The organic Lebanese extra virgin olive oil, made from Souri olives in the northern village of Kour, earned a Gold Award at the world’s leading quality contest.
Olive Oil Times |
Olive Oil Times
Kour, Lebanon — Solar has been awarded a Gold at the 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for the Solar Kour brand.
Solar Kour is an extra virgin olive oil of medium intensity. Made exclusively from the Souri cultivar, Solar Kour is distinguished by a crisp, green character, with walnut tones layered over leafy aromatics, a radish-like bite and a clean, peppery lift on the finish.
For more than 150 years, the family’s olive trees have been rooted in the alkaline soils surrounding the remote village of Kour in northern Lebanon. According to Solar, the groves have long been kept free of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, an approach the producer says supports an organic extra virgin olive oil rich in polyphenols and antioxidants.
On the edge of Kour, Solar’s terraces and orderly rows of trees reflect a landscape shaped over generations, reinforced by dry-piled stone buttresses and managed through daily observation and careful pruning. In recent years, Solar has paired traditional cultivation with updated harvesting practices, moving the harvest earlier to prioritize quality even when it means accepting lower yields.
As part of the same shift toward contemporary best practices, Solar replaced the traditional press with a newer milling option and focused on getting fruit to processing quickly and storing the resulting extra virgin olive oil in conditions designed to protect it from oxygen, light and temperature fluctuations.
Solar has built its identity around the Souri olive, the dominant local variety in the groves, prized for the way its aromas and flavors evolve throughout the harvest as fruit moves from green to yellow and then black. That progression, observed day by day in the grove, has informed Solar’s approach to timing and selection in pursuit of balance and freshness.
The 2026 Gold adds to Solar’s established record at the competition. Across its full NYIOOC history, Solar has earned three Gold Awards and one Silver Award, including Gold Awards in 2025 and 2022 and a Silver Award in 2023.
The 2026 recognition also strengthens Solar’s position in the Olive Oil Times World Ranking, where Solar is ranked #1 in Lebanon, #87 in the Northern Hemisphere and #91 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.