Olives New Zealand

Awards

The 2023 New Zealand Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards

Principal Sponsor

The New Zealand Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards are the premium olive oil awards in New Zealand and are administered by Olives New Zealand Inc. and proudly sponsored by the Horticentre Charitable Trust.

This year’s NZ EVOO Awards  has South African expert Reni Hildenbrand leading the panel as Head Judge. Reni joins five New Zealand judges: Charlotte Connoley, Roberto Zecca, Hilary Fenemor, Ed Scott and Peter Coubrough. All are highly experienced judges and most have judged at international level.

All entries to have been certified as extra virgin olive oil (via the Olives NZ Certification Program), the Awards recognise excellence in New Zealand extra virgin olive oils.

Awards Entries – 1st August to 31st August 2023. Entries are invited from members of Olives New Zealand. More information is available here

Awards Cocktail Evening – Saturday 30th September 2023 in Napier. The awards will be presented at the cocktail event held at the MTG Hawke’s Bay museum, theatre and art gallery complex. Members and guests are welcome. More information is available here. To book you tickets click here

2023 JUDGES

An excellent panel of Judges, all with fantastic backgrounds in tasting and judging olive oils.  Several with international judging experience.

HEAD JUDGE : Reni Hildenbrand

Reni owns the Hildenbrand award winning wine and olive estate in Wellington, South Africa, which she rejuvenated to being a quality producer.
She has been a member of the South African Olive Association since 1992. Completing her O.N.A.O.O. (National Organization of Olive Oil Tasters, Italy) Olive Oil Taster Certificate in 2002 Reni then joined the Panel Supervisors in 2005. She has been the Panel Leader of the SA Olive Certification for many years and has been judging in the SA Olive Competitions for 13 years. Reni has received recognition for her contribution to the South African industry with the award of Achiever of the Year in 2008 and 2013. Having co-authored a book “Olives and Oil in South Africa”, Reni presents olive and olive oil tasting courses. 
Internationally, Reni has visited many of the olive growing countries. She has been a judge for Sol D’Oro n Italy, Japan and Peru and on tasting panels in Turkey.  Reni was head judge for the NZEVOO Awards in 2016.

CHARLOTTE CONNOLEY – KINGS SEEDS, KATIKATI  

Charlotte was a member of the Olives New Zealand IOC accredited Sensory Panel since its inception. Charlotte became involved in the olive oil judging after completing her honours dissertation on “Olive Oil Quality; The Effect of Cultivar and Location on Oil Quality” during her B.Hort.sc at Lincoln University. She received first class honours based on this research. Charlotte has a passion for the olive oil industry in New Zealand. Charlotte has been in the judging pool for the NZ EVOO Awards since the beginning in 2001 and has judged for Australian International Olive Awards several times.

HILARY FENEMOR – MT HESLINGTON OLIVES, NELSON

Hilary and her husband became involved with the olive industry in 1994 when they planted their first olive trees on their property near Brightwater in the Tasman District.  In 1996 Hilary was one of 20 Olives New Zealand members from around New Zealand selected to take part in a workshop on the International Olive Oil Council’s process for sensory evaluation of extra virgin olive oil run by Dr Luciano Di Giovecchino.  As a consequence of that training Hilary has been in the judging pool for the NZ EVOO Awards since inception in 2001. Hilary has also judged at the Australian International Olive Awards. Hilary graduated with a BTech (Biotech) from Massey University in 1983.

PETER COUBROUGH – FROGS END OLIVES, NELSON

Peter and his wife Rae planted Frogs End Olives by the Waimea Estuary, Moutere, Nelson in 1993.  Peter was one of the 20 Olives New Zealand members from around New Zealand who were selected to take part in a workshop on the IOOC process for sensory evaluation of EVOO, run by Dr Luciano Di Giovecchino and the follow up course 2 years later. Peter has judged numerous times for the NZ EVOO Awards since its inception.

ED SCOTT, MOUTERE GROVE OLIVES, NELSON

Ed and his wife Liz retired to the West Coast in 2022, having grown olives in the Moutere region of Nelson since 1996. In 2002 he also began as an olive processor.  He was one of the 20 Olives New Zealand members from around New Zealand who were selected to take part in a workshop on the IOOC process for sensory evaluation of EVOO, run by Dr Luciano Di Giovecchino and the follow up course 2 years later.  Ed has been a judge at the NZ EVOO Awards for many of the previous competitions.

ROBERTO ZECCA, Ex Italy and California

Roberto is originally from Italy and is renowned for his International Olive Oil judging and industry excellence. He:

• Lead the first California Panel of Tasters recognized by the IOC.
• Is a former President and board member of the California Olive Oil Council
• Was the first Chairman of the Los Angeles International Olive Oil Competition, which was the largest in the world at the time. 
• Was the president and CEO of the Soc AGR Ugnana Olive Grove, Chianti IT. 

Roberto judged for Olives NZ from the first Awards in 2000 through until 2008. Thanks to his love for NZ (and our EVOOs) he now resides in Russell with his wife Melissa. Olives New Zealand was delighted to have Roberto return to the NZ EVOO Awards Judging Panel again from 2021.