Cellared at 12 – 15 °C • Certified Organic • UV-protected glass
In April 2025 our tasting panel made a tough call: the latest Lesvos olives didn’t reach Avlaki’s gold-standard flavour, so we chose not to bottle the 2024 crop at all.
Instead, we unlocked our climate-controlled cellar, where the 2020/21 and 2019/20 harvests have rested undisturbed in the dark.
‘The ‘Best Before End’ dates on most commercial bottles of olive oils do not reveal the most important information as to when the olives were harvested and milled for their oil.
They only indicate a period of time that will have elapsed from the actual bottling of the oil – which may have been stored in tanks for some considerable time, years even, before blending, filtering and bottling.
AVLAKI’s oils are all from the early part of the harvest – when the oleic acidity level is at its lowest. We pick when our olives are green turning to pink, with a hint of the fully ripe black olives. Later pick olives which are fully ripe (all black) give more oil – but which has a higher acidity count that is generally agreed shortens the shelf –life and increases the likelihood of rancidity if the oil has been badly stored. Most commercial brands are blends of oils from across the harvest – and possibly even of oils from several years of harvest.
So even AVLAKI’s ‘Bin Ends’ – organic extra virgin olive oils, as they are bottled so quickly after harvesting, are likely to be fresher then most.
Moreover, olive oil is a preservative, and is unlikely to spoil if kept properly in a cool, dark place. Smelling the oil in the bottle immediately on opening will tell you if the contents are rancid.
We also have older dates oils, (some still tasting pretty good), which have all kinds of excellent non-foody uses: soap making, moisturisers, make-up remover, shampoo, furniture restoration, tool cleaning..... and it's too good just to turn into bio-fuel.
Naturally our newly harvested and bottled oils are the liveliest in taste and richest in those famous health benefits so lauded in the Mediterranean diet.
