Gold Awards Highlight Montenegro’s Quality-First Olive Oil Ambitions

We will never compete with other countries in terms of volume. Local tradition attributes 2,250 years to the tree, and this year, Bar is marking its enduring place in the area’s culture and social life. See Also: The Best Olive Oils from Montenegro Almost 90 percent of the olive oil produced in the area comes from the Žutica cultivar .

About 100,000 olive trees grow in Bar and its immediate surroundings, and many growers turn to House of Olives for access to the latest technologies in cultivation and processing. The institution also hosts the local olive planters’ association. “We are a small country.

We will never compete with other countries in terms of volume,” Markoč stated. “But we definitely can compete in terms of quality.” According to Markoč, the institution uses state-of-the-art milling equipment imported from Tuscany and applies advanced standards in both processing and storage, combining local tradition with modern production methods. That really differentiates us,” she stated. “But when it comes to production and innovative practices, that is what we need to stand for.” Mirovica’s production process is tightly controlled from harvest to storage. Markoč told reporters the oil is produced at low temperatures and that the milling process is configured never to exceed 22.5 ºC, well below the upper threshold commonly associated with cold extraction.

House of Olives does not use vertical separators, and the oil is filtered twice, once immediately after production and again before bottling. Going to Markoč, the goal is to achieve continuous and detailed monitoring of soil conditions to support more precise agronomic decisions.

Moisture-measuring devices in the orchards “We dedicate a lot of attention to the soil,” she said. “Every six months or every year we conduct complete soil analysis.” Those tests include plant material, underground water and the soil’s chemical and physical characteristics. That data-driven approach in addition guides targeted interventions, including boron applications during pre-flowering and early fruit development, stages that Markoč said improve fruit set and overall yield. “We learned that our olives respond very well when you give them boron, especially during those two moments of the season,” she said.

But she argued that careful agronomic management can notably reduce that variability. “Some will point out that it might not bear fruit for even two or three years in a row,” she stated. “But that is not correct. Per to Markoč, the team believed the oil was strong enough to earn recognition, but the top award came as a surprise, especially because the producer chose to enter only the world’s largest olive oil competition . The institution in addition organizes a national competition, hosts training sessions and works to connect tourism, education and production. “Education is critical,” Markoč told reporters, not only for farmers and consumers but as well for the specialized personnel who operate olive mills.

To help address that gap, she wrote a 300-page technical book on olive oil production aimed at growers and students. The broader goal, she told reporters, is to reinforce the idea that olive oil quality depends not on a single intervention but on knowledge applied consistently across the trade. Even if Kuća Maslina is not focused primarily on overseas sales, it is exploring ways to reach people of Montenegrin origin living in the United States and Western Europe.

Per to Markoč, the country’s diaspora maintains close ties to the land, its traditions and its agricultural products. With Montenegro’s population just above 600,000, its diaspora, shaped by waves of emigration from the late 19th century through the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, is estimated at between 250,000 and 350,000 people. For Markoč, that community represents a natural audience for oils such as Mirovica. “I would really love to give them the olive oil, because this is a great link to their home country,” she explained.