South African Extra Virgin Olive Oils (EVOOs) continue to match up to the international industry giants and to score highly in international competitions. SA OLIVE is delighted to report that one of its members, De Rustica, has again been awarded top honours by the premier global industry international competition, EVOOLEUM 2025.
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. What makes this award even more extraordinary is that De Rustica won the overall top global olive oil in the EVOOLEUM 2023 international competition making this the second time that De Rustica has earned top awards, which exemplifies a remarkable consistency of top quality, rarely achieved in the industry. [Note: De Rustica did not enter its Estate Coratina in 2024]. Significantly, 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.
For over a decade De Rustica has been recognized for its high premium extra virgin olive oil winning 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 into the world’s top premier league of EVOOs.
SA Olive CEO, Wendy Petersen is thrilled: “To have a South Africa Olive Oil again in the global Top 10 ranking says volumes about our industry and its future. 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. South Africa may be a small producer in global terms, but it punches way above its weight in the quality of its extra virgin olive oils.”
