After a prestigious ranking on Italian extra virgin olive oils, it is time to have precise data on what the best extra virgin olive oils 2024 internationally – where Italy also stands out. To have certainties, we turned to Marco Oreggiajournalist and food and wine critic and expert taster, coordinator of the guide Flos Olei 2024 which, again this year, has selected the best extra virgin olive oils from all over the world.
Now in its thirteenth edition and in view of 25 years of publication, the guide is unanimously considered the most important publication in the sector at a global level, a sort of olive atlas, which reviews 500 companies of excellence «selected with a difference of 20-30% (therefore 770 companies), coming from 42 countries around the world. Climate changes and technology have now allowed foreign countries to produce a very high quality product, in addition to Italy.
Before moving on to ranking of the best extra virgin olive oils 2024a little tip from the expert Marco Oreggia, which is always handy: how long does extra virgin olive oil last? And his answer opens up even less obvious scenarios.
«The FLOS OLEI guide works on a project that includes two hemispheres, the northern one and the southern one of the world, therefore with two different tasting times, because they are 4-6 months apart. Tasting from March to May for the northern hemisphere and from April and May to July for the southern hemisphere of the world”, explains Oreggia. «Of course, then oil, by law, has its own shelf life and expiry 18 monthsbut all linked to the quality of the harvest and management/processing of the olives, so it would be 12 months as general advice.
The ranking of the best extra virgin olive oils 2024 in categories
After the ranking of the 500 companies included in the guide, the companies participating with extra virgin olive oils were classified according to different categories, with an entry score of 80/100: Hall of Fame, The Bestin addition to Special Awards. Here are the winners:
* Hall of Fame
In the Hall of Fame, among the 9 selected, there are 5 Italian companies, but the highest podium is all from Spain. The Italians are confirmed Comincioli Agricultural Company (Lombardy), Bonamini oil mill (Veneto), Franci oil mill (Tuscany), Viola Agricultural Company (Umbria) e Americo Quattrociocchi (Lazio), as well as the Spanish ones Casas de Hualdo (Castilla-La Mancha), Castillo de Canena And Aceites Finca La Torre (Andalucía). Mate (Croatia) is the Istrian company that wins a place in the prestigious ranking. «We historicize the path of the individual company over the years, we are interested in those that produce high quality and have a diversified production volume in the world. Spain remains the most productive, 3-4 times more than us, and this is not at the expense of quality, because the large producers manage to obtain it with oils produced by smaller mills. Then they have more cooperativism than us, and in the world of catering they are our thorn in the side also thanks to lower production costs and therefore more competitive prices.” The general criterion of the guide follows “the valorization that each individual company entrusts to local, environmental and varietal biodiversity”.
