The Sol d’Oro, the only international competition for high quality olive oil, has released the results of their 9th annual tasting evaluations and declared Italian olive oil to be the best in the world.
The special jury of multinational judges was lead by Dr. Marino Giorgetti, a professor of Sensorial Analysis. It took the evaluators from Italy, Spain, Greece, Solvenia and Chile five days to assess all 218 entries.
The 2011 edition of the Sol d’Oro competition received olive oil samples from five different countries. The golden oils came from Spain, Portugal, Chile, Slovenia and Croatia and all production regions in Italy.
The oil competition was divided into three categories: Delicate Fruity, Medium Fruity and Intense Fruity. Awards were then given to the top three samples in each category. Italian oils took home the Sol d’Oro (gold), Sol d’Argento (silver) and Sol di Bronzo (bronze) in every category.
The nine top awards all went to Italian companies, representing oils from Puglia, Lazio, Sicily and Calabria.
Italy clearly reigns supreme on the international stage, but oils from various other participating countries were awarded a few special mentions. To see a full list of winners, check the Sol d'Oro 2011 results.
