Accolade for quality of NZ's extra virgin olive oil

A leading international judge says the New Zealand Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards is now probably the top show of its type in the world for the quality of oils.

Roberto Zecca was the international guest judge at the awards, which were presented at the annual Olives New Zealand conference in Nelson earlier this month.

Mr Zecca is a member of the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) Board of Directors and was until recently president of the Californian Olive Oil Council.

This year's awards attracted 55 entries with 65 percent of them being awarded a gold medal, considered exceptional by international standards.

Mr Zecca said this was a true indication of the incredibly high quality of New Zealand extra virgin olive oils.

Gold medals were spread throughout olive growing regions with seven going to Nelson, six to the Wairarapa, five each to Waiheke Island and Marlborough, four to Hawke's Bay, three each to Kapiti and Northland, two to Auckland and one to Canterbury.

The Best In Show Award was won by Matapiro Olives of Hawke's Bay with Best In Class awards going to Kapiti Olives from Kapiti, Frogs End from Nelson and Matapiro Olives.

All oils entered in this year's awards had to have been certified by the Olives New Zealand (ONZ) certification programme.

That includes an Olives New Zealand seal -- a red quality mark.

ONZ said only bottles of olive oil displaying the "red dot" could be guaranteed to be of New Zealand origin and of true extra virgin quality.

- NZPA