Flos Olei 2018

Istria's third title as the world's best olive growing region

Istria has been declared best olive oil region in the world also in 2018, for the third time in a row. It is a great success for this green Adriatic peninsula where olive oil has been produced for more than two thousand years. 

The quality of Istrian oils is improving more and more every year, and the number of Istrian olive oil producers in Flos Olei, the only extra virgin olive oil world guide, is constantly increasing.

Flos Olei 2018 gives insight to the results of accurate tasting of a large number of samples, presenting olive oil production from 51 countries and from five continents.
In this popular “bible” of extra virgin olive oils, a total of 77 oils from Croatia have been included, 11 more than last year, out of which two are from Dalmatia, and 75 from Istria. Moreover, almost all olive oil producers have achieved better results, proving that the effort for quality sake is visible and rewarded.

After the exceptional results achieved by Istria in the previous years, especially in 2016 and 2017, when it was declared the best olive oil destination in the world, Istria is again triumphing when it comes to extra virgin olive oil and, and just like in the previous two years, Istria succeeded in all segments.

A total of 79 samples have been submitted for organoleptic analysis, out of which 75 satisfied the strict criteria of the professional international panel. As a reminder, last year Istria was the winner, but with 60 olive oil producers involved, meaning that this year almost 16 new producers have been included in the new edition of the guide Flos Olei 2018. In relation to last year, almost half of the olive oil producers, 29 of them, have boosted their results.

In the rank “Really Excellent” that obtained 95 out of 100 maximum points there are 11 Istrian oils, while the rank “Excellent” includes an amazing total of 18 Istrian oils.

The competition, like in the previous years, was outstanding, with extra virgin olive oils from Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Portugal, as well as from Chile, Korea, Australia.

Four Istrian producers - Obitelj Ipša, Agrofin - Mate, Olea B. B. and OPG Enio Zubin - achieved exceptional results and their oils obtained remarkable 97 points. Four more olive oil producers have been awarded 96 points, three producers achieved 95 points, and five producers obtained 94 points.

Olive oil "Oio de Buščina - Črnica" by the Istrian olive oil producer Enio Zubin has been declared an absolute winner in the category “Monovarietal, medium fruity extra virgin olive oils” and gained a place in “The Best 20”.