South Africa crowns its Top 10 olive oils for 2026

The Absa Top 10 Olive Oil Awards handed out its 2026 list on Thursday 15 October at the Eensgezind Function Venue in Cape Farms, naming ten extra virgin oils as South Africa's best of the harvest.

The ten were drawn from 33 gold medal-winning oils at September's SA Olive Awards, then put through a second round of tasting by an independent judging panel. Three intensity categories were judged: Delicate, Medium and Intense.

Het Vlock Casteel and Terre Paisible took the Delicate category. The Medium group was the largest, with Amber Grove Olive Estate's Picual-based Tero, Willow Creek Products' Estate Blend, Babylonstoren's Coratina 2026, Darling Olives, Lions Creek Estate's Coratina and Petra Olives all named. Andante Olives Porterville and De Rustica Estate, both with Coratina-led oils, topped the Intense group.

A bottle with a sticker now carries more weight abroad than most South African oils have ever had.

De Rustica's international run

De Rustica's inclusion caps a strong fortnight. Days earlier, the Klein Karoo estate became the first South African producer to take First Prize at the International Olive Council's Mario Solinas Quality Awards, in the Southern Hemisphere category, with the same Coratina cultivar. It had placed second in the same competition in 2025.

South Africa submitted a request in September to join the International Olive Council, the Madrid-based body that sets global quality standards for the category. A first-place finish from a member-in-waiting adds some weight to that bid.

What the Top 10 is for

"The Absa Top 10 Olive Oil Awards celebrate the dedication and ambition of South African producers," said Shaun Saal, the bank's senior marketing specialist, who sponsors the competition with industry body SA Olive. Its chief executive, Wendy Petersen, framed it differently: "Every harvest asks something different of a producer." Bottles from the winning list carry an Absa Top 10 sticker, the only marker most shoppers will see linking a bottle on a supermarket shelf to a region built on fresh produce and open-air markets, and to a restaurant trade that runs its own annual showcase during Restaurant Week South Africa.

Absa and SA Olive say the award exists to connect producers directly with retailers and distributors, and to raise the profile of South African olive oil abroad, where it still competes for shelf space against better-known Mediterranean names.