bank’s confidence in the exceptional quality of South African olive oil.
“The exposure gained from the competition benefits the wider industry, generating prosperity right down to the workers and their communities. The consumption of olive oil in South Africa has also grown from 2 million litres in 2000 to 7 million litres in 2015,” said Tsabalala.
According to Nick Wilkinson, chairperson of SA Olive, this competition was a “celebration of South Africa’s top-quality olive oils.”
