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—CLUB EXCLUSIVE—
Pour some in a small wine glass, have a swirl, and expect aromas of...
Meet the producers: The Syprou family.
The grove is led by Stravoula with the help of her son, Petros. Despite balancing multiple different jobs—Petros works mostly with his father in the family's concrete business—the connection to olives remains, and the family comes together during harvest time to bring extra pairs of hands. This isn’t their primary income, it’s a way of life. It's what the family does, and always has.
The groves are extensive, not intensive. There’s no tilling and no machines on most plots, as the steep sided slopes make it impossible. Wild herbs and aromatics, as well as some legumes (clover and vetch) are found amongst the slow-growing trees, sharing the soil. Nothing is forced. This is patient work, for a modest yield, but the result? Exceptional extra virgin olive oil with high levels of antioxidants and beautiful flavour.
The region.
You’ll find the Syprou family groves in the southeast of the island, scattered across the slopes of Mount Stravrovouni, the "Mountain of the Cross.". This area owes its name to Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, who founded the monastery on its peak around 327 AD on her way back from the Holy Land. It's one of the oldest monasteries in the world, and Helena even left a fragment of the True Cross there.
But the geology is the real story. Most of southeast Cyprus is limestone and marl, which is a soft sedimentary rock. Stavrovouni isn't. It's an outlier of the Troodos Ophiolite, a chunk of 90 million year old ocean crust that was pushed up out of the sea. As a result, instead of limestone you get a plethora of igneous rock—pillow lavas, gabbro, and diabase. Dark, iron-rich, mineral-heavy matter that you don't find in the surrounding plain. Facing southeast, catching the sea wind, and rooted in nutrient dense soil this is where their grove sits.
No stranger to the harsher side of nature, this area has experienced many fires over the centuries (recently in 2016), but plenty before that too. Most of the trees present in their groves now have been resprouted onto longstanding wild olive roots after the fire. Down in the valley, a handful of trees survived everything: they're Frangkoelia, the "olives of the Franks," from the Lusignan period when French crusader nobles ruled Cyprus between 1192 and 1489, making the trees somewhere between 500 and 800 years old.
How to pair it: Seasonal recipe spotlight.
Simple, vegan, and made mostly from things you might have sitting in your pantry, this dip trio is great for sharing on warm days. Serve with platters of seasonal crudités and fresh bread, and finish each with a generous drizzle.
Find this recipe—and others from our inspiring producers and award-winning chefs—in Drizzle: olive oil-infused recipes from across the Mediterranean, written by Sarah, our founder, out now.
*Extra* exclusives...
Booking some upcoming travel? As a member of our Olive Oil Club, we'll give you a £20 gift card for our site when they visit one of our producers for a tasting.
From grove walks to dinners under the stars, it's a great way to dive more into the world of EVOO and support farmers doing right by people and planet.