The ultimate goal is to bring Dalmatia to the level of the best olive growing region in the world, and then with Istria to make Croatia a brand. Such that everyone who comes knows that they are in the country that produces the best ultra extra virgin olive oils, says Duvnjak.
We will prove that olive oils from Dalmatia are at the top of the world, vowed Tomislav Duvnjak (36), a successful olive grower and graduated civil engineer from Vodice. What he announced last year was confirmed this year in New York, at the largest and one of the most respected competitions in assessing the quality of olive oils in the world – the New York International Olive Oil Competition (NYIOOC).
“In terms of the quality of olive oils, we are among the four best countries in the world,” says Tomislav. Unfortunately, we are not even close to Spain, Italy and Greece in terms of production. Because, Spain alone produces 1.3 million tons of olive oil per year, which is almost 60 percent of world production, while Croatia produces only about 4.15 thousand tons, which is negligible in Europe, let alone in the world.
The first collective success of Dalmatian oils
But let’s go back to this year’s NYIOOC where 1,171 oils from 28 countries were presented. Among them, a total of 105 from Croatia, of which 53 from Dalmatia and 52 from Istria. For comparison, last year 60 samples arrived from Croatia to New York, of which more than 80 percent were from Istrian olive growers. 49 awards were won, of which 39 went to Istrians and 10 to Dalmatians. This year, out of a total of 105 samples (almost 75 percent more than last year), 66 gold and 20 silver medals went to Croatia.
Out of that, more than half of the total number of medals (48), 36 gold and 13 silver medals, were won by Dalmatian olive growers. And the Istrians out of a total of 39 have 32 gold and seven silver medals. All awarded Croatian with a total of 790 awarded world extra virgin oils are now on the elite list of applications called “Best Olive Oil Retail”, a guide used by millions of people to learn more about the winners and where they can buy awarded oils in this competition.
“Istria has confirmed its reputation, and we have proven that we have quality,” says Dr. Ivica Vlatković, who once again won gold medals for his oils in the mono-variety Šoltanka and a blend from Coratina and Leccino. But this is no longer just his and the success of a few who have so far sent their oils to New York on their own initiative. This, he points out, is the first great collective success of Dalmatian oils. The success that will be remembered and written down in the history of local olive growing, Vlatković does not hide his enthusiasm.
Trigger for the action of Tomislav Duvnjak
The credit for performing together for the first time certainly belongs to the young Tomislav Duvnjak. When he sent his two oils to New York last year and won gold and silver with the brand of St. Ivan from Vodice felt both pride and sadness at the same time. Great sadness because there were only 12 samples from Dalmatia at the event. When he saw that it was not on the map of the olive-growing regions at all, he said he could not come to his senses. It was also the trigger to start thinking about how to organize the local olive growers to perform together in this competition. And otherwise in the branding of those oils.
The way Istrian olive growers have been doing it for years . If need be, he would go collect oils from house to house, he thought to himself. A good circumstance for the action that, with the support of his wife Helena and father Ante (69), he intended to take is that he is a successful construction entrepreneur and olive grower. He grows about 1,200 trees. member of the certified panel Olea Šibenik for the evaluation of olive oils…
Operation arranged at the Sveti Ivan oil mill
He first entrusted the idea to the Šibenik-Knin County Prefect Goran Pauk. He accepted her and a meeting took place in Duvnjak’s oil mill. Along with Tomislav, his father Ante and prefect Pauk, the mentor of the Vodice Days of Young Olive Oil Damir Buntić, acting president of the Šibenik County Chamber of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce Josip Laća, and Višnja Marasović, head of agricultural and rural development of Šibenik-Knin County and Senka Bilać also participated. , head of the county office.
What did they agree on and how was the action of uniting Dalmatian olive growers started in the Šibenik area?
“It simply came to our notice then. First, we need to check the oils that are really top notch. Sensor analysts Olea from Šibenik monitored the results at the Days of Young Olive Oils, Noćnjak, Olive Days in Zadar and other olive competitions to invite the best and suggest that we send their oils to NYIOOC 2021 “reveals” modus operandi “.
How are all Dalmatian counties involved?
He told Prefect Pauk to help and call on other Dalmatian counties to join the action in addition to Šibenik-Knin and to act as a region. The search for the best oils has started, olive growers have been animated in all four counties: Zadar, Šibenik, Split and Dubrovnik. He reviewed which Dalmatians went to that competition last year. These were the people of Hvar, Solta, Vlatković, Morović… And he contacted them all, as well as others whom he knew had excellent oils.
“I called them personally and when I explained everything to them, everyone was incredibly happy and everyone supported it, ” he points out. At first, he adds, he thought maybe 20 or 30 oils would be collected, and in the end more than 50 were collected that were sent to New York. More precisely, 51 oils because two producers – PZ Masvin Polača and OPG Plenković from Stari grad from Hvar, went independently. Among the mentioned 51 are olive oils from Šolta, Hvar, Brač, Korčula, Dubrovnik, Zadar, Šibenik ..
Olive growers co-financed 75 percent of the cost
“Certainly there are more extraordinary olive oils in Dalmatia, but we haven’t reached all of them, we may not know about some of them yet, so next year, but for the first year, about fifty samples are excellent, ” says our interlocutor.
He also explained how all this was carried out operationally.
The first step was to register all contestants by December 30 because then registration is $ 350 cheaper. Here, as after, a great role was played by Helena, a law graduate who is fluent in English in speech and writing. If the applications had not been made by the mentioned deadline, the registration fee would have been $ 400. The second step was for all registered competitors to bring samples to the Sveti Ivan oil mill. ” We sent them all promptly, my wife Helena and I, with the help of some others from our company, to arrive in New York on time.”, states. The third step was to animate Dalmatian institutions to help fund all that was also well done. First, the Šibenik-Knin County, and then other counties, undertook to pay 50 percent of the registration fee for each olive grower, ie half of $ 350, and the Šibenik Croatian Chamber of Commerce 25 percent.
So the counties and the HGK covered a total of 75 percent of the $ 350 application for each olive grower so it turned out great. Furthermore, the cost of sending samples was borne by the Sveti Ivan oil mill. “It is a fortunate circumstance that we have a contract with DHL, so the costs are much lower. For all of us, 8,000 kuna, and otherwise it would cost 1,500 kuna for each of us individually “, explained Duvnjak, not hiding his satisfaction with the achieved results. But, he says, this is only the first step.
The ultimate goal: Dalmatia and Istria together to the best ultra extra virgin oils
“We can still learn a lot from olive oil producers in Istria, they know how to do business,” he emphasizes . They are organized into clusters, into producer organizations through which they get everything they need; support, education, design and marketing experts. This is one of the reasons, he believes, why they succeeded and why Istria has twice been declared the best olive growing region in the world. He is convinced that Dalmatia can follow in the same footsteps.
“If olive oil producers continue to follow the rules of the profession even more seriously in cultivation, harvesting and processing, and then in keeping the oil in optimal conditions, most of them will win gold in New York, ” he said. He also revealed to us what the ultimate goal of the action he initiated was.
“The ultimate goal is to bring Dalmatia to the level of the best olive growing region in the world, and then, together with our Istria, make Croatia a brand. Such that everyone who comes knows that in a country that produces the best ultra extra virgin olive oils in the world “, dictated his” olive manifesto “Tomislav Duvnjak, who is rightly considered the main” culprit “for the success of Dalmatian oils in New York. Success, which will soon be celebrated by all participants in the beginning of the historical unification of olive Dalmatia. There will be a party, where else but in the Oil Mill of St. John in Vodice, where it all started.