The Provincial Council announces the AOVE Jaén Selección 2027 Tasting Competition

The Provincial Council of Jaén has announced the “Jaén Selección 2027” Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting Competition, corresponding to the 2026-2027 campaign, with the aim of recognizing and promoting the best EVOO produced in the province. The call is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Jaén number 179, dated September 15, 2026, through Resolution number 273, dated September 9, issued by the Deputy for Promotion and Tourism in exercise of the delegation conferred by Resolution number 261, dated June 9, 2026.

The initiative originates from the Promotion and Tourism Area of the Council, which seeks to encourage the promotion, marketing, and consumption of superior quality extra virgin olive oils in the food market and the catering industry. The competition will be held in Jaén and will select the oils that stand out for their sensory characteristics, as a manifestation of their high attributes.

Rules and Participants

Producing, bottling, and/or marketing companies that are duly registered, regardless of their legal form, may submit their oils. Only EVOO produced in the province of Jaén during the 2026-2027 campaign that comply with European regulations, particularly Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and the delegated and implementing regulations that develop it, will be admitted.

• A total of eight oils will be selected: six from conventional or integrated production and two from organic production, of which at least one must be of the picual variety.
• Conventional or integrated production oils must come from a homogeneous batch of at least 8,000 liters; organic oils, from at least 5,000 liters.
• Each participant may only submit one oil per category and receive a single prize or recognition.
• Samples will be taken before a notary, in three 500 ml jars provided by the Council, and must be presented filtered and with a commercial brand.
• Applications shall be submitted to the General Registry of the Council or through the means specified in article 16.4 of Law 39/2015, until November 20, 2026.

The Tasting Panel

The sensory evaluation will be carried out using the “blind tasting” system, with anonymity guaranteed by the presence of a notary throughout the process. The Resolution appoints a panel of ten expert tasters of recognized prestige, chaired by Brígida Jiménez Herrera as panel head, who holds a PhD in Pharmacy and is a specialist in Elaiotechnics and Sensory Analysis.

• Fernando Martínez Román, head of the Tasting Panel of the Institute of Fat of Seville (CSIC).
• José Mª Penco Valenzuela, agricultural engineer and Projects Director of AEMO, consultant for the IOC.
• María Paz Aguilera Herrera, technical specialist at the IFAPA Venta del Llano Center (Mengíbar).
• Alfredo Marasciulo, panel head of the BIOL Prize (Italy).
• Francisca García González, general secretary of the Regulatory Council of the D.O. Priego de Córdoba.
• Elena Díaz Mejías, head of Sensory Analysis at the Agri-Food Arbitration Laboratory (MAPA).
• Plácido Pascual Morales, head of the Tasting Panel of the Agri-Food Laboratory of Córdoba.
• Ana Paula Brito Dos Santos Carrilho, member of the Tasting Panel of the Higher Institute of Agronomy of Lisbon.
• Esperanza Macarena Díaz Ramos, director and panel head of the Industrial Agri-Food Laboratory of Badajoz.

Selection and promotion

In a first phase, the panel will eliminate defective oils or those that do not meet the minimum parameters, and will rank the rest according to the score obtained in the tasting. The eight selected oils will be made public in alphabetical order of their commercial brand, and the final choice will be formalized by a resolution of the president of the Provincial Council, which will be published in the BOP.

The winning oils will be used for the institutional promotion of EVOO within and outside Spain, must bear the adhesive with the “Jaén Selección 2027” logo, and will be the main ingredient in the recipes of the “Jaén, Paraíso Interior” International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Cooking Prize. The selected companies will provide, free of charge, 100 half-liter bottles for the 2027 EVOO Promotion Plan and will accompany the Provincial Council in its promotional actions until the next edition.

The call reinforces the role of the province of Jaén as a global benchmark for extra virgin olive oil, while providing visibility to local producers, bottlers, and marketers and consolidating the “Jaén Selección” brand as a seal of quality and promotion for the olive oil sector.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Jaén, number 179, September 15, 2026, Local Administration, pp. 13608-13617 (official reference: 2026/4286).