We climbed up the mountain and watched from afar the Olympia, the place where for thousands of years the Olympians were competing for ’’kotinos’’, a simple olive wreath.
Our village is called Kallithea [=beautiful view], for the very reason that it has such a beautiful view. The olive trees, which have been handed down from father to son, have never stopped giving the extract of this blessed country.
The Story
I have lived many years away from my country. I have travelled all over the world. I have worked in countries where people do not even know what olive oil is. And when I finally returned from my rich life journey I decided together with my partners that we wanted to do something for our homeland. A timeless and superior quality product, as a discerning connoisseur of olive oil would demand.
George Goutis
With my childhood memories in my mind I walked the old and well maintained olive groves of my family. So many generations back… I had to continue the tradition. Not because I was lacking experiences, those that my journey gave me. I was missing the scent of the olive tree nearby the sea. And its fruit which encloses all the sea aura of the sunset, giving us an olive oil like no other in the world.
I was missing the taste of the morning mist of the olive groves on the mountain. The one that goes away with the morning breeze and the first rays of the sun, leaving behind its health benefits which fill the olive with fruitful pleasures. I was missing the soil on which we were running barefoot. Which we soaked with water and moulded clay when we were children, making the first pots for storing the oil. The same soil that the centuries filled with rich trace elements and qualities that only the volcanic mixture of the Mediterranean landscape offers. I was missing the night with the weak light of the lanterns of the poorest houses of the village. But most of all the olive press… The traditional grindstones which time has treated them well and which give an unparalleled quality to the olive oil. The olive press where we could always find burning coals to bake fresh bread, to pour on it plenty of freshly extracted olive oil and oregano and taste something that all the Michelin stars together cannot match…
Who can describe the splendour of the beloved fruit that needs sun, soil and fresh air… With full respect to the elements of the traditional way and by using the latest technological methods we collect the olives from the olive groves. The standardization of the olive oil is done by hand as well but in absolutely well controlled conditions, certified with the aid of the science of agriculture.
All these result to the oil extract that is characterized by extremely low acidity with high values of phenols, oleocanthal and oleacein, which fortify the human body and –as it is scientifically proven after relevant researches- shield it from serious diseases.
I have been having these thoughts for years now while walking through the rich olive trees, surrounded by streams full of running water. With me in this beautiful and productive journey I have my precious colleagues Grigoris, Manos, Dimitris, Aggeliki, Christos, Manolis, Nikos and Sophia.
