Cretan Olive Oil Champions
Three weeks ago, on a
rare solitary drive beyond Crete’s Souda Bay, I climbed and descended hills on
curving roads bordered by towering dark green pine, cypress, and eucalyptus
trees, clusters of reeds and plane trees near riverbeds, brilliant yellow
acacia trees, and light green emerging spring leaves. I passed olive groves
stretched out below mountains and long beaches lying next to a deep blue sea. I
sped along under a bright blue sky decorated with billowy cumulus clouds in
varying shades of white and grey. Every time I drive from Chania to Rethymno, I
am so impressed by the scenery that I must fight off the desire to stop and
photograph the view.
I continued on my way
to the 2nd
Cretan Olive Oil Competition awards ceremony in Rethymno, which turned out
to be a combination of the ceremony I expected and a short conference about
olive oil production, marketing, and quality analysis. My limited Greek left me
with only a general idea of the points being made, but I was struck by the way
the judges and panel leaders represented a cooperation between Greeks (such as
International Olive Council trainer of olive oil tasters Effie Christopoulou)
and Italians (especially agronomist, olive cultivation expert, and consultant
Antonio Lauro) in the olive oil sector.
I also understood that the judges praised this
year’s considerable improvement over last year’s extra virgin olive oil samples
(in the first
Cretan Olive Oil Competition). In fact, the judges were so impressed by the
quality of this year’s samples and the very small differences among the best
oils that they decided to award a number of honorable mentions. Since I have not seen the full results of the 2nd
Cretan Olive Oil Competition announced anywhere in English, I list all the
winners, including honorable mentions, below this article.
Before the awards
ceremony, the governor of Crete, Stavros Arnaoutakis, and the mayor of Rethymno, Giorgos Marinakis
(who’s also president of SEDIK, the Association of Cretan Olive
Municipalities), emphasized the importance of the “brand name” of Crete and the
Cretan diet. While I’d never thought of these as “brand names” before, the
governor and the mayor had a point: these words could be used that way,
especially since the Agronutritional
Cooperation and the Region of Crete have begun certifying certain high-quality
locally grown produce and traditional products with the Quality Label “CRETE.”
The mayor discussed
the need to forge more links between tourism and Cretan cuisine and products,
so tourists taste and purchase more local products such as olive oil. I’ve
heard this argument before, and it seems self-evident to me: Greece has
wonderful fresh, local agricultural products and foods which all my non-Greek
visitors rave over. Tourists’ discoveries of incredible food and drink here
should carry over into a desire to take some of that home with them, and then
to import it to their home country. This would benefit everyone: tourists would
have excellent healthy products, they would help improve the struggling Greek
economy, and they could introduce their family and friends to Greek products as
well as sharing stories about Greek beaches and archaeological sites.Food Expo Greece
The day after my trip
to Rethymno, I woke before dawn—not an easy feat for me--for an early flight to
Athens and a day-long visit to the Food Expo that was conveniently located a
short shuttle bus ride from the airport. It was my first visit to a major trade
fair, aside from book publishers’ exhibits at the large literature conferences I
attended back when I was still an English professor in the U.S.A. The Food Expo’s
scale was impressive, with its 55,000 visitors from 55 countries and more than
970 Greek and international exhibitors, including 153 exhibiting olive oil—my
main interest, as an Olive
Oil Times correspondent covering the event
and manager of the Greek
Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Facebook page.
Wandering around the
55,000 square meter Metropolitan Expo site, I must have covered many American
football fields’ worth of territory that day, from the Oenotelia international trade fair for wine and spirits to the Mediterranean Food Experience with its exhibits of products from
different regions of Greece, its group of white-clad chefs tasting the dishes
prepared below and projected on a movie-theater-sized screen, and its audience
listening to interviews and enjoying samples.
I spent
most of my time meeting with dozens of olive oil businesspeople, talking with
them and sampling their extra virgin olive oils, as well as small appetizers,
snacks, and vinegars. Many were excellent, but I think my favorite sample was
the chocolate mousse with olive oil offered by E-LA-WON. I never would have guessed chocolate and olive oil
made such an incredible combination, but try it with a really good extra virgin
olive oil, and you’ll see how amazing it is. E-LA-WON’s luxury olive oil with
bits of real edible gold flakes floating in the liquid gold of the oil was also
visually and conceptually striking, although I didn’t get to taste it.
It was
exciting to see such a vibrant illustration, at the Food Expo, of what
motivated Greek businesspeople can do, even in the midst of a continuing
economic crisis. Everyone I talked with offered high-quality products in
attractive containers, and they spoke with confidence about their contacts with
international buyers. Moreover, many simply seemed like nice people to talk
with. Forget the stereotypes of lazy Greeks and Greek inefficiency; I saw the
opposite at the bustling, well organized Food Expo. This is not an
advertisement; it’s the truth.
Before I came to Greece with my PhD in
English and my love of photography, I was more interested in academics and
artists than businesspeople. But since I have started learning and writing
about the Greek olive oil industry, I have come to understand that good,
conscientious businesspeople, including talented marketers and designers as
well as intelligent olive oil bottlers and exporters, can do a great deal to
help the hard-working producers of olive oil earn a fair living. Together, all
of these people can—and should--help the Greek economy recover, if the end
product is a high-quality item that is marketed well to bring the price it
deserves.
Overall, I found the Food Expo an
invigorating, encouraging sign of hope for Greece, its people, and its economy.
And I hope the foreign buyers there will order a lot from their Greek contacts.
As Philippe
Poli of Philippos Hellenic
Goods told me, just "like you have different wines, you can have
different [olive] oils each day, sold together in a shop." Hear, hear,
international buyers! Order a wonderful assortment of Greek extra virgin olive
oils, and offer your customers impressive health
benefits as well as excellent tasting oils. Individual consumers can either
ask their local supermarkets and gourmet stores to order Greek olive oils, or
go to companies’ websites to order. (See the Greek Liquid Gold Facebook
page for links to many of these websites.)
Return to the Cretan Spring
It was
refreshing to return from the vicinity of the Athens airport to the blossoms, blue
sea, and sky of the Cretan spring, but we were hit by the worst dust storm I’ve
ever seen a day later. It blew out the large plate glass window on our
elementary school patio, so school was dismissed early. In place of our view of
the Mediterranean sea, hills, and mountains we saw a strange gray-orange haze
of African dust.
By the
end of that week, however, we could once again enjoy the calm touch of a Greek
island spring and the extensive array of
Cretan wildflowers in and around my neighborhood: giant fennel rising like
little trees from a feathery light green base to spherical clusters of golden
yellow florets at the end of multiple branches; Cretan rock roses with five
delicate pink crepe paper petals surrounding a miniature sun; the soft lavender
spikes of thistles above their treacherously sharp leaves; my beloved fuschia
field gladiolas beneath the tiny white blossoms of olive trees; bizarre little
pink tongue orchids between the trees; and radiant gold and white crown daisies
bordering roadsides. Ah, spring in Crete! A few tourists are here, but most
will miss this season’s beauty. More should come early, so they don’t miss the
wildflowers!
Winners and Honorable Mentions at the 2nd Cretan Olive Oil Competition
In two categories, conventional and organic
Conventional Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Gold ELEA (or “olive”): Liokarpi PDO, a Koroneiki monovarietal (that is, an extra virgin olive oil made only from the Koroneiki variety of olives, the most common type of olives in Crete) from Emmanouil Protogerakis Sons
Silver ELEA: Omega, a Koroneiki/Tsounati blend from Kardia Food
Bronze ELEA: Toplou Sitia, a Koroneiki from Biokalliergites Sitias
Honorable Mentions (all but one Koroneiki monovarietals)
Amphorae from AS Messaras
Plora – Prince of
Crete and Euripidis Messara PDO from Euripides AE
Cretan Prince from
Botzakis
Drop of Gods from Bio
Kritika Elaiolada Mon. EPE
Crete Gold PDO
Kolymvari from Kreta Food EPE
Kakoulaki from
Kyralaki Theonymphi
Extra Partheno
Elaiolado Assargiotakis from Assargiotakis Ioannis
Kreta Koumadorakis
Olive Noel, a Tsounati from Kreta Koumadorakis Olive Noel
Terra Zakros from
Nikolaos Ailamakis
Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Gold ELEA: Liokarpi Bio, a Koroneiki from Emmanouil Protogerakis Sons
Silver ELEA: Kardia Tsounati, a Tsounati from Kardia Food
Bronze ELEA: Kardia Koroneiki, a Koroneiki from Kardia Food
Honorable Mentions (all Koroneiki monovarietals):
Terra Creta Organic from Terra Creta
Toplou Sitia Bio from
Biokallergites Siteias AE
Evlogia from
Biokritika Elaiolada Mon. EPE
Oliviennos from Olivos
Gourniezakis Ioannis & Sia EE
Ladi Bio from
Tsouderos EPE
For more photos, olive oil news, recipes, and information, including links to articles about the health benefits of olive oil and the websites of award-winning Greek extra virgin olive oils, see this Facebook page: Greek Liquid Gold: Authentic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
