RACHI OF MANI – Greek High Phenolic Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The Petropoulakis family chose Rachi of Mani 325 years ago to produce, grow its roots, build its tower-houses, and cultivate its land.
Rachi is on the top of a hill three and a half kilometers before Gythio of Laconia, Taygetos lies on its west, Parnon to its north and on the east and south is the Laconian Gulf.

Today, the family of Nikos Petropoulakis continues to cultivate in the traditional manner, and according to strict biological agriculture practices, 12 olive groves comprised of 630.000 s.m. of 11.625 ancient olive trees of the Koroneiki variety.
Koroneiki variety is one of the most prominent kinds of olive trees in the Peloponnese and specifically, Laconia.
An ideal place for olive cultivation due to high sunshine, dry climate, mild climate conditions, ideal altitude, and peculiar terrain with sloping clay soils that ensure rapid drainage.

Our Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil of 2020-2021 harvest is characterized by really low acidity, antioxidant properties thanks to a high content of polyphenols and vitamin E, its vividly green color, its moderately spicy and bitter character, and the freshly harvested aromas of the Olive fruit.

The harvesting of our olives begins in early October and completes when the fruit is still unripe and green. The olive oil that results from unripe green olives contains high quantities of aromatic ingredients and is rich in polyphenols. In contrast, as the olive fruit ripens, its color blackens and the quantity of aromatic ingredients is diminished along with the polyphenol content.
During the harvest, we lay large rectangular nets under the trees and we lightly shake the branches with thin rods. Then we gather the nets and use a kind of sieve to separate olives from leaves and twigs. Next, the carefully selected olives are transferred to the oil press. They are ground within a few hours, to achieve the highest possible quality and produce olive juice. Our biological extra virgin olive oil.

We begin producing the olive oil mere hours after harvesting and always within the same day. With cold pressing in low temperatures under 23º C, using water sparingly, and a maximum pressing duration of 40 minutes.
This process results in olive oil that is rich in nutrients and possesses high organoleptic properties. Higher temperatures and pressing time cause many of the characteristics of the olive oil to deteriorate, such as the valuable polyphenols that become more water-soluble and are lost with the water waste of the oil mill.

Our Biological Extra Virgin Olive Oil is stored in stainless steel containers and after 3 months of natural sedimentation, it’s bottled unfiltered. In this manner, the high nutritional ingredients of the olive oil are preserved.
It is later bottled in glass bottles that are protected by paper packaging so that destructive rays of light exposure cannot destroy the taste and nutritional value of the olive oil.
The production and bottling of our olive oil are performed according to our own strict standards in one of the most modern two-phase oil presses of Laconia.

MESOGIAKI GI E.E.
Limni Gytheiou Lakonias 23200
Contact number: 0030 6945775902