Discover the Unparalleled Quality of Prevezana

Picking early is the decision that shapes everything else here. Olives harvested green hold considerably more of the phenolic compounds that give an oil its bitterness and its peppery catch at the back of the throat, but they give up far less oil per kilo of fruit. The 2025/6 harvest of the Prevezana monovarietal was measured at 994 mg/kg total polyphenols, of which 491 mg/kg is oleocanthal, the compound responsible for that peppery sensation.

The variety is the second thing worth knowing. Lianolia, called Prevezana around Preveza and Lianolia Kerkyras on Corfu, is the dominant olive of the Ionian coast, and it is rarely bottled on its own for export. It produces an oil that reads green and leafy rather than simply fruity, with a firm bitterness and a long peppery finish.

What makes Prevezana special

  • One hundred per cent Lianolia, the variety known locally as Prevezana, grown on the Preveza coast in Epirus.
  • Early harvest, picked green, cold extracted and bottled unfiltered.
  • Total polyphenols measured at 994 mg/kg in the 2025/6 harvest, including 491 mg/kg oleocanthal.
  • Certified organic, with cultivation the producers describe as organic and regenerative.
  • Gold at the Aristoleo Awards in 2023 for both the Prevezana and the Enetikon oils.

Preveza sits on a narrow spit where the Ionian Sea meets the Ambracian Gulf, with water on both sides and the Epirot mountains behind. The producers describe the microclimate as one of mild winters and cool summers, which is unusual for a Greek olive region and slows ripening in a way that suits a variety picked deliberately early.

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The People Behind Prevezana

The People Behind Prevezana

Eleni Andronikidou holds the business, registered at Drosia on the edge of Preveza, and Panagiotis Papanikos looks after the grove and the harvest. It is a small operation and intended to stay one. The family has said openly that they are not planning to expand their commercial activity, only to keep improving the organic early harvest oil they already make.

The founding interest was organic farming rather than olives. Before any of this began, the family kept a small plot they cultivated organically for their own household, with no commercial olive growing behind them at all. The move into olive oil came from that direction: a conviction about how food should be grown, followed by the slower business of learning how to grow it well.

How Prevezana began

The grove they inherited was in a poor state. Restoring an old olive grove is unglamorous work: years of pruning back neglect, rebuilding soil, and waiting for trees to respond. Among them stand the oldest specimens on the property, planted in the Venetian era according to the family, with trunks measured in metres rather than centimetres.

Competitions came later, and for a specific reason: the family entered them as a way of having the oil assessed independently rather than as a marketing exercise. The Elaeon bottling took an honourary gold at the Aristoleo Awards in 2017, and the Enetikon early harvest took a silver medal at the fifth Athena International Olive Oil Competition in June 2020.

Picking green, pressing cold

Picking green, pressing cold

The harvest window for a green olive oil is short. Fruit is taken while it is still hard and unripe, which means more passes through the grove, more labour per litre, and a yield that can be less than half what the same trees would give a month later. During harvest the operation takes on Erasmus+ student interns, who work the picking season alongside the family.

Extraction is cold and the oil is not filtered afterwards. Leaving the fine sediment in place keeps the aromatic fraction intact and gives the oil its cloudy, saturated green appearance, which is where the Bio Green name comes from. It also means the bottle behaves like fresh produce: best kept dark and cool, and best drunk young.

Why this matters

  • Early picking costs yield, and that cost is carried by the producer rather than designed out.
  • Phenolic content is laboratory measured and printed by harvest year, not described in general terms.
  • A single variety, from a single area, with no blending to smooth out the character.
  • Unfiltered bottling preserves aroma at the expense of a longer shelf life.
  • The grove is farmed organically, and includes centuries old trees kept in production rather than replaced.

“Prevezana is what happens when a family with no olive growing behind them takes on an old grove in Epirus and decides that the only thing worth competing on is the quality of the fruit.”

A Daily Ritual from Epirus

Every bottle of Prevezana reflects a corner of Greece where olive oil is poured rather than measured. Epirot cooking leans on pulses, wild greens, pies and sheep’s cheese, and a green oil with real bitterness has somewhere obvious to go in all of them.

  • Lianolia olives picked green from groves on the Preveza coast
  • Cold extracted, unfiltered, bottled by harvest year
  • Certified organic cultivation, managed as a single small holding
  • A pronounced green, grassy character with a peppery finish
  • A considered choice for cooks who use olive oil as an ingredient rather than a garnish

Prevezana brings together an old Epirot grove, a variety that rarely travels beyond north western Greece, and the discipline of a harvest timed for flavour rather than volume.

Prevezana: What Sets a High Phenolic Monovarietal Apart

Two things separate this oil from a standard extra virgin: what is in the fruit when it is picked, and what happens to it in the following hours. Prevezana is built around both, and the numbers are published rather than summarised.
QualityDescription
Single varietyOne hundred per cent Lianolia, the cultivar known around Preveza as Prevezana, which gives a green, leafy oil with firm bitterness and a peppery finish.
High phenolicTotal polyphenols of 994 mg/kg in the 2025/6 harvest, comfortably above the 250 mg/kg threshold set out in EU Regulation 432/2012 for polyphenol labelling.
Early harvestOlives picked while still green, when phenolic content is at its highest and oil yield at its lowest.
Certified organicOrganic certification across the holding, with the producers describing their cultivation as organic and regenerative.

The Enetikon bottlings from the same grove sit at the sharper end of the range, with the limited edition premium coming in below 0.3% acidity, while the wider Enetikon and Elaeon releases fall within the 0.8% ceiling that defines extra virgin.

Daily Use in the Greek Kitchen

A high phenolic oil rewards being tasted before it is cooked with. The bitterness and pepper are the point, and they are most legible raw, on something plain enough to let them through.
UseHow to Enjoy
On breadGood bread, a little salt, and nothing else. The most direct way to read the grassy top notes and the peppery finish.
With greens and cheeseOver boiled wild greens, or alongside feta and sheep's cheese, both staples of the Epirot table.
Finishing grilled fishPreveza sits between the Ionian and the Ambracian Gulf. Grilled fish with lemon and a green oil poured over at the table is the local logic.
Raw dressingsWhisked with lemon or vinegar for salads and marinades, where the assertive character carries rather than disappears.

Store the bottle away from heat and light, keep the cap on, and use it within the year. An unfiltered early harvest oil is at its best fresh, and freshness is the quality worth protecting.

Sustainable and Ethical Practices at Prevezana

Sustainable and Ethical Practices at Prevezana

At Prevezana, organic farming was the starting point rather than a later adjustment. The family came to olive growing from a commitment to organic cultivation, and the grove has been managed on that basis since they took it on, without synthetic fertilisers or pesticides.

The approach the producers describe as regenerative goes a step further, treating soil condition and the health of the standing trees as the assets to be built rather than depleted. Restoring a neglected grove rather than clearing and replanting it is part of the same reasoning: the oldest trees on the property are still in production, and they are the ones that define the character of the oil.

Their approach

A family with no commercial olive growing behind them inherited a grove in poor condition on the Preveza coast, farmed it organically from the outset, restored the ancient trees rather than replacing them, and chose to pick green every year despite the yield that decision costs. The oil is extracted cold, left unfiltered, and sent to independent laboratories and competitions so that the phenolic figures on the label can be checked rather than taken on trust. Harvest is worked with Erasmus+ student interns as well as the family, and the stated ambition is not growth but a better oil each season, made from one variety, in one place, by people who intend to keep the operation small.

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Award-Winning Green Olive Oil from Epirus

Prevezana has been assessed repeatedly by independent panels. Both the Prevezana and the Enetikon oils took Gold at the Aristoleo Awards in 2023, judged in a scheme that records phenolic content alongside taste, with the entries logged at 800 to 1200 mg/kg and the cultivation recorded as organic and regenerative. Earlier, the Elaeon bottling received an honourary gold at the 2017 Aristoleo Awards, and Enetikon took a silver medal at the fifth Athena International Olive Oil Competition in June 2020. For a producer of this size, entering was always a way of checking the work rather than decorating the bottle.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Prevezana

  • What is Prevezana?

    Prevezana is an organic early harvest extra virgin olive oil made by a small family business in Preveza, in the Epirus region of north western Greece. The business is held by Eleni Andronikidou and trades as Bio Green Olive Oil. Prevezana is also the local name of the olive variety the oil is made from.

  • Which olive variety is used?

    Lianolia, known as Prevezana around Preveza and as Lianolia Kerkyras on Corfu. The monovarietal bottling is one hundred per cent Lianolia. A separate blend pairs it with Koroneiki in equal parts for a rounder, milder oil.

  • What are the polyphenol figures?

    The 2025/6 harvest of the Prevezana monovarietal was measured at 994 mg/kg total polyphenols, including 491 mg/kg oleocanthal. Figures are stated by harvest year, because phenolic content varies with the season and the picking date.

  • Why is the oil unfiltered?

    Filtration removes the fine sediment left after extraction, along with some of the aromatic compounds. Leaving the oil unfiltered keeps the aroma and the dense green colour, at the cost of a shorter useful life, which is why it is best kept cool and dark and used within the year.

  • How should Prevezana be used?

    Raw, where its grassy notes and peppery finish come through: on good bread with a little salt, over boiled wild greens, with feta, or to finish grilled fish.

  • How should it be stored?

    In a cool, dark place, tightly closed. As an unfiltered oil it is best enjoyed fresh, within the months after opening.

Explore the Prevezana Collection

The Prevezana monovarietal is available in 500ml, bottled by harvest year with the polyphenol and oleocanthal figures stated on the label, and in a four bottle case for households that get through it. The wider range made at the same grove includes the Enetikon early harvest and its limited edition premium in 250ml, the Elaeon bottlings in sizes from 50ml to a litre, and a blend that pairs Lianolia with Koroneiki for a gentler profile. It sits within our certified high phenolic olive oil collection, chosen on the same grounds: named producers, measured phenolics, and a harvest year on every bottle.
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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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