The challenge
The importer had built a reputation on single-estate wines and wanted to apply the same logic to olive oil. Their existing supplier was a blender: consistent quality, but no farm to point at and no story to tell buyers or end customers.
They wanted a producer whose oil could carry a PDO designation, whose grove and mill they could visit, and whose paperwork would stand up to a BRCGS-audited retail customer at the other end of the chain.
Our approach
We built a shortlist of six Messenian producers based on analytical profile, harvest window and existing certifications. The importer's team travelled to Greece for a two-day trip. We ran mill visits, grove walks and blind tastings against their current benchmark.
The producer they chose could deliver the volume they needed, held the certifications their retail customers demand, and was willing to work to their bottling and labelling brief. We aligned the harvest and pressing schedule with the shipping window so the first arrival was as fresh as possible.
Documentation was prepared in advance: analytical reports, PDO conformity paperwork, allergen and nutritional data, and a producer profile written for their internal sales team.
The outcome
The importer replaced their previous house olive oil with the new single-estate line for the following season. The producer story became one of their most-referenced entries in customer communications, and the volume grew in the second year on the same terms.
The relationship also gave them a credible reference point when their retail customers asked deeper questions about origin, harvest and pressing. Those conversations became easier because there was a real farm and a real family behind the answer.
