In Crete we are strongly tied with our olives or, as we tend to call them, our roots. We identify the trees’ roots with our family, it’s where we come from. They represent our history and our future. In our sunny olive groves, which “inhale” the breeze of the Cretan Sea, we give all our love and passion to produce the Extra Virgin Cretan Olive Oil "One Root". A name inspired by that first root, the first olive tree our family planted.
The Extra Virgin Cretan Olive Oil "Mia Riza" is rich in nutrients and has certified taste characteristics, which result each year from panel tests. The taste scores at the highest levels!
Extra virgin olive oil is defined when it features an acidity between 0.0-0.8. Virgin olive oil is defined when its acidity ranges between 0.9-2.0. Labbate olive oil is defined with an acidity from 2.0 and above. Refined olive oil has no nutritional value.
1) We keep our olive grove in perfect balance with the appropriate care at the right time (pruning, fertilizing, irrigation, disease and weed control), to ensure healthy trees and premium olives (right weight, perfect shape and condition, no contamination).
2) We solely use approved agricultural formulas for olive tree cultivation, respecting all time frames and avoiding any possible contaminations, while protecting our precious environment.
3) We schedule the harvest when the olives are at a satisfying ripening stage (we avoid overripe olives at all times) and we collect them very carefully, so as not to “injure” them with the sticks or on the oil harvesting nets, etc. We also avoid using a chainsaw while harvesting the olives, so as not to cause any contaminations from mineral oils.
4) To transport the olives to the oil mill, we use clean crates as much as possible (never plastic sacks) and make sure that the pressing happens on the same day as the harvest.
5) We focus on cleaning all machinery of the oil mill thoroughly and professionally (crusher, mixers, decanter, separators and piping). We use low temperatures (average 27 ° C / maximum 30 ° C) ideal for olive kneading and we then let the olive pulp sit in the mixers for the appropriate amount of time (maximum 45 minutes, depending on the variety and ripening stage).
6) We carefully handle the different batches of olive oil in the oil mill. This is how we prevent any downgrade caused by mixing a batch of lower quality or of a different organoleptic profile.
7) We always store our premium olive oil in very clean and stainless-steel tanks, without odors or residues of previous batches (dregs) and in controlled conditions, i.e. low temperatures (ideally below 20 °C) and always keep the tanks full or use inert gas, in order to avoid the downgrade of its overall quality.
8) We filter the olive oil as soon as possible, so as not to downgrade its quality from moisture and any possible solid residues, which might appear during the oiling process.
9) We make sure to analyze the quality characteristics (organoleptic / chemical) in each batch of olive oil, before mixing it with other batches or standardizing it.
10) We always control the basic downgrading factors in all production and management stages of our olive oil, such as: temperature, light, oxygen, humidity and time.
