Stella Cadente Wins Best of Show at Oils of the World Competition
A shelf-talker shouting ‘Award-Winning’ or ‘Best of Show’ is meant to make the choice for you. Sometimes the medal is a genuine mark of quality ; sometimes it is close to noise. Knowing the difference is one of the more useful skills a buyer can have.
Olive-oil competitions are a fixture of the trade. The big ones — run by county fairs, industry bodies and international juries — gather hundreds of entries, judge them, and hand out golds, silvers, class wins and the coveted ‘Best of Show’. Producers then plaster the results across their labels and press releases, because an award sells. And some of these contests are rigorous and genuinely worth respecting. But the gap between what a medal proves and what a marketing team implies it proves is wide, and a smart buyer learns to read the award rather than simply obey it.
What a good competition actually tests
The serious contests are worth understanding because their method is sound. Oils are judged blind by trained tasters who cannot see the label, scored for fruitiness, bitterness and pungency and screened for defects, exactly as a professional panel certifies extra-virgin quality. A win at a rigorous, well-judged competition genuinely tells you the oil was, at the moment it was judged, a clean, well-made, faultless extra-virgin — no small thing in a market full of tired and defective oil. That much of the medal is real, and it is a legitimate reason to give an unfamiliar bottle a try.
Where the shine wears off
Now the caveats, and they matter. A medal is a snapshot of one sample on one day, often many months before the bottle reaches you — and olive oil fades, so a gold-medal oil bought a year later may be a shadow of the one that won. Awards also proliferate : there are so many competitions, categories and tiers that almost any competent producer can collect a medal somewhere, which dilutes the signal. And the label rarely tells you the year, the show or the category, so ‘Award-Winning’ can mean a rigorous international gold or a third-in-class rosette from an obscure fair. Same three words, wildly different meaning.
How to read an award like a pro
Treat a medal as a hint, not a verdict. Take it as a reason to try an oil you did not know, then judge for yourself — the only opinion that counts is your own palate on the bottle in your hand. Weigh the freshness signals more heavily than the badge : a recent harvest date, a dark bottle and a named single origin tell you more about what you will actually taste than any rosette. And keep a healthy scepticism about superlatives. The producer’s job is to sell you the win ; your job is to notice which competition, which year, which category — and then to trust the oil, not the sticker.
| The claim | What it can really mean | How much to trust it |
|---|---|---|
| ‘Award-winning’ | Anything from a top gold to a minor rosette | Low until you know the show |
| Gold, rigorous blind panel | Clean, faultless oil at judging time | High — a real quality signal |
| ‘Best of Show’ | Best of that show’s entries that year | Good, but still a snapshot |
| No year or category shown | Often an old or minor win | Treat with caution |
| Recent harvest date | The oil is likely still fresh | Trust this more than any medal |
Buying past the badge
- Treat a medal as a reason to try, never a guarantee — your palate decides.
- Prize a rigorous blind competition over a vague ‘award-winning’ sticker.
- Check the year and category : an old or minor win says little.
- Weigh harvest date and freshness above any rosette — oil fades fast.
- Remember a medal is a snapshot of one sample on one day.
Olive-oil awards: common questions
Do olive-oil competition medals mean anything?
The rigorous ones do: oils are judged blind by trained tasters for quality and defects, so a genuine gold shows the oil was a clean, faultless extra-virgin when judged. But awards vary hugely in credibility.
Why are there so many award-winning oils?
Because there are countless competitions, categories and tiers, so almost any competent producer can win something somewhere. That abundance dilutes what a medal really signals.
Does a medal guarantee the bottle I buy is good?
No. It reflects one sample judged on one day, often long before your bottle, and olive oil fades. A recent harvest date matters more than an old medal.
What is ‘Best of Show’?
The top-scoring oil among a competition’s entries that year. It is a real distinction at a serious contest, but still a snapshot of that batch at that moment.
What should I trust more than an award?
Freshness signals: a recent harvest date, a dark bottle, a named single origin, and ultimately your own taste of the oil in front of you.
Do not dismiss the medals, but do not be led by the nose either. A gold from a rigorous blind panel is a genuine sign that the oil was clean and well made when judged — a fair reason to try something new. But it is a snapshot, often months stale by the time you buy, and ‘award-winning’ with no year or category attached is close to meaningless, because there is a competition and a rosette for almost everyone. Read the badge, then ignore it in favour of a fresh harvest date and your own tongue. The sticker cannot taste the oil for you.
An original, de-hyped guide to reading olive-oil competition awards.