Award-Winning Olive Oil Anchors a Slower Way of Life on Lefkada

Summary

Lefkada Micro Farm on the island of Lefkada in the Ionian Sea offers award-win­ning olive oil and a chance to explore cen­turies-old culi­nary tra­di­tions. Founded by Andreas Dimitrakopoulos, the farm focuses on reviv­ing neglected groves and pre­serv­ing the orig­i­nal Asproelia cul­ti­var, lead­ing to inter­na­tional recog­ni­tion and a com­mit­ment to slow-food and agri­tourism prac­tices.

On the island of Lefkada in the Ionian Sea, Lefkada Micro Farm offers vis­i­tors award-win­ning olive oil and a closer look at the island’s cen­turies-old culi­nary tra­di­tions.

The farm was founded by Andreas Dimitrakopoulos, a young pro­ducer who entered olive farm­ing only a few years ago after leav­ing a high-stress life in Athens.

“I started farm­ing in 2020 as a way to escape a high-stress lifestyle,” Dimitrakopoulos told Olive Oil Times.

“Before Lefkada Micro Farm, I had zero gar­den­ing or farm­ing expe­ri­ence,” he added. ​“I hold a degree in tourism man­age­ment and spent years in the hos­pi­tal­ity indus­try.”

After return­ing to his family’s neglected grove, Dimitrakopoulos set out to revive trees planted about a cen­tury ago by his grand­fa­ther, George. The grove is made up of Asproelia, a local vari­ety that he said had long been under­es­ti­mated.

“Until recently, Asproelia was con­sid­ered a vari­ety with low poten­tial, but our inter­na­tional awards have proven oth­er­wise,” he said.

Dimitrakopoulos said some local res­i­dents ini­tially urged him to graft the trees to Koroneiki or Kalamon. Instead, he chose to pre­serve the orig­i­nal cul­ti­var.

“Thankfully, I trusted my grand­fa­ther,” he said.

He quickly immersed him­self in the tech­ni­cal side of pro­duc­tion, study­ing soil health, prun­ing and milling prac­tices as he worked to restore the grove.

“We focused heav­ily on soil health and stud­ied prun­ing and milling tech­niques exten­sively,” Dimitrakopoulos said. ​“The trees rewarded us with an incred­i­ble har­vest.”

That work helped the farm earn back-to-back Silver Awards at the 2025 and 2026 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition for its organic, unfil­tered extra vir­gin olive oil.

“NYIOOC is the most demand­ing and pres­ti­gious olive oil com­pe­ti­tion in the world,” he said. ​“Winning an award there places us among the global elite of pro­duc­tion.”

The farm’s Greek olive oil is exported mainly to the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands, while smaller quan­ti­ties are sold directly on the island.

“We also sell through our farm shop from April to October and at a hand­ful of selected spots on Lefkada,” he said. ​“Our pro­duc­tion is very lim­ited. Last year, we were sold out by July, and 20 per­cent of our 2026 har­vest was pre-ordered.”

Lefkada Micro Farm is also unusual for the vis­i­tor expe­ri­ences it has built around olive oil. Dimitrakopoulos, a cer­ti­fied taster, has devel­oped tours, tast­ings, cook­ing classes and open-air meals among the trees.

Olive oil remains at the cen­ter of the expe­ri­ence. He said the farm’s tours are designed to give guests a fuller under­stand­ing of the prod­uct, from grove to table.

“We call it ​‘The Olive Oil Experience,’” he said. ​“It includes a tour of the grove where we dis­cuss the trees and the health ben­e­fits of the oil. We then con­duct a tast­ing of dif­fer­ent oils to help guests dis­tin­guish between indus­trial and pre­mium qual­ity.”

Visitors can also pre­pare tra­di­tional local dishes with veg­eta­bles grown on the farm or take part in hands-on bak­ing classes focused on Greek phyllo pies.

Dimitrakopoulos said those classes are intended to con­nect guests with local culi­nary her­itage and recipes passed down for gen­er­a­tions.

“We cook with­out elec­tric­ity, using only our wood-fired oven and plenty of extra vir­gin olive oil,” he said.

He added that the farm also offers a seven-course ​“Farm-to-Table” din­ing expe­ri­ence, some­times accom­pa­nied by live tra­di­tional Greek music and olive oil tast­ings for pri­vate and pub­lic groups.

All of it is shaped by what Dimitrakopoulos describes as a slow-liv­ing phi­los­o­phy. He often refers to the prop­erty as a slow-food farm and says it reflects a delib­er­ate rejec­tion of short­cuts.

Lefkada Micro Farm is also a mem­ber of Slow Food International, align­ing the project with a broader empha­sis on local food cul­ture, tra­di­tional cook­ing and agri­tourism.

“Our motto is ​‘we grow real food, we cook slow food,’” he said. ​“We cook slow because we respect the ingre­di­ents and the process. There are no short­cuts here, just pas­sion, love and a deep respect for the rhythm of nature.”

Dimitrakopoulos said his larger ambi­tion is for the farm to serve not only as a busi­ness, but also as a place of inspi­ra­tion.

“For ancient Greeks, the Mouseion was a place to wor­ship the Muses, the deities of arts and cul­ture,” he said.

“In its Victorian-era inter­pre­ta­tion, the word ​‘museum’ means a place you visit to get inspired. This is exactly what I want Lefkada Micro Farm to be.”

Looking back on his deci­sion to leave hos­pi­tal­ity and return to the grove, Dimitrakopoulos said he wanted to build some­thing mean­ing­ful for both him­self and the wider com­mu­nity.

“A mother sent me a mes­sage the day after her visit, telling me that her son now wants to become a farmer when he grows up,” he said. ​“That was when I knew I’m on the right life path.”

“Olive cul­ti­va­tion is a mil­len­nial her­itage on my island,” he added. ​“Unfortunately, the pre­vail­ing men­tal­ity has long been quan­tity over qual­ity. It’s heart­break­ing because the ter­roir and the local cul­ti­var poten­tial are world-class.”

“The olive trees are always there for us, giv­ing their best,” he said. ​“It is our job to under­stand how they func­tion and help them thrive.”