Title: Olive oil prices can be high: Does how much it cost matter?| Well+Good
Headings: When Shopping for the Best, Healthiest Olive Oil, How Much Does Price Really Matter?
When Shopping for the Best, Healthiest Olive Oil, How Much Does Price Really Matter?
Photo: Getty Images/jchizhe
“In terms of price, buying olive oil is not unlike buying wine”
What the world’s most expensive olive oil producers have to say
How to sample olive oil like a sommelier

Content: What the world’s most expensive olive oil producers have to say
Spyros Dafnis, the owner and producer of The Governor olive oil, which costs $69, also compares buying olive oil to buying wine, and likens his goods to the finest. “ The difference between a simple olive oil from a premium one is the difference between a good olive oil and an olive oil with character,” he says. Dafnis says part of what sets The Governor apart is that it’s a “high phenolic olive oil,” because of the way it’s produced. The olives are cultivated from a specific type of (organic) centenarian olive oil tree called Linaolia trees that are only grown on the Greek island of Corfu. “ Harvesting and production season takes between two and three months in which we have to work 18 hours per day,” Dafnis says. “ For a producer it’s the most exhausting, but [at] the same time, the most beautiful time period of the year.” The olives are taken to a mill fewer than three hours after they are picked, and are checked one by one to make sure every single olive is good quality. It’s also cold-pressed to maintain the maximum health benefits. The effort by the producers—along with the fact that the land has been passed down through six generations—Dafnis says, is also what makes The Governor a premium brand. Giorgos Kolliopoulos, the CEO and founder of the aforementioned Lambda, says they also source their olives from centenarian olive trees in Greece and credits the producers for what makes his olive oil so valuable. “