The SA Olive Awards gives recognition to the top extra virgin olive oils of each year’s harvest. The competition is judged blindly by a panel of expert tasters from SA, led by an international Panel Leader.
A total of 36 extra virgin olive oils were lauded as South Africa’s finest during the annual SA Olive Awards gala dinner held Thursday, 01 September. These premium products walked off with Gold medals in three categories – Delicate, Medium and Intense. The competition, now in its 11th year, attracted a record 110 entries. In addition to the 36 Gold medals, 53 Silver and 11 Bronze medals were awarded.
De Rustica Olive Estate has been awarded three gold medals in all three categories, delicate, medium and intense. In the past four years (2013 – 2016) of competing in the SA Olive Awards, De Rustica has won the most gold medals of any estate entered in this time frame. We have won 9 gold medals consecutively over the accumulated period of 4 years.
“This amazing and gratifying string of gold awards in the last four years is testimony to the fact that the micro climate of De Rustica olive estate is uniquely suitable for premium quality extra virgin olive oil in South Africa. De Rustica is busy with a program to improve both the science and art of its olive oil process and we are looking forward to getting it even better”, says Rob Still, De Rustica Olive Estate’s founder.
“Our new estate range is exclusively focused on food pairing. Extra Virgin Olive Oil has been moving in the same direction as wine for a while now. It’s only natural that olive oil producers are moving towards the global trend”, says Precilla Steenkamp, De Rustica Olive Estate’s Sales and Marketing Manager.
Our Estate Range tasting notes:
Estate Delicate
The nose is gently fruity with greener olive notes perceive; the mouth feel is very good with soft almond nuances on the palate. The nuttiness is followed by a gentle hint of pepper. The Estate Delicate will go very well with fish, eggs, popcorn, for baking cakes as well as for salads
Estate Medium
A lively, green olive fruity aroma, followed by good fruit on the palate, hints of bitter almonds, very nice mouth feel, and ending off with a very pleasant pepper top note, the aftertaste of which lingers on and on. This is perfect match for grilled vegetables, pasta, grilled meats, for dipping bread, for vinaigrettes, etc
Estate Intense
An intense aroma, which reminds one of green olive fruit together with a hint of dry grass, lots of fruit on the palate, rich mouth feel and the oil is balanced by the finishing piquancy (pepper). Our Estate Intense is good for soups and stews, strong cheeses, seafood, potatoes, sauces, spicy meals, among other things.
To complement our award winning Estate Range we have launched our first Imported Italian Balsamic Vinegar.
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