Australian extra virgin olive oils will compete at the National Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards next month.

Every year olive oils compete for medals at shows around the world. It looks like marketing, but a serious competition is anything but: entries face hard chemical tests and then blind tasting by trained panels. Understanding how the judging works tells you exactly what a medal on a bottle is worth.

To a shopper, an olive-oil award can look like just another sticker — a gold medal slapped on a label to justify the price. Behind a reputable competition, though, sits a genuinely rigorous process, and it is worth understanding because it is the same process that decides whether an oil is even allowed to call itself extra virgin. Australia’s national awards, run for years by experienced judges, are a good example of how it is done properly: chemistry first, then the human palate.

Step one: the chemistry gate

Before a single judge tastes anything, the oils are tested in a laboratory, and this is a pass-or-fail gate. The headline number is free fatty acid: to qualify as extra virgin an oil must sit at or below 0.8%, and a low figure is a direct sign of sound fruit, quick handling and clean processing. A high one betrays bruised or fermenting olives and sloppy milling. Labs also measure polyphenols — the antioxidant compounds that determine an oil’s robustness and much of its health interest — which helps sort oils into their style, from mild to intense. Fail the chemistry and you never reach the tasting table.

Step two: blind sensory judging

Then comes the part that cannot be faked by a machine: trained tasters assess every qualifying oil blind, knowing nothing of the brand or price. Working to a formal scoring system, they judge each oil for its positive attributes — fruitiness, bitterness and pungency — and, crucially, for the absence of defects. An oil warmed in a covered glass, swirled, sniffed and slurped, gives up its secrets fast to an expert nose and tongue: the musty, the rancid, the winey and the flat are all caught here. A medal means an oil cleared the chemistry and impressed a blind panel — no logo, no story, just the oil.

What the categories reveal

Serious shows split oils into classes — by intensity (delicate, medium, robust), by production scale from tiny estate lots to large commercial volumes, and increasingly for flavoured oils too. That structure is not bureaucracy; it protects fairness, because judging a gentle, buttery oil against a fierce, peppery one on a single scale would be meaningless. It also quietly teaches the shopper something: there is no single best style of extra virgin, only oils that are excellent examples of what they set out to be. A robust award-winner and a delicate one are both genuine extra virgin; they simply suit different plates.

What a medal is worth to you

So how much should a shopper trust the sticker? A medal from a credible, independently-judged competition is a real signal — it means the oil passed objective chemistry and won over blind experts, which is far more than most bottles can claim. But use it with sense: a medal is only as good as the show behind it, awards reward this year’s fresh batch rather than the bottle ageing on the shelf, and no gong replaces checking the harvest date and buying oil that is still young. A medal earns your attention; freshness earns your money.

Stage	What is tested	What it proves
Lab chemistry	Free fatty acid (≤0.8%), polyphenols	Sound fruit, clean processing, style
Blind tasting	Fruitiness, bitterness, pungency, defects	Real sensory quality, brand-blind
Categories	Intensity and production scale	Fair comparison of like with like
The medal	The combined result	A credible quality signal — if the show is reputable

Reading medals as a shopper

• Trust medals from credible, independently-judged competitions; ignore vague self-awarded stickers.
• Remember a medal rewards a specific fresh batch, not the bottle ageing on a shelf.
• Still check the harvest date — freshness beats any award.
• There is no single best style: match delicate or robust to your food.

Olive oil awards: common questions

How are olive oils judged in competitions?

First by laboratory chemistry — free fatty acid must be at or below 0.8% for extra virgin, plus polyphenol testing — then by trained panels tasting the oils blind for quality and defects.

What does free fatty acid tell you?

It reflects how sound the fruit was and how cleanly the oil was made. Extra virgin must be at or below 0.8%; a low figure signals good grove and mill practice.

Is tasting really done blind?

Yes. Judges assess each oil without knowing its brand or price, scoring positive attributes and, above all, the absence of defects.

Does a medal mean an oil is worth buying?

From a credible competition, it is a genuine quality signal — but it rewards a specific fresh batch, so still check the harvest date and buy the oil young.

Is there one best style of olive oil?

No. Delicate, medium and robust oils are judged in separate classes because they suit different foods. Each can be an excellent extra virgin.

Drawn from the judging methods of national extra virgin olive oil competitions.