The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation’s Capay Valley producer added one Gold and four Silver awards to its NYIOOC record, recognized across five single-varietal extra virgin olive oils.
Olive Oil Times |
Capay Valley, United States — Séka Hills has been awarded a Silver at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for the Seka Hills brand.
At the 2026 NYIOOC, Séka Hills earned five awards across a slate of estate-produced, single-varietal extra virgin olive oils, adding a Gold Award to four Silvers. Séka Hills Coratina won a Gold Award in the medium category, while Séka Hills received a Silver Award for Taggiasca, Seka Hills received a Silver Award for Arbequina, Seka Hills California Estate Grown received a Silver Award for Picual, and Séka Hills Frantoio received a Silver Award for Frantoio, all in the medium-intensity category.
Across the award-winning selections, Séka Hills produced medium-intensity extra virgin olive oils distinguished by green almond and olive leaf aromatics, alongside ripe olive character, peppery arugula notes and a tomato leaf freshness. The breadth of recognized cultivars—Taggiasca, Arbequina, Picual, Coratina and Frantoio—reflects a long-running focus on varietal expression in the Capay Valley, where the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation’s agricultural operations have expanded steadily over time.
For thousands of years, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has lived in the oak forests, rolling hills and grasslands of northern California’s Capay Valley. The name Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation means “home by the spring water” in the Patwin language, and the tribe has framed its modern agricultural work around a commitment to caring for land it farms directly. Séka Hills also produces estate-grown varietal wines and wildflower honey.
The olive oil program has been guided for more than two decades by Jim Etters, director of land management at Séka Hills, who joined Yocha Dehe in 2003 as the tribe began building agricultural enterprises beyond leasing land to tenant farmers. After transitioning to in-house farming in 2006, the tribe diversified from staple crops into higher-value plantings, including olives and grapes. In 2008, the tribe planted 33 hectares of olive groves, choosing the crop for its suitability to the local conditions.
As the olive acreage grew, distance to commercial mills posed early logistical challenges. After initially transporting olives for milling and moving oil between facilities for bottling and storage, the tribe built its own mill and completed construction in 2012, enabling tighter control of processing from harvest through finished oil. To support mechanization from the outset, Séka Hills established super-high-density groves and later introduced medium-density plantings to broaden the range of cultivars it could grow and harvest by machine.
The 2026 results extend Séka Hills’ overall record at the World Competition to 13 awards, comprising four Gold and nine Silver. The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation previously earned two Silvers in 2025, one Gold and one Silver in 2024, one Silver in 2023, one Gold in 2020, one Silver in 2019 and one Gold in 2018.
The NYIOOC performance also reinforces Séka Hills’ standing in the Olive Oil Times World Ranking, where Séka Hills is ranked #16 in the United States, #48 in the Northern Hemisphere and #50 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.