Argolis has garnered worldwide fame as a highly productive olive oil region thanks to its extremely favourable climatic and territorial conditions. It’s thanks to these conditions that olive growing is so important here. Our region has all the hallmarks of a sub-tropical semi-arid Mediterranean climate: the average annual temperature is 18.5 ⁰C, with long warm summers and temperate winters.

The landscape is pleasant, neither too green nor too dry for most of the year, more smooth than steep. The wide valleys form a mosaic of blonde wheat fields and silver-leafed olive orchards between limestone mountain ridges. The houses in our region cluster in small villages up in the slopes of the numerous hills, in contrast to Northern Europe or even the USA where each farmhouse is built in the centre of its land, some distance from the next farm. In modern Greece, relatively small properties are the norm due to successive fragmentation for dowry.

Kranidi is situated on the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsular, an ideal microclimate for olive cultivation due to its proximity to the coast and the fertile soils of Didymo Mountain. The high quality of our product is certified and safeguarded by the Kranidi Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), recognising the superior international reputation of products from this area. Rhizoma extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is produced from this fertile land using sustainable, eco-friendly methods, while always giving back to the local economy thanks to our experience, passion for quality-controlled production and family tradition.

Olive growing on Rhizoma Olive Farms plays a significant role in the local economy. Thanks to the local soil composition and favourable climate, the area is particularly suitable for olive tree cultivation. The south-east Peloponnese is characterised by differing soils and diverse landscapes combining to produce interesting microclimates. This primarily hilly territory, which overlooks two seas, the Argosaronic and the Saronic bays, has a beneficial influence on the whole climate. Although olive trees adapt to a wide variety of soils, production is best where the trees can develop roots or ‘rhizomes’, to give them their Greek name, without chemical or physical restriction. The soil’s physical and chemical condition is critical to quality olive oil production.

From a geographical point of view, the region is characterised by its many contrasts between non-irrigated and irrigated areas, valleys and mountainous reliefs, coasts marked by the influence of the sea and the invaluable sea breeze, and dry inland areas. The landscape of the region is shaped by Didymo Mountain, which is in turn part of the southern tip of the Pindus range, with steep mountain areas alternating with small valleys and depressions with more rolling topography.

From a historical point of view, olive growing in Kranidi has deep and ancient roots. According to an archaeological survey carried out by Stanford University (Archaeology without the Axe, 1987, Stanford University Press) the greater Argolis area was first inhabited by prehistoric humans 35,000 years ago. It is here that they found shelter, hunted, made useful everyday objects and art pieces, and cultivated the land. This is evident from archaeological artefacts found all over the surveyed landscape from sites such as Frachthi Cave, Ancient Aliis, the Flamboura Acropolis, the Byzantine Avgo Monastery, and St Marina at Didyma, where many human settlements give evidence for continuous human occupation of the land. The existence of ancient stone walls provides evidence for attempts by the first inhabitants of the area to retain the sparse soil to provide land for the olive trees to grow. For thousands of years, life in the region was supported by the cultivation of cereals in the fertile lands of the valleys, the high inland plateaus, the low hills and the coastal valleys of the south where the Rhizoma Olive Farms now flourish.