Our Grove

Biodiversity

From the beginning of our journey we wanted environmental responsibility to be our number one priority alongside the quality of our extra virgin olive oil.

Each year we continue to grow and learn new ways to preserve our environment.

Watch this space for more. We have big plans!

Hand Picked

No Heavy Machinery

Bird Friendly Harvesting

No Weed Killers

No Artificial Watering

Biodiverse Farming

Rewilding Space

Sustainable Packaging

Healthy Trees

The ‘Duvichus’ Grove doesn’t look like how you’d expect. It is a forest full of life and sustaining life is its primary function.

A healthy ecosystem makes for better olive oil than all the chemical growth hormones in the world.

We wouldn’t have it any other way!

Centuries Old

Olive trees can live for thousands years and the older they get the stronger they get. Stronger trees means better olives. Many of our trees are over two hundred years old! Our trees are unique and have wild olive trees in their ancestry. This makes them very resistant to disease as well as making great extra virgin olive oil.

Planted with respect

The majority of olive trees in Europe are planted in rows around a metre apart. This gives the trees no space to grow. Having so many trees so close is also no good for the soil or the ecosystem. Ilias’ family knew to give the trees space back in the 19th century and Ilias gives at least 9 metres for each tree today!

Watered naturally

Unlike many others, our trees are watered when it rains. We don’t artificially dope the trees with hormones to increase our yield. This is bad for the trees, bad for the other plants and animals and bad for the olive oil, so not for us!

Full of life

Our trees are home to birds, lizards, snakes and so many insects. They make great scratching posts for the wild boar who come to wallow in the mud pools at the bottom of the valley. Life around the grove means more nutrients in the soil. Nutrients for our beautiful trees.

Healthy Harvest

All our olives are cold pressed at the highest quality cooperative olive mill just down the road from the Grove.

We have our own bottling facility so we can do everything ourselves with minimal road miles.

By hand

We harvest by hand and to reach the high olives we use a special hand operated olive picker which gently strokes the olive off the trees and onto a special netting on the floor.

With care

Because we don’t use heavy machinery we can work around the wildlife that lives on the grove, not against them. We only harvest during the day and are 100% birdnest safe.

By us

We only use our olives and NEVER buy from anyone else. Why would we want to buy from elsewhere? Our olives are special and so is the oil they make!

On site

All our olives are cold pressed at the highest quality cooperative olive mill just down the road from the Grove. We have our own bottling facility so we can do everything ourselves with minimal road miles.

Healthy Olive Oil

Every olive variety makes a different tasting olive oil.

The majority of olive oil made in Europe is blended with lots of different varieties often with very old olives, to keep costs down.
We only grow one type of olive (The Koroneiki) and once we sell our annual harvest we don’t buy more in from elsewhere.

Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Healthy

The olive variety we grow is the Koroneiki. It has the highest overall polyphenol (a type of antioxidant) count of any olive variety in the world. The Koroneiki is native to Messenia where the grove is based so we have the perfect microclimate for this wonderful olive. When made properly Koroneiki is great for your health and for your tastebuds!

Tasty

Grassy, fruity and with a gentle bitter after taste. Duvichus extra virgin olive oil is light in your mouth and peppery for your palate. Once you try it, you won’t go back to store bought olive oil.

Unfiltered

We don’t filter our extra virgin olive oil. In fact, we don’t do anything to it beyond pressing it. This is as raw and natural as olive oil gets. The less tampering the better.

Award winning

Our Duvichus extra virgin olive oil really is something to savour. The judges at The Great Taste Award certainly agreed! Surprise yourself. Give it a try.