Discover the Unparalleled Quality of Holiston

The oil is a Koroneiki monovarietal, hand-picked in October while the fruit is still green and hard. Green olives give a fraction of the oil that ripe ones do, which is the trade every high phenolic producer has to accept: less volume, more phenolic compounds, a sharper and more assertive oil. The olives go to the mill within hours of picking and are cold extracted at a maximum of 27°C in a two-phase system.

The next decision shapes the oil as much as the harvest date. Rather than filter the oil mechanically, Holiston lets it settle by gravity over time and decants it, so the bottle goes out unfiltered. The result is an oil with a faint haze, a fuller texture and a phenolic reading that holds up. Recent harvests have been analysed at 799 mg/kg of total polyphenols for the Premium, including 170 mg/kg of oleocanthal and 132 mg/kg of oleacein, while the Limited Edition has been reported at 1,000 mg/kg and, in one batch, at an NMR total of 1,197 mg/kg with a D1 index of 435 mg/kg.

What makes Holiston special

  • Koroneiki monovarietal, hand-picked in October while the fruit is green.
  • Milled within hours of harvest and cold extracted at a maximum of 27°C.
  • Unfiltered, clarified by natural gravity decanting rather than mechanical filtration.
  • Total polyphenols independently analysed and printed on the label, harvest by harvest.
  • Individually numbered bottles from a limited annual release, around 1,500 bottles of the Limited Edition in 2024.

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese, close enough to the Anatolian coast to feel it in the summer heat and open enough to the Aegean to be cooled by it. The island has grown olives through every civilisation that has held it, from the ancient city states through the Byzantines, the Knights and the Ottomans, and its groves are worked in small family parcels rather than large estates.

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Functional olive oil with 643 mg/kg polyphenols

The People Behind Holiston

Andreas Georgiou is a biologist who came back to a set of family olive groves near Ialysos and treated them as a research problem. He began by rebuilding soil health, on the reasoning that a tree under less stress and better fed produces fruit with a stronger phenolic profile. Within a few seasons the analyses confirmed it, and the oil that came out of those groves was different enough to build a brand around.

The company behind the label is Georgiou G. Manolikakis A.O.E., registered at Ialysos on Rhodes. It is a small operation by design. Georgiou has been open about the fact that the numbers only work because the oil is sold as a premium product, and that the alternative, cutting the harvest later to gain volume, would undo the thing that makes it worth making.

How Holiston began

Georgiou took over the family groves around 2020 and spent the following seasons on cultivation and soil rather than on packaging. The trigger, by his own account, was an illness in the family that sent him reading into what olive polyphenols actually are and how much of them a well-made oil can carry.

By the 2023 harvest the oil was ready to go out under its own name. Luminous Design Group in Athens developed the bottle and the identity around the holistic idea in the brand name, and the first international shipments followed that year. Recognition arrived quickly: within two years the oil and its packaging had collected awards across quality, sensory and design competitions.

Expert tasting Holiston Extra Virgin Olive Oil, evaluating its flavor and aroma profile

Green harvest, cold mill, no filter

Picking green is the first decision and the most expensive one. An olive harvested in October holds far less oil than the same olive in December, but it holds its phenolic compounds at their peak. Hand-picking on cool, low-humidity days keeps fruit temperature down, and milling within hours prevents the fermentation that begins as soon as olives sit in a crate.

The second decision is to leave the oil unfiltered. Filtration removes the microscopic solids that carry a meaningful share of the phenolic content, so Holiston clarifies by sedimentation instead, letting gravity do slowly what a filter would do quickly. The oil is then held at around 10°C in stainless steel until bottling, and carries a life of 18 months from harvest rather than from the bottling date, which ties the shelf life to the fruit itself.

Why this matters

  • Each harvest is analysed and the total polyphenol figure is stated on the bottle.
  • Green October picking costs yield and is done anyway.
  • Gravity decanting retains solids that mechanical filtration would strip out.
  • Refrigerated stainless steel storage at around 10°C before bottling.
  • Numbered bottles from an annual release measured in the low thousands.

“Holiston is a single Rhodian variety, picked green, milled cold and left unfiltered, with the phenolic analysis printed where anyone can read it.”

A Daily Ritual from Rhodes

On Rhodes, olive oil is poured rather than measured. A high phenolic oil like Holiston asks for slightly different handling: it is intense enough that a spoonful over a finished plate does the work of considerably more of a milder oil.

  • Koroneiki olives from groves around Ialysos, northern Rhodes
  • Hand-picked green in October, milled the same day
  • Unfiltered, cold extracted at a maximum of 27°C
  • Total polyphenols analysed and declared for each harvest
  • Individually numbered bottles, released in limited annual quantities

Holiston brings together a Dodecanese island with a long olive history, a Koroneiki grove farmed for phenolic quality, and a production sequence built to keep as much of that quality intact as possible.

Holiston: What Sets a High Phenolic Olive Oil Apart

Phenolic compounds are what make an early-harvest oil bitter at the front and peppery at the back. They are also the most fragile part of an olive oil, and almost every step between the grove and the bottle can reduce them. The Holiston sequence is arranged around holding on to them.
QualityDescription
High phenolic contentAnalysed at 799 mg/kg total polyphenols for the 2024 Premium, with oleocanthal at 170 mg/kg and oleacein at 132 mg/kg. The Limited Edition has been reported at 1,000 mg/kg and above.
Green early harvestHand-picked in October while the fruit is still green, accepting a much lower oil yield in exchange for phenolic concentration.
Cold extractedMilled within hours of picking, in a two-phase system held to a maximum of 27°C.
UnfilteredClarified by natural gravity decanting rather than mechanical filtration, which leaves the fine solids and their phenolic load in the bottle.

On the palate the oil is intensely green: cut grass and fresh herb on the nose, a clear almond note, a pronounced bitterness across the middle and a peppery catch at the throat that lingers. It is resinous and vegetal rather than soft, which is exactly what the numbers predict.

Daily Use in the Kitchen

An oil at this intensity works best raw, where the bitterness and pungency have somewhere to go. Heat softens both, so cooking with it wastes the character you have paid for.
UseHow to Enjoy
Morning shotTaken on its own, in the morning, the way many Greek households take their best oil. The peppery catch at the back of the throat is the point.
Finishing warm dishesPoured over grilled fish, roast vegetables, lentils or gigantes beans once they are off the heat, so the aromatics survive.
Raw over salads and pulsesTomatoes, cucumber, fresh cheese, chickpeas. The bitterness balances sweetness and the pepper carries through a dressing.
Sharp and simple pairingsOver yoghurt with cracked pepper, on avocado, or stirred through a plain soup at the table.

Keep the bottle closed, away from light and heat, and use it within a few months of opening. Holiston carries 18 months of life from harvest rather than from bottling, and an unfiltered oil rewards being drunk young.

Premium extra virgin olive oil

Sustainable and Ethical Practices at Holiston

At Holiston, the agronomy came before the brand. Georgiou’s approach to the groves centres on soil health and chemical-free cultivation, on the argument that trees kept in good condition produce better fruit without needing to be pushed. The scale is deliberately small, and the annual release is limited to what the groves can produce at that standard.

The same thinking runs into the packaging. The 500ml bottle is Estal’s Bobber JR in dark glass made from 100% post-consumer recycled material, closed with a laser-engraved cork from Cork Hellas and protected in a double-walled board outer, so the shipping carton does the work that a plastic sleeve would otherwise do.

Their approach

A biologist rebuilding his family’s Rhodian groves for phenolic quality, picking green in October at a cost in yield, milling within hours at no more than 27°C, clarifying by gravity instead of filtration, holding the oil at around 10°C in stainless steel, numbering every bottle from an annual release of a few thousand, publishing the analysis for each harvest, and putting all of it into recycled glass with a cork closure: this is a producer whose decisions consistently favour the oil over the volume. The awards that followed, across sensory, quality and design juries, recognise both halves of that work.

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Award-Winning Oil and Award-Winning Bottle

Holiston has been recognised on both fronts within a short time of launching. At the London Olive Oil Awards 2024 it took Gold medals alongside a Platinum award for its packaging, and the same year the bottle received a Red Dot Design Award, credited to Luminous Design Group. The oil was included in the Elaias Karpos Top 50 list of Greek olive oils for 2024, and the World Olive Center for Health lists it among its awarded extra virgin olive oils, citing recognition from the Aristoleo, Berlin GOOA and Olympia competitions.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Holiston

  • What is Holiston?

    Holiston is a high phenolic extra virgin olive oil produced on the island of Rhodes by Andreas Georgiou under the family company Georgiou G. Manolikakis A.O.E. It is a Koroneiki monovarietal, picked green, cold extracted and bottled unfiltered, and it launched internationally in 2023.

  • Where does Holiston come from?

    From olive groves around Ialysos on the northern coast of Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese islands. The company is registered at Ialysos and the oil is produced and bottled in Greece.

  • How many polyphenols does it contain?

    It varies by harvest and by product, and the figure is printed on each bottle. The 2024 Premium was analysed at 799 mg/kg of total polyphenols, including 170 mg/kg of oleocanthal and 132 mg/kg of oleacein. The 2025/6 Premium is stated at 643 mg/kg and the Limited Edition at 1,000 mg/kg.

  • What does it taste like?

    Intensely green: cut grass and fresh herbs on the nose, an almond note, a firm bitterness through the middle and a peppery catch at the back of the throat. It is assertive rather than soft, which is characteristic of an early green harvest.

  • Has Holiston won awards?

    Yes. Gold medals and a Platinum packaging award at the London Olive Oil Awards 2024, a Red Dot Design Award in 2024 for the bottle designed by Luminous Design Group, inclusion in the Elaias Karpos Top 50 Greek olive oils for 2024, and listing by the World Olive Center for Health among its awarded extra virgin olive oils.

Explore the Holiston Collection

The Holiston range is short and consistent. The Premium Phenolic Extra Virgin Olive Oil comes in a 500ml numbered bottle from the 2025/6 harvest at 643 mg/kg of total polyphenols, while the Ultra Premium Limited Edition, also 500ml, carries a declared 1,000 mg/kg from the same harvest and is available as a single bottle or as a four-bottle set. All of it sits within our small-batch high phenolic olive oil collection, chosen on the same grounds: single variety, single harvest, and an analysis you can read.
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The Journal is where we go deeper into the stories and knowledge behind the collection, so you can understand what makes a product distinctive before it ever reaches the table.

It is a place to understand the details that matter, and the reasons a product earns its place with us.

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