A Visit to Hacienda Guzmán, Seville, Spain
Simon Field, August 2017
One of the unexpected benefits of participating in a Savantes tasting is the occasional opportunity to experience something beyond evaluating olive oil. Such an opportunity arose when attendees at the Seville programme were invited to visit the Juan Ramón Guillén Foundation museum on the outskirts of the city. Our host was Juan González of Hacienda Guzmán, who participated in the Seville programme.
The Foundation was founded in 2011 with the purpose of bringing the rural sector closer to the public with special emphasis on the olive sector. The centrepiece is the Hacienda Guzmán from which the brand of quality extra virgin olive oils takes its name. Six centuries ago, Hernando, the son of Christopher Columbus, produced olive oil on the estate and exported it to America.
Hacienda Guzmán
The stately house is the home to the olive oil museum with a massive beam olive oil press and many of
Savantes New York Moves from June to 21-23 March 2018
The Savantes New York programme has returned to its original date in March for 2018.
The move gives participants the opportunity to taste the freshest extra virgin olive oil from the Northern Hemisphere harvesting campaigns.
The format of the three-day programme has also been adjusted with all the presentations being completed in two days with the third day now devoted to the Savantes Review and Recognition, incorporating the skills test.
Read more: Savantes New York Moves from June to 21-23 March 2018
Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Teams Show The Way
The first Spanish National Extra Virgin Olive Oil Team Tasting Championship was a resounding success. Held in Priego de Cordoba in Southern Spain the championship attracted 13 teams of 3 from all over Spain. Staged by the PDO for the region Priego de Córdoba (ASCCAL) and International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Savantes the event used the Savantes Tasting Skills Test and additional exercises to assess the tasting ability of the teams.
Included in the tests were extra virgin olive oils contributed by producers from France, Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal with the varietals including ocale, picual, arbequina, hojblanca, coratina, cobrancosa, galega, koroneiki, changlot real, manzanilla, cornicabra, l’aglandau, olivastra seggianese, tonda iblei and picuda. An important activity of Savantes is to encourage recognition and appreciation of extra virgin olive oils from all varietals and regions around the world.
Read more: Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Teams Show The Way
Spain Wins Gold Medal Tally at Los Angeles Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show
The Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition provides an opportunity to compare the products entered from the major producing countries and the USA. The Northern Hemisphere segment has just been completed with 516 entries.
The comparative performance of olive oils from countries with over 20 entries shows that Spain outperformed all other countries with 31% of the entries being awarded gold medals.
Read more: Spain Wins Gold Medal Tally at Los Angeles Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show
Does IOC Overstate Australian Olive Oil Consumption?
Reliable data on Australian production and consumption is difficult to obtain. The International Olive Council (IOC) publishes international tables on production, consumption, exports and imports. Analysis of this data alongside that provided by the Australian Olive Association and Australia’s largest producer, Boundary Bend Limited, suggests that the IOC figures overstate Australian consumption of olive oil by up to 30% in some years.
The Australian data in Table 1 extrapolated from the Boundary Bend 2013 Annual Report. The analysis shows that the IOC overstates Australian production with the result that Australian consumption is lower than generally stated by the IOC.
The Australian Olive Association in its industry snapshot for 2012 states ‘Australian apparent consumption of olive oil for the period 2005 to 2012 increased by 16% to 51,7108 tonnes’, clearly a gross overstatement by approximately 37%.
Read more: Does IOC Overstate Australian Olive Oil Consumption?
Producers Reward Own Oils
The trend of competitions with high numbers of producer judges awarding higher medals, evident in the analysis of 2012 Australian extra virgin olive oil competitions, has continued in 2013. A comparison of awards given at the Melbourne and Sydney Fine Food Awards and the Australian Olive Association (AOA) Competition shows that for brands entered in all three, the Melbourne event awarded the highest medal in 11 cases.
The AOA competition awarded the highest medal in 7 cases and the Sydney Fine Food Show in 5. The judging panel of 13 in Melbourne included only 2 judges who are not producers. The AOA panel is no longer published but traditionally the majority are producers.
The Sydney Show panel, while not published to date, generally has a broader food and restaurant industry membership.