What a visit to the best new olive oil farm in Greece is like

I waited until I was sure no one was looking before getting back on the big olive oil wheel at Magna Grecia, the award-winning farm in the Olympic Valley of the Peloponnese. Our hosts had curated a carbohydrate paradise worthy of the wrestlers, boxers and jumpers who had competed on the road millennia ago in the Ancient Olympic Games at Olympia, and I was in the mood for the third.

Along a festive table were loaves dipped in countless different forms of the golden liquid in small batches – olive oil suitable for cooking fish, olive oil produced with lemon zest, olive oil so pure that a laboratory in Athens has officially called it “medicinal”. But I was out for another round of the garlic-infused iteration, and gathered my dipping necessities accordingly. When things are this good, there’s nothing like filling yourself up with bread.

On the way back outside, from the dining hall in the triple-digit farmhouse heat, one attendee smiled at me. Good, huh? I nodded, embarrassed. My little stratagem had fooled absolutely no one. Not that it seemed to matter much – just 15 minutes later, half the farmhands were handing out carafes of red wine; the other half clapped and cheered on a chef as he waddled into the dining room to perform Greece’s signature sirtaki dance. After successfully luring an Achaean cousin to “the worm,” the raging tour group, I glanced at my watch. It was not yet noon.

An era of endless microbreweries and Airbnb experiences had once dulled the thrill of, perhaps, the specialty “This is how we do it” tour. But a post-pandemic pilgrimage to Magna Grecia resets this wonder in a flash. That a Greek farm managed to produce award-winning olive oil may not sound like an underdog story – located between the Alpheios and Kladeos rivers, it is one of the most fertile regions in the planet – but at its core, Magna Grecia is a small family business that has only recently burst onto the world stage.

Under the late Dimitri Kalebasas, and now his Italian wife Franca (who also established art galleries in the area) and their two children, Alexis and Francesco, the property’s prized early harvest bottle, Laurel & Flame, won unexpected medals. in Berlin, London and Canada over the past two years, including two gold medals in a beginning appearance at the prestigious New York NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition This year. NYIOOC bills its winners’ book as “an authoritative guide to the world’s best olive oils and the dedicated producers who make them.”

Magna Grecia’s dedicated producers have created a modern olive oil temple by happily blending the old and the new. Alexis and Francesco chose to return to the family estate after graduating and designed an oil mill “from scratch” to streamline production. They’ve adopted organic-only practices to encourage the most polyphenol-rich harvests, purchased mechanical shakers (so workers don’t have to pick fruit by hand), and perfected barrel blends with hints of basil, orange peel, chocolate, etc. . Tasting the olive oil that this hard work has forged is a cosmic step, “before and after”. I’ve smuggled a few bottles through customs, and I’m already looking forward to the day I’ll return to Trader Joe’s extra virgin.

In a satisfying and poetic twist of fate, these ancient olive trees – of which there are 5,000 in Magna Grecia, all at least 150 years old – lie just down the road from some of the oldest ruins in the world. Olympia was an unprecedented religious sanctuary for the ancient Greeks: it contained more than 750 important buildings, including temples for Zeus and Hera, a tomb honoring the mythical king Pelopion (which would have seemed ancient even to ancients), and many sure, the very first known stadium that civilization has ever built. The original Olympics lasted 400 years.

Greek guides often have to use the word “imagine” when visiting; it’s part of the job, as centuries of erosion and earthquakes have reduced the bathhouse to a few columns and patches of yellow grass. That doesn’t necessarily make visiting these sites any less enthralling (especially since German archaeological institutes have been pouring money into Greece over the past few decades, to help restore some of the structures to their BC glory). But after a whole morning of to imagine old party halls, I greatly appreciated the opportunity to go and sit at one, at Magna Grecia.

Greece continues to seek ways to diversify its economy, in order to reverse its financial crises of the past 15 years and halt the brain drain that has seen its educated youth leave for jobs elsewhere on the continent. This means growing sectors beyond tourism, easily the biggest driver of the national economy. But it can also mean diversifying in the tourism sector; in addition to selling beach rentals and day passes to the Acropolis, “agritourism” could inspire a new supply of foreigners to come visit the country and, above all, compel them to return. Taking a photo of a temple might be off a bucket list, but “oleotourism” will feel a little different each time. Depending on the season, this may require different levels of participation from a visitor. In winter, for example, customers can pick olives at Magna Grecia.

Unfortunately, it is likely that the coming years will bring some level of hardship to the Karabelas family and other family farms in Greece. Last year, as small towns set temperature records and wildfires scorched the foothills of the country (on the way to the farm, our guide pointed out a lifeless brown vista that had been covered in trees throughout his childhood), the farms lost about 60% of their crops. It’s a sobering dose of perspective, on a ranch where workers smile as you arrive (through doors flanked by marble cherubs), wave to you as you walk away, and restrooms and stables have the rustic-chic feel of a wine campus in Napa. It is a memory for the guests, but the cornerstone of the hosts.

The Mediterranean diet consists of fruits and vegetables that longevity experts say extend lifespan due to their xenohormetic compounds. In the most basic sense: stressed and sunburnt crops (olives, grapes, citrus, etc.) work harder to survive, and contain molecules which “confer stress resistance and survival benefits” to those of us who consume them. It’s no wonder dieticians are begging American consumers to eat less processed foods and prefer the kind of ingredients grown in Italy and Greece, both of which claim the communities with the highest concentrations of centenarians in the world. It is a powerful sun that grows the crops that nurture these communities. But too much could upset their way of life.

The guests seem to understand how delicate and distinguished an operation like Magna Grecia is. Many in my group vowed to return and almost everyone left after buying a bottle. Karabelas says some visitors have returned up to seven times and currently provides olive oil to 300 families in the United States. “It’s the greatest reward,” he said. Told an olive oil imprint earlier this year.

After a long day, back on the bus, heading back to the coast, I studied the bottle I bought at Magna Grecia. It depicted a woman – a goddess, or possibly a priestess – in a traditional chiton, presenting a lit Olympic torch. In the background was a trio of Ionic columns. It doesn’t get more Old World than that. Then I turned the bottle over, revealing a QR code, which linked to a site outlining Magna Grecia’s quality assurance practices – underscored by a process that allows workers to extract the oil in just three hours after a harvest. The Temple of Zeus may have seen nobler days, but just a throw away, at the Temple of the Olive, a whole new empire comes to life.