Premium
Olive Oil extra virgin
MONOVARIETAL | UNADULTURATED | HANDPICKED
premium extra virgin Olive Oil from Crete – directly from the producer to the consumer
We stand for a sustainably and carefully crafted olive oil in limited editions, away from industrial mass production but at fair prices, with a personal touch and in continuity with an olive-growing tradition that has lasted for over 4000 years.
Our Olive Oil
Our monovarietal natural extra virgin olive oil is made from 100% local Koroneiki olives. Known as the “queen” of olives, this olive variety distinguishes itself through a very high content of valuable unsaturated fatty acids and health-promoting polyphenols. Not surprisingly Koroneiki olive oil ranks among the top class of premium olive oils worldwide. It clearly stands out from other extra virgin olive oils in terms of taste, its high oleic acid content and long shelf life.
With every bottle of our olive oil you receive an unadulterated and carefully crafted high phenolic olive oil of exceptional quality. You won’t find any preservatives or additives in our olive oil. The scent of freshly cut grass, the distinct aromatic taste and the flawless chemical analysis are all proof for the outstanding quality of our product.
Olive oil for cooking: Healthy, heat-resistant and delicious!
Our olive oil is not only ideal for adding a unique individual touch to your dishes, but can also be used for cooking. Thanks to its high content of monounsaturated fatty acids, extra virgin olive oil maintains a relatively high smoke point of around 180 degrees Celsius and can therefore be safely used for frying, cooking and even baking.
Health claim
High phenolic olive oils are those olive oils that contain a high percentage of phenolic compounds and are directly related to the health benefits of olive oil. Olive oil polyphenols help protect blood lipids from oxidative stress. According to the EU Regulation (432/2012), the health claim may only be used for olive oil which contains at least 5mg of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives per 20g of olive oil. Our olive oil by far exceed this limit (see analysis), and is therefore certified by the Health Claim. The beneficial effect for the consumer is obtained with a daily intake of 20g of olive oil.
Our products
Olive Oil extra virgin
Olive Oil extra virgin
250ml
10.- CHF
Olive Oil extra virgin
500ml
15.- CHF
Olive Oil extra virgin
750ml
22.- CHF
Olive Oil extra virgin 3l
80.- CHF
Olive Oil extra virgin 5l
120.- CHF
Olive Oil extra virgin 10l
220.- CHF
In touch with nature
Our olive groves are located about 30km south of Heraklion in the pristine region of Minoa Pediada, in the heart of Crete. Thanks to the excellent microclimate with its hot summers and mild winters, olive trees have been cultivated in this rural area for countless generations.
Following the traditional way of cultivation, our more than 400 olive trees are irrigated exclusively with rainwater and spread across small plots surrounding my parents-in-laws’ ancestral villages, Partira and Kato Poulia. We manage our fields sustainably and consciously refrain from using chemical weed killers in order to preserve the fertility of the soil and protect the biodiversity of our groves. Depending on the season you will find wild greens, herbs, asparagus or wild flowers growing between our olive trees which not only provide us with fresh and healthy food but also create an ideal habitat for various birds, insects and other wild animals to flourish.
The harvest - traditional and with care
We harvest our olives between mid-November and January traditionally by hand. In contrast to super intensive olive orchards we do not use large, fully automated harvesting machines. Due to the slope exposure of our olive groves and the traditional cultivation method, where the spacing between the trees was never designed for the use of heavy machinery, industrial harvesting is neither possible nor environmentally sustainable. During our harvest no birds and other animals are sucked in by huge harvesting machines and killed unnecessarily.
Harvesting olives the traditional way is labour-intensive and often requires the help of the whole extended family. For harvesting, we use hand-operated electric rakes that gently relieve the olives from the branches. The olives fall on large harvesting nets which we spread on the natural ground cover under the olive trees. We then remove light impurities such as stalks, leaves, or small twigs with the help of a sieve, fill the sorted olives into jute bags and immediately take them to the village mill for further processing.Within 24 hours, our olives are carefully cold extracted at a maximum temperature of 27 degrees Celsius. Even though the cold extraction method results in a lower oil yield, it ensures that the oil’s vital organoleptic qualities and healthy components such as minerals, vitamins and antioxidants are maintained.
We then store our olive oil for several weeks in large stainless steel containers. During this time, the moisture and residuals that are remaining in the olive oil settle at the bottom. The clarification of our olive oil through natural sedimentation and decantation at once improves the durability of the oil and retains its valuable ingredients and characteristic aroma. The result: a high-quality and healthy extra virgin olive oil, sustainably produced and handcrafted with dedication and care.
About me
What are the odds of a Swiss ending up being an olive farmer on Crete?
I’ve always considered the world as my backyard. Born in Germany and bred in Thailand, Singapore and Switzerland there was nothing to suggest that Crete would one day become the place I would proudly call home. Indeed, the idea of ending up on an island in the eastern Mediterranean producing olive oil was something far beyond my imagination. Yet, life often takes unexpected turns and in my case I was fortunate it was a sweet one in the name of love. Having met my future wife in Germany, we decided to return to her Cretan homeland and settle down in this remarkable part of the world hitherto completely unknown to me. And thus began my adventure as an olive farmer on Crete.
So there I was, finding myself in the midst of myriad olive trees, helping to gather those precious little fruits that would be pressed into the most delicious oil I had ever tasted. Step by step I was initiated into the secrets of olive farming and I began to understand just how important the olive tree and its “liquid gold” are to the history and culture of this place. A new world opened up to me and I couldn’t have asked for more. Today, I continue the olive tradition of my wife’s family, taking care of their olive groves which they so generously entrusted to me.
As much I cherished my newfound vocation there were also challenges I had to address. Unfortunately, most of the high quality olive oil produced on Crete is exported in bulk at ridiculously low prices to Italy, where it often gets mixed with inferior quality vegetable oils and sold on the global market as extra virgin oil, thus misleading the customer and obscuring its original identity. At the same time, countless positive feedbacks from friends and family members abroad showed me that there was a huge demand for an honestly produced quality oil that could be directly traced back to the producer. That’s when I decided to take a next step and the idea of opening up a small company in Zurich (Deininger Delikatessen) was born. My previous working experience as a chef and my explorations into the world of fine foods and academia (with a PhD in sociology under completion) all have prepared me in different ways for this path. Through Deininger Delikatessen I can now sell our olive oil directly to you, the customer, cutting out the middle men and without being subjected to the unpredictability and volatility of the market. This not only secures an income for me and my family, but also ensures that you will continue to receive an unadulterated and sustainably produced extra virgin olive oil of exceptional quality.
