Golden Groves ~ the intersection of Greece and Australia. Located on the southernmost tip of mainland Europe, the Mani Peninsula in southern Greece is home to Golden Groves, Australia’s newest Extra Virgin Olive Oil brand. An ode to Mediterranean living, Golden Groves brings its sun drenched, cold pressed, organic olive oil to your tables, in the hopes that the taste of this liquid gold will evoke nostalgic memories of long, leisurely lunches in sleepy tavernas alongside the Aegean Sea.

Our philosophy at Golden Groves is one steeped in Greek tradition. Drawing on the principles of ancient minds, we champion the beliefs that food is medicine, and that the pursuit of simple pleasures in life is the pinnacle of human happiness. Food and friendship are at the heart of our ethos, as there is no greater pleasure in life than the simplicity of sharing a good meal with those you love most. Our oil is intended to not only feed your body, but your soul through the nourishment that accompanies enjoying a meal with those you love most. 

About Our Extra Virgin Olive Oil 

Our Extra Virgin olive oil is truly our Extra Virgin olive oil. Organically grown and handpicked in the groves that have belonged to our family for generations, our olive oil is made from the koroneiki olive, an olive variety native to Greece. Quietly nestled in our sun drenched groves overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, our olives are collected in the beginning of October, while they are still an effervescent green colour. Our olives are sent off to a local olive mill to be cold pressed into the liquid gold that makes its way into your bottles. This Early Harvest cultivation process means that the olives are collected before they are fully ripe, ensuring that the deeply nutritious properties of the olives, such as their high rates of naturally occurring polyphenols, are preserved and transferred into your oil.

The flavour of Golden Groves Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a testament to the quality and excellence of its provenance. Profoundly luscious, peppery and unmistakably verdant in taste and colour, our olive oil will redefine what you previously thought good olive oil tastes like. The purity of our olive oil is demonstrated through its superior golden-green hue, brightening and adorning all that it touches. 

 

About the Mani Peninsula

Whilst Mani is little known to the ordinary person, its historical and cultural significance has been well documented throughout the ages. In ancient times, the Greeks believed that a small cave off the cost of Cape Matapan in Mani's southernmost tip was the entrance to the underworld. It was in Mani that the living would leave this earth and pass into the next life governed by Hades, King of the Dead.

Legend also says that it was on the small, rocky island of Kranai in Mani, that Paris of Troy spent his first night with his abducted lover, Helen of Sparta, the most beautiful woman in the world, a tryst that sparked the Trojan War. 

The Mani of today paints a very different picture to its past glory days captured in the pages of history books throughout the millennia. Known for its mountainous terrain, rocky outcrops and vast vistas of endless blue sea, Mani is a hidden paradise known to only the most seasoned traveller. With its classic stone home architecture, traditional tavernas and stunningly secluded beaches, Mani is a slice of the authentic Greece that sometimes eludes the ordinary visitor. Olive groves travel as far as the eye can see in almost every corner of this region and the production of olive oil is still the lifeblood of this quiet yet proud pocket of the Mediterranean. 

Whilst the population of rural villages in Mani continues to decline, the ferocity in which each family tightly guards their olive groves does not dwindle. Passed on from generation to generation, the inheritance of olive groves from mother to daughter, father to son, is not only customary amongst the Maniots but also soulfully ritualistic.