The oil growers from Brda won 14 gold medals! The Brda Olive Growers Association is most proud of the awards for the triumphant autochthon species "black earth" (črnica) and "small cattle" (drobnica). Jadran Jakončič, the oil grower from Hum, got more than 95 from 100 available points for his 'črnica'. Thus his oil qualified among the best twenty of all graded oils at the international olive oil grading Maslina 2014 in Split. Jordan Drnovšček from the oil and fruit growing farm in Vedrijan, who this year participated for the first time at the international grading with his table olives, won the title of vice-champion.

This year's prize winners at Split grading coming from Brdo are also: Elizej Prinčič, president of the Brda Olive Growers Association, who besides the gold medal for "drobnica" from Brda received also a plaquette for the best varietal extra-virgin oil (champion of the species). Marijan Jericijo received three gold medals for three different extra-virgin oils. The gold medals for extra-virgin oils were received also by Ivan Skubin, Vilko Prinčič, Aleš Bučinel, Ivan Jenko, Boris Marinič, Ivan Simčič, and the Wine Cellar Goriška brda.

In the label grading category Boris Marinič, the Wine Cellar Goriška brda, and the Brda Olive Growers Association (the label Črnica – Vita, design within the EU LI JE II project) won the most precious medals, as well as the Drnovšček farm, while Jadran Jakončič returned to Brda with another silver medal for his bottle and label design.

Boutique production
How to put your hands on the prize-winning olive oil from Brda? And, an even more important question – at what price? Jadran Jakončič gave us an answer regarding the best prize-winning "črnica": "The oil is made from the fruit of one of my youngest olive groves. This year we are talking about small quantities, a sample production, therefore I intend to bottle some ten litres of this excellent oil in small bottles of one decilitre. Each will cost five Euros. Of course these bottles are intended for promotion of our farm. We have other top-quality extra-virgin olive oils, which are all sold from the farm. The demand most certainly exceeds our offer. The buyers find us because of our convincing quality."

Jordan Drnovšček, who besides with olive growing occupies himself with fruit farming as well, believes the quality has a price. "At our farm you pay 15 Euros for one 0.75-liter bottle of the finest olive oil. You should know that Brda is the northernmost region where olive trees grow, and they grow on steep terraced slopes we had to carve into the hard soil of the hills of Brda. The fruit picking is manual, as in Brda machine picking is not an option. We take the olives to the closest press, »torklja«, into the cooperative cellar in Dobrovo, which means that even from the most distant olive grove in Brda hills the drive doesn’t last more than one hour. Therefore the olives, sorted with care, are pressed immediately after picking. They are transported to the press in small crates, well protected from damages, and not on trucks, as quite often happens…"

Therefore the price for the best quality olive oil from Brda is adequate. It can't stand the comparison with mass-produced oils from Spain, Italy, Greece, or some other countries, but the quality of low-cost oils that can be found on the shelves of our shops coming from those Mediterranean countries can't be compared to the quality of Slovenian olive oil – be it from Brda, Goriško, or Istria. Well, in the previously mentioned countries top olive oils are produced as well, but they mostly remain at home.

Buyers should be well informed
And how can a buyer recognize fine oil? Can he be sure that he will find in a bottle exactly what's described on a label on that bottle? Milena Bučar Miklavčič from the Institute for Mediterranean Agriculture and Olive Growing at the University of Primorska advises: "First and foremost you should read carefully what's written on the label. Most of the low-cost olive oils are not 'virgin'. Quite often the salesmen from the Mediterranean countries qualify the oil as extra-virgin, although it is not. Luckily in the last years no standard forgeries can be found on the shop shelves. For example, years ago we discovered that a bottle with a label virgin olive oil contained soya oil with added chlorophyll. Catastrophe! The cheaters come, or came, mainly from abroad. The Slovenian olive tree growers – considering the small scale of production – sell excellent oils. And you can be sure that Slovenian olive oils are not made from olive skins, which has already been noticed in other countries."

The chefs are enthusiastic
The awarded oils from Brda were presented at the Zemono Castle as well, in one of the best known Slovenian restaurants Pri Lojzetu, ran by the culinary virtuoso Tomaž Tomi Kavčič. The chef is enthusiastic about the Slovenian "olive teardrop", as he calls the best juice squeezed from olives. He "dotted the i's" in all the dishes he had prepared with a drop of extra-virgin olive oil. Tomaž Kavčič said: "In our restaurant we always rely on local ingredients. Therefore I am thrilled to be able to choose between olive oils from Brda, Goriško, and Istria, which have no equal in the whole Mediterranean! Italian, Spanish, Greek oils are good … But they don't have the well-rounded taste of our oils. Actually, our oils are a kind of herbal spice. They have special taste, they tickle the throat a little bit, and pamper your taste-buds and your nose."

"They refine every dish, from snacks to main courses and desserts. Not to mention the most basic – when you dip a piece of home-made bread into a little golden lake of Slovenian olive oil on your plate. It is what we have, and is envied by many!" Yes, the best ending for this "oiled" story is as simple and as basic as it can get: "Use a piece of bread to dab the best oil! Until the last drop!"