Comment reconnaître une bonne huile d’olive?
May 20, 2021
There is a particular quality to the light in Zakros in November. The summer crowds are gone. The tourist tavernas are closed. The village is quiet — and the olive groves are ready.
Every year, as the days shorten and the air cools, something shifts in our family. Calendars are checked. Flights are booked. Phone calls are made. It is harvest time, for our extra virgin olive oil PDO Siteia
The harvest begins at dawn
We start early — before the sun is fully up, when the air still carries the chill of the night. The harvest nets go out first, spread carefully beneath the trees to catch every olive. Then comes the raking — a steady, rhythmic motion, pulling the olives loose from the branches by hand, branch by branch.
It is slow work. A single mature olive tree can take the better part of a morning. Our groves are large, and some of the hillsides are steep enough that every step needs to be considered. But the views from up there — out over the gorge towards the sea — make it easier to keep going.
Why we harvest by hand
We are often asked why we don’t use mechanical harvesting equipment. The answer is simple: quality. Mechanical harvesting is faster, but it bruises the fruit. Bruised olives begin to oxidise immediately, and oxidation raises acidity. Raised acidity means lower quality oil.
By harvesting every olive by hand, we protect the fruit from the moment it leaves the tree to the moment it enters the press. This is one of the reasons our extra virgin olive oil consistently achieves such low acidity levels — and why it has been recognised at international competitions year after year.
From the tree to the press — within hours
Speed matters. Once an olive is picked, the clock starts. We bring the harvest to the press on the same day, every day. No waiting. No storage. The olives are cold-pressed immediately, preserving all the natural polyphenols, aromas, and flavours that make a truly great extra virgin olive oil.
This is what we mean by freshness — not a marketing claim, but a practical commitment that runs through every step of our process.
The end of the day
By late afternoon, the day’s work is done. The nets are rolled up. The crates are loaded. And the family sits down together — usually outdoors, even in November — with bread, cheese, olives, and new oil, still warm from the press.
This is the moment we work towards all year. Not the awards, not the export orders — this. The taste of oil that is hours old, from trees that have stood on this hillside for generations.
We would not trade it for anything.
