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Two Gaia Iluka Original bottles on beach pebbles beside a net bag of lemons

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Olive groves across the hillsides, with a village and the sea beyond.

Gaia Iluka · Koumeika, Samos

Harvest2026 / 2027

is on its way.

Only this year’s oil. Nothing else.

Every harvest, Gaia Iluka bottles the new oil and retires the last.

Your harvest, at a glance

This season's harvest

Harvest 2026 / 2027

Harvested

Under way since late October 2026

Origin
Samos, Greece
Estate
Single estate, Koumeika
Olive varieties
90% Koroneiki, 10% Troumbouli

A new season. A new expression of the grove.

Olive oil is a farm product. Every harvest belongs to one growing season on Samos: its rain and its heat, the day the olives were picked, how quickly they reached the mill.

When the olives are picked, and how they are handled on the way to the mill, shape the character of the oil.

A freshly made olive oil can taste especially vivid: green and fruity, sometimes noticeably bitter or peppery. How much depends on the variety, how ripe the olives were and how they were processed. Each harvest finds its own balance, which is why we tell you which one is in your bottle.

Rows of olive trees casting shade on dry golden grass.
A single olive tree below wooded hills.
Rows of olive trees in dry golden grass below wooded hills on Samos.
Hillsides of olive trees and pines above a bay, mountains beyond.

01The grove

Koumeika, Samos

The olives for Gaia Iluka Original grow on a single estate in Koumeika, a village in the southwest of Samos, in the eastern Aegean.

The estate belongs to the Markou family, our first producer partner. They have grown olives here for three generations, and the oil is made at their own mill.

More about the origin
A broad olive tree on dry ground, low hills behind.
An ancient olive tree with a gnarled trunk in a dry Samos grove, a dry-stone wall behind it in the afternoon light.

02The harvest

From tree to mill

Picked by hand, as the olives begin to turn from green to purple.

On Samos that moment comes between October and November. From the trees, the olives go to the family's own mill within hours.

An olive branch with green olives against a clear sky.
Olive trees in the foreground, a village in the green hills beyond.

03The mill

From olive to oil

At the family's mill the oil is extracted by mechanical means alone.

The blue and steel decanter centrifuge inside the Markou olive mill, Koumeika.
The decanter at the family's mill in Koumeika.
  1. Within hours The olives are milled within hours of picking.
  2. Below 27°C Cold extracted, by mechanical means only.
  3. Filtered The oil is filtered before it is bottled.
  4. Laboratory reports
Stainless steel malaxers on a tiled floor inside the Markou olive mill in Koumeika, Samos.
Six stainless malaxers on the mill floor.
A stainless steel tank and basin with blue hoses on a tiled floor inside the Markou olive mill, Koumeika.
Stainless steel from the first tank to the last.
The doorway to the final processing room of the Markou olive mill, a fire extinguisher on the tiled wall beside it.
The door to the final processing room.
Gaia Iluka Original extra virgin olive oil in its terracotta 500ml bottle with a wooden cap

04The bottle

From Koumeika to your table

Bottled in small batches, in dark glass with an opaque coating and a wooden cap, because light is what degrades olive oil.

Open it, pour a little, and taste the season.

Gaia Iluka Original

How to enjoy a new harvest

Start simply, so that you taste the oil before the recipe.

A long lunch table outdoors, glasses and plates in the shade.
A table by candlelight in the evening.

Taste it raw

A little over warm bread, raw or grilled vegetables, a salad, or a finished dish just before it goes to the table. Raw, its aroma comes through most clearly.

Keep it well

Olive oil slowly loses its fresh aroma over time. Light, heat and air speed that up, so close the cap after pouring and keep the bottle away from the stove and a sunny window.

Trust taste over colour

Colour says little about quality: a good oil can be green or golden. Smell it and taste it instead.

How to taste olive oilKeeping olive oil well