A few words about the production of AMFORA ICONS olive oil, one of the best olive oils in the world:

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Terroir is a set of climatic and soil factors and special characteristics of the area (presence of water, rivers, forests, sunlight, flora and fauna, soil, altitude, variety), which determines the characteristics of agricultural products.

A few words about the production of AMFORA ICONS olive oil, one of the best olive oils in the world:

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Great products such as the best wines in the world or great olive oils are not solely the result of human cultivation but of nature. There are several factors that are entirely responsible for nature to bring excellence to a product. These are called external factors where man cannot intervene.

The olive groves of AMFORA ICONS are located at the foot of Mount Othrys a short distance from the river and the gorge Vella at an altitude of about 500 meters.

The specific area, the soil, the microclimate, the temperature, the relative humidity and the altitude play their role in obtaining an extra virgin olive oil with organoleptic characteristics different from the rest. The olive trees are 100 to 600 years old and are located on an arid dry and cold slope of the mountain that has not been irrigated for centuries.The barren limestone soil of the area, the absence of water, the large fluctuations of temperature day and night make the olive trees under intense stress and try to escape from this soil environment to survive, as a result of which its roots go deep, irrigated underground. from the natural sources of the mountain and collect trace elements from the subsoil. These olive trees withstand stress conditions are low yielding olives and have concentrated sugars in their fruits. A higher yield would dramatically reduce the quality of their product.

The best time to collect olives in olive groves is late October to early November. In most of Greece, this happens at the beginning of October a month earlier, because the ripening in the olive groves is slower due to the cold climate.

One of the most important external factors is the difference between day and night temperatures: The temperature fluctuations between day and night in the area are large. On the slope the sun sets in winter at 3 noon. The orientation of the olive grove is towards the mountain resulting the olive grove to take advantage of the microclimate of the area. Thus, on cold winter nights, cold air flows down and is concentrated in low places just as water flows down the hill. On winter nights, some slopes can have up to 10 degrees lower temperature than neighboring slopes.

A very wide temperature range means that the olive will produce more sugar.

Sugars are created by the photosynthesis of the plant. The greater the photosynthetic activity we have the greater the amount of sugars. In order to have high photosynthetic activity we must have low temperatures at night so that the olive trees can sleep and rest. we have more photosynthetic activity during the day.The sugars produced by the olive during the day do not breathe during the night and in this way, the plant produces higher concentrations of sugars.

In fact, what if you knew that some of the best olive oils in the world are produced from some of the poorest soils imaginable?

If you plant olive trees by a river or in the sea in nutrient rich soil, they develop what we call "lazy syndrome". They absorb all the water to grow their leaves and although the fruits look plump, juicy and tasty, the real truth is that they are simply supersaturated with water.

Why does poor soil create some of the best olive oils in the world?

Olive trees instead of focusing on the leaves, push their roots deep into the ground in search of more nutrients and water. The rest of their energy goes directly to the fruit. In addition, because the roots fall deep, minerals can be obtained that are different from the surface soil, and because of these minerals, the olive oil produced has a taste that no other has.When planted in low quality soil, the only thing an olive tree wants to do is escape from this soil environment and that is why it spends so much energy on its precious fruits. Thus the olive trees are basically sacrificed for the greatest good of their survival. This deprivation forces the plant to produce ingredients that are vital to the fruit and consequently to the production of high quality olive oil.

Article writing:

Balatsos Georgios

Kwnstantinidis Stelios