Not all olive oil is created equal. The name on the label — Extra Virgin, Virgin, Early Harvest, Wild — tells a real story about how the oil was grown, harvested, and pressed. Here’s what each term actually means, and what to look for when you’re choosing a bottle.
Wild Olive Oil (Delice)
Harvested by hand from wild olive trees growing in the mountains, this is one of the rarest and most demanding oils to produce. Because the trees are scattered and difficult to reach, the harvest requires skilled day labor and a capacity plan set before the season even begins. It’s considered one of the most expensive olive oils in the world.
Stone-Pressed Olive Oil (Hamurüstü)
Produced only at the start of the season through a special process: once the olive paste is left to rest, the oil that naturally rises to the surface is collected — without any mechanical pressure. Traditional stone-press producers called this “the olive’s tears.” A good season yields only around a ton of this oil, making it exceptionally rare.
Early Harvest Olive Oil
Pressed from unripe olives picked within the first 30 days of the season, before flies, rain, hail, or wind can affect the fruit. Because the olives are picked before their oil content has fully developed, it takes 10–12 kg of olives to produce just 1 kg of oil — which is why early harvest oils carry a higher price and a reputation as one of the finest styles available.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Natürel Sızma)
Made from ripe olives at the height of the season, with acidity kept below 0.8%. Within this category, two methods exist: standard pressing and cold pressing — oils marketed as “cold-pressed” typically command a higher price for their more delicate flavor and better-preserved nutrients.
Virgin Olive Oil (Natürel Birinci)
Also made from ripe olives, with acidity between 0.8% and 2.0%. Pressed at temperatures up to 37°C, it’s often referred to in the market as “warm-pressed.” We hold this line strictly at 37°C — unlike producers who push temperatures as high as 60°C to extract more oil, a shortcut that destroys the phenolic compounds that give olive oil its health value.
What to Avoid: Riviera and Pomace Oils
Not every product labeled “olive oil” is made the way you’d expect. Riviera oil blends refined, heat-treated pomace oil (the residue left after pressing) with a small percentage — usually 8–14% — of real virgin oil. Pomace oil itself contains no true olive oil content at all and, by food regulation, isn’t classified as olive oil. Neither of these is part of the Olea range — we produce true, single-origin pressed oils only.
Storage Tip
However good the oil, storage matters just as much as production. Keep your olive oil in a cool, dark place — ideally around 17°C. Exposure to light and heat can shorten its shelf life to as little as three months.
How to Spot Good Olive Oil at the Store
A few checks any shopper can make before buying: look for dark glass or lacquered tin packaging — clear glass or plastic lets light degrade the oil before it ever reaches your kitchen. A trustworthy label shows the producer’s real production license and official information, not just a brand name, ideally alongside reference to lab analysis. If you do end up with oil in a plastic (PET) bottle, transfer it to glass or metal and store it somewhere cool and dark.
A Note on Frying
Olive oil can be reused for frying, but not indefinitely — after about three uses, it’s best retired as used cooking oil rather than poured again, a discipline most home cooks skip entirely with other oils.