🫒 Koroneiki

Koroneiki is Greece's most widespread oil olive cultivar, with small fruit and a high oil content. According to the International Olive Council (IOC) catalogue, it covers 50–60% of all the country's olive land. Most of its groves are on Crete and in the Peloponnese, and Koroneiki is the cultivar most often planted in new groves.

The name comes from Koroni, a small seaside town in the south of Messinia; the specification of Kalamata olive oil calls the cultivar native to this area. Elsewhere in Greece it is known as Ladolia, Psilolia, Kritikia or Vatsiki.

The fruit is small, slightly elongated and black when fully ripe. The tree starts bearing early and gives high, steady yields every year with plenty of oil. In a study of 115 samples of Greek oil, Koroneiki averaged 74.7% oleic acid and had the least linoleic acid of four cultivars — which is why its oil keeps for a long time. The canopy is spreading and open, and the cultivar does well in dense hedgerow groves; in California it is rated, alongside Arbequina and Arbosana, among the best for such plantings.

Koroneiki withstands drought and poor soils, copes moderately with salinity, but handles cold badly. Peacock spot barely affects it, verticillium wilt and the olive fly moderately, while olive knot infects it very easily. On Crete, Koroneiki is not harvested with trunk shakers: the small fruit does not drop well.

Why it matters to you. Koroneiki is the basis of many protected extra virgin olive oils. “Sitia Lasithiou Kritis” and “Messara” (PDO) and “Kritsa” (PGI) are made from this cultivar alone. Kalamata olive oil may contain no more than 5% Mastoidis alongside Koroneiki, and the new PGI “Kriti” (2025) requires at least 90% Koroneiki or Tsounati. Don't mix them up: Kalamata olive oil comes from Koroneiki, while Kalamata table olives come from another cultivar, Kalamon.