Discover the Unparalleled Quality of Ladolea

Corinthia sits at the top of the Peloponnese, where the mountains drop quickly towards the Gulf of Corinth. The groves that supply Ladolea are worked by growers the brothers know by name, on slopes close enough to the sea to catch the salt air. The olives are hand-picked in November, early in the season while the fruit is still turning, which gives less oil per tree but a greener, more aromatic result.

The division of labour is deliberate. The farmers concentrate on the trees, and the brothers take responsibility for everything after the harvest: extraction below 27°C, bottling without filtration, and the standardisation work that keeps each variety separate from mill to shelf. Panos trained as a chemical engineer, and the analytical side of the business reflects it.

What makes Ladolea special

  • Three single-varietal oils, Koroneiki, Patrinia and Megaritiki, each bottled on its own.
  • Hand-picked in November at early ripeness, cold pressed below 27°C and bottled unfiltered.
  • Certified organic by Bio Hellas.
  • Ceramic bottles based on the Corinthian aryballos, thrown by traditional Greek potters.
  • A Red Dot Design Award in 2014 for the bottle, alongside international olive oil competition medals.

Corinthia is not the region most people name first when they think of Greek olive oil, which is part of why the oils are worth attention. The Patrinia variety in particular is grown almost entirely in this stretch of the northern Peloponnese and rarely leaves it as a named, unblended oil.

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The People Behind Ladolea

The People Behind Ladolea

Panos and Thanos Kloutsiniotis came to olive oil from other fields. Panos studied chemical engineering and Thanos studied finance, and both were working in those disciplines when the Greek economic crisis pushed them to reconsider what they wanted to build. They started during an olive harvest in Melissi, Corinthia, and the company grew out of that season.

What followed was less a return to farming than a decision to take charge of the part of the chain that usually goes unnamed. Greek olive oil has historically left the country in bulk. The brothers set out to keep a small quantity of it identified by variety, by village and by harvest year.

How Ladolea began

The brand was registered in 2012, built on the practical experience of olive growers already in the family. The first task was persuading a small group of farmers around Melissi that picking earlier and delivering faster to the mill was worth the reduction in yield.

By 2014 the results were being recognised outside Greece, with a gold medal at the Los Angeles international competition and a Red Dot award for the bottle in the same year. The Hellenic Initiative supported the company’s first appearance at an international trade exhibition in Paris in 2016, and the oils now reach delicatessens, hotels and restaurants across Europe, the United States and Australia.

The aryballos and the ceramic bottle

The aryballos and the ceramic bottle

The bottle is a reworking of the aryballos, the small round Corinthian flask of around 700 B.C. that held olive oil and scented oils for athletes and was carried at the Olympic games. Product designer Spyros Kizis redrew it for modern use, with graphic design by Leandros Katsouris, and the result took a Red Dot Design Award in 2014 in the Brands and Communication Design category.

The choice is functional as much as decorative. Opaque stoneware admits no light at all, which is the single largest cause of deterioration in a bottle of olive oil, and the leak-proof lid and spout are designed for controlled pouring and for refilling. Each vessel is made by hand by Greek potters, so no two are identical.

Why this matters

  • Each variety is kept separate, so the character of the fruit is legible in the glass.
  • Early November picking is chosen for aroma and polyphenol content rather than volume.
  • Extraction and bottling are controlled by the company rather than contracted out anonymously.
  • Opaque ceramic protects the oil from light for as long as it sits in the kitchen.
  • Growers are advised and paid for a specific way of working, not simply bought from.

“Ladolea takes one Corinthian olive variety at a time, picks it green in November, and puts it into a vessel the region was making three thousand years ago.”

A Daily Ritual from Corinthia

Each Ladolea bottle carries the everyday habits of the northern Peloponnese, where oil goes onto bread at breakfast, into the pan at midday and over everything green that comes to the table. The ceramic pot is meant to live on the counter and be used, then refilled.

  • Hand-picked November fruit from groves around Melissi in Corinthia
  • Single-varietal Koroneiki, Patrinia or Megaritiki, never blended together
  • Cold pressed and bottled unfiltered, certified organic by Bio Hellas
  • Presented in a hand-thrown ceramic aryballos that keeps light off the oil
  • A considered choice for cooks who want to taste the difference between varieties

Ladolea brings together a lesser-known olive region, a family who returned to it, and a piece of Corinthian design history that turned out to solve a modern storage problem rather neatly.

Ladolea: What Sets a Single-Varietal Corinthian Oil Apart

A blended oil is built for consistency across years. A single-varietal oil is built to show what one kind of olive did in one particular autumn, which is a different proposition and asks a little more of the person using it.
QualityDescription
Single varietalKoroneiki, Patrinia and Megaritiki are harvested, milled and bottled separately, so each oil carries one flavour profile rather than an averaged one.
Certified organicBio Hellas certification covering the groves and the production, with no synthetic fertilisers or pesticides in the supplying parcels.
Early harvestPicking in November while the fruit is still green produces a greener, more pungent oil with a higher polyphenol reading. Recent Patrinia bottlings have been listed at 518 mg/kg.
Cold pressed, unfilteredExtraction below 27°C and no filtration, which keeps the aromatic compounds and the faint natural haze of a fresh oil.

Koroneiki is the medium-fruity one, golden green, with fresh-cut grass and green apple and a peppery close. Patrinia is the gentler of the three, pale gold, softly herbal and sweeter in aroma. Megaritiki is the most assertive, with an intense fruitiness and a pungent finish.

Daily Use in the Greek Kitchen

These are finishing oils by temperament, though Greek cooking rarely draws a hard line between finishing and cooking. Pick the variety to suit the dish rather than keeping one bottle for everything.
UseHow to Enjoy
Over salad and greensKoroneiki, poured generously over tomatoes, cucumber and feta, or over boiled horta with lemon, where the green apple note reads clearly.
With fish and white meatPatrinia, whose delicate, buttery finish sits alongside grilled seafood and chicken without overwhelming them.
In dressings and marinadesAny of the three whisked with lemon or with the bergamot balsamic vinegar, which is made from Agiorgitiko grapes and aged for over six years.

Keep the oil away from heat and use it within a year of opening. Freshness is the quality that matters most in olive oil, and it is the one that quietly disappears.

Sustainable and Ethical Practices at Ladolea

Sustainable and Ethical Practices at Ladolea

At Ladolea, the working method starts with the growers. The brothers select farmers who already farm with care, then provide consultation and seminars on cultivation and on harvest timing, so that the fruit arriving at the mill is in the condition the oil requires.

Organic certification through Bio Hellas governs what happens in the grove. The tin and the refillable ceramic vessel address what happens afterwards, keeping packaging in service for years rather than a single season.

Their approach

Ladolea is a small operation that has chosen to be legible instead of large: three named varieties from named growers around one Corinthian village, picked green in November, milled below 27°C, bottled unfiltered under Bio Hellas organic certification, and presented in an opaque stoneware vessel thrown by traditional Greek potters and designed to be refilled rather than discarded. Panos and Thanos Kloutsiniotis handle the extraction and standardisation themselves, which is the part of Greek olive oil that most often goes unrecorded, and the farmers are left free to concentrate on the trees. The company sits alongside an organic sweet vinegar made from Agiorgitiko grapes, so that the same discipline applied to olives is applied to the vines of Nemea as well.

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Award-Winning Oil and Award-Winning Design

Ladolea has collected recognition on both sides of the bottle. The oils have taken medals at international competitions in Los Angeles, New York, Berlin, Athens, London and Tokyo, including a gold in Los Angeles in 2014 and a silver at Olive Japan in 2022, with further awards through to recent harvests. The vessel itself won a Red Dot Design Award in 2014 in the Brands and Communication Design category, credited to product designer Spyros Kizis and graphic designer Leandros Katsouris, and a Silver Pentaward for packaging design. It is unusual for a producer this size to be judged seriously in both arenas.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Ladolea

  • What is Ladolea?

    Ladolea is a Greek organic olive oil brand established in 2012 by brothers Panos and Thanos Kloutsiniotis under the family company Melissi & Co. The oils come from groves around Melissi, a seaside village in Corinthia in the northern Peloponnese.

  • Which olive varieties does Ladolea use?

    Three, each bottled on its own: Koroneiki, which is medium fruity; Patrinia, also known as Koutsourelia, which is the most delicate; and Megaritiki, which is the most intense and pungent of the three.

  • Why is the bottle made of ceramic?

    Because stoneware is completely opaque. Light is the main cause of deterioration in bottled olive oil, and the vessel keeps it out entirely. The shape is drawn from the Corinthian aryballos of around 700 B.C., and each one is thrown by hand by Greek potters.

  • When are the olives harvested?

    In November, early in the season while the fruit is still green. Early picking yields less oil per tree but produces a greener, more aromatic result with a higher polyphenol reading.

  • Is Ladolea organic?

    Yes. All three single-varietal oils are certified organic by Bio Hellas. They are cold pressed below 27°C and bottled unfiltered.

  • Does the ceramic bottle need special care?

    No. Keep it closed, away from heat, and use the oil within a few months of opening. The opaque stoneware already protects the oil from light.

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