Kapiti Olives Wins Best in Show at New Zealand’s Oil Awards
Kapiti Olives, a two-family grove at Te Horo on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, has won Best in Show at the 2010 Olives New Zealand Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards with a medium blend of Frantoio, Leccino, Picual and Koroneiki. It is a small producer, making around 4,000 liters a year, and that is exactly what makes the result worth a closer look. Here is who won, how the oil is made, and what New Zealand’s awards tell a buyer anywhere.
Who won, and with what
Kapiti Olives is owned by David and Helen Walshaw and Graeme and Chris Harris. Olive Oil Times, reporting the result today, says the two families farm separate groves, of 2,050 and 900 trees, both planted in 2000, and blend their fruit into the Kapiti oils. The judges described the winning oil as “a lovely oil with hints of green tea and figs with underlying spearmint”, with floral notes on the palate. It also took the best in class award for a medium blend in the commercial section, for producers of 100 liters or more.
The growers credit the site, which they say has long frost-free seasons and a good climate for the tree, and they keep inputs low: a seaweed-based foliar spray, boron to correct a soil deficiency, and regular soil testing. Olives New Zealand’s own results list shows the other best in class winners came from all over the country, from Martinborough and Nelson to Waiheke Island.
| Kapiti Olives | As reported |
|---|---|
| Location | Te Horo, west coast of the North Island |
| Trees | 2,050 and 900 in two groves, planted 2000 |
| Winning blend | Frantoio, Leccino, Picual, Koroneiki |
| Production | About 4,000 liters a year, expected to double within five years |
| Earlier awards | Four Olives New Zealand golds since 2005, plus a gold in Los Angeles |
How the oil is made
The details are what interested me most, because they are the ordinary good habits that separate fine oil from average oil, and none of them needs a famous name. The olives are picked with hand-held mechanical harvesters and a tractor-mounted collector, then pressed under contract at The Olive Press in Masterton. Each variety is milled separately and stored in stainless steel under argon, a gas that keeps oxygen away from the oil.
After four to six weeks of settling, the growers taste each varietal oil and decide whether one stands on its own or whether a blend gives a better balance of fruitiness, bitterness and pungency. Graeme Harris told Olive Oil Times that the aim each season is to make at least two styles.
- Separate milling by variety keeps options open until the oils can be judged.
- Stainless steel and an inert gas slow down oxidation, the enemy of fresh flavor.
- Blending after tasting, not by recipe, lets the oil change with the season.
What the result tells a buyer
New Zealand makes a tiny amount of oil, and it will never compete on price with the Mediterranean. What it can do is get fruit to the mill fast and keep the oil fresh, which is why its oils keep doing well, as we noted when Kapiti won gold two years ago. The national awards, which we covered back in 2006, are judged blind by a panel, the same principle behind our home method for tasting oil blind.
“Winning awards is important to Kapiti Olives,” Harris said. “It confirms that our olive oil is consistently world class and gives reassurance to our customers.”
A medal tells you that one lot of oil tasted very good on the day it was judged, usually a few months after pressing. It does not tell you how the bottle on the shelf has been stored since. With small producers like this one, the lot that won is often the lot you can buy, which is not always true of big brands. Ask which harvest the medal was for, and buy that harvest.
Sources
- Olive Oil Times, “Kapiti Olives Wins Best in Show at New Zealand Competition” (November 4, 2010)
- Olives New Zealand, 2010 Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards results (archived)