The Moroccan producer’s robust Picholine monovarietal earned its third consecutive Gold at the world’s leading olive oil quality contest.
Olive Oil Times |
Fes, Morocco — Noor Fès has been awarded a Gold at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for Noor Fès Picholine.
Noor Fès Picholine is an extra virgin olive oil of robust intensity, produced exclusively from the Moroccan Picholine cultivar. Distinguished by herbaceous notes alongside fig leaf, chicory and radish, the oil is rounded out by a green tea character that reinforces its vivid, savory profile.
Noor Fès was founded in 2019 and has sought to elevate Moroccan olive oil quality through a vertically integrated model uncommon in a sector dominated by small-scale growers. The project centers on groves at the southern end of the Rif Mountains, where Noor Fès has 70,000 olive trees across 320 hectares and plans to expand to 600 hectares to increase production capacity in the coming years.
In interviews with Olive Oil Times, founder and owner Mohammed Dakir Berrada and general manager Ghizlane Tazi have pointed to milling logistics as a persistent quality bottleneck across Morocco, where many growers deliver harvested olives to large communal mills, sometimes over long distances, and often wait in queues during peak harvest. Noor Fès has emphasized rapid processing and investment in dedicated infrastructure as part of its effort to demonstrate how freshness and careful handling can translate into higher quality.
The producer has also prioritized sustainability and resource efficiency as drought and variable rainfall continue to challenge Moroccan agriculture. Noor Fès has said its farming approach is rooted in regenerative and biodiverse agriculture, including using crushed pruning debris as natural fertilizer and biomass, alongside organic practices intended to protect local ecosystems. Water management has been a central focus, with monitoring of orchard conditions and localized precision drip irrigation, including irrigating at night to reduce evaporation. Noor Fès has also highlighted steps to limit water use at its milling facility, including settling and filtering residual water from olive washing before returning it safely to the environment or groundwater.
The 2026 Gold extends Noor Fès’s NYIOOC record to three Gold Awards overall, following Golds in 2024 and 2025. Noor Fès has said it selected Moroccan Picholine for both agronomic suitability and sensory identity, aiming to express a native variety adapted to local conditions rather than introducing foreign cultivars.
The latest result further strengthens Noor Fès’s standing in the global quality landscape. In the Olive Oil Times World Ranking, Noor Fès is ranked #2 in Morocco, #81 in the Northern Hemisphere and #85 Worldwide.
The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, widely regarded as the world's leading olive oil quality contest, is a trusted reference for consumers and industry professionals.