Lodi company named Olive Oil Producer of the Year

Olive oil producers across California competed in the Central Coast Olive Oil Competition

PASO ROBLES — The Central Coast Olive Oil Competition has released the results from the 2024 competition, which featured premier oils produced across California.

Taking home the Best of Show awards were the following:

• Best of Show Robust — Ola (Lindsay)
• Best of Show Medium — Toothacre Ranch (Ramona)
• Best of Show Delicate — Cobram Estate (Woodland)
• Best of Show Flavored — Calivirgin (Lodi)

After calculations, Calivirgin was named the 2024 Olive Oil Producer of the Year, for the second year in a row. It was a close race, but the Lodi California family-owned business had Calivirgin will receive a custom-made belt buckle, dawning the Central Coast Olive Oil logo amongst an array of jewels.

“The number of entries for this year’s competition was the largest we have had in recent years with 123 entries,” said Chief Judge Paul Vossen. “We added a few more classes to further emphasize the featured varietal oils as to their origins. Overall, there were 18 Best-of-Class oils selected out of the 28 different classes. A couple new faces were added to the judging panels this year and the group as a whole was very thorough in their efforts to categorize these oils appropriately.”

All entries entered were also judged on their marketing efforts as part of the Central Coast Packaging and Design Competition.

• Best of Label —Single Bottle: Toothacre Ranch
• Best of Label — Series: Boccabella Farms
• Best of Packaging — Single Bottle: Bearbird Ranch
• Best of Packaging — Series of Bottles: Ola

This year had chief judge as Paul Vossen with a cast of judges for a great competition; Thomas Curry, John Hadley, Arden Kremer, Sue Langstaff, Nancy Lilly, Astrid Lorig, Julie Menge, Olga Orlova, and Glenn Weddell.

Be sure to check out the complete results at centralcoastwinecomp.com/olive-oil/ and support the participating producers and businesses.

The 2024 California Mid-State Fair runs July 17 through July 28 and this year’s theme is “Wide Open Spaces!”

Feature Image: Calivirgin was named the 2024 Olive Oil Producer of the Year for the second year in a row. Photo courtesy of CMSF