A Western Cape-produced Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) has again triumphed on the global stage.

De Rustica, near Oudsthoorn, which won the OVERALL TOP global olive oil in the prestigious EVOOLEUM 2023 international competition, has again been awarded top honours this year.

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Out of approximately 1000 entries from 26 countries, De Rustica Estate Collection CORATINA was placed second, with an overall score of 96 points, and was again the only olive oil outside of Spain and Italy in the Top 10.

Only four estates globally (De Rustica, two Spanish and one Italian) have managed to reach the top 10 ranking more than once in the last three years, which further attests to the quality and consistency of De Rustica.

Locally, De Rustica has won no less than 29 Gold awards at the annual SA Olive competition (including 10 golds from 10 entries over the last 2 years) as well as multiple international awards.

This second award from the industry-standard EVOOLEUM international competition puts South Africa’s De Rustica firmly into the world’s top premier league of EVOOs.

SA Olive CEO, Wendy Petersen says the future of South African Olive Oil looks bright.

“What this award signals is that South African EVOO producers are again being recognized internationally for their quality and, critically, their consistency of quality. De Rustica is indeed a standard bearer and awards like this not only help to reflect the work of SA Olive in promoting our local EVOOs both locally and internationally, but they are also a testament to the high professional standards upheld by our members.”

She says while South Africa may be a small producer in global terms, we are punching well above our weight in the quality of our extra virgin olive oils.