Oro di Milas | Milas, Turkey

MEET THE PRODUCER

There are some food discoveries that begin with a plan. Oro di Milas began with a feeling—a walk through the olive groves of Milas and the sense that Emine and Mark Colin had stumbled upon somewhere special.

In 2020, the couple found themselves in this beautiful corner of southwestern Türkiye, not far from the Aegean coast. Emine, who was born and raised in Istanbul, had spent decades in the United States as an endodontist. But returning to Türkiye with Mark awakened something deeper: a desire to reconnect with her heritage and with the land she had known as a child. When they came across a collection of neglected olive orchards, they fell in love with the place and decided to bring the trees back to life.

What they discovered among those ancient trees was Memecik, a native olive variety that has been grown in the Milas region for generations. Naturally high in polyphenols and wonderfully aromatic, Memecik gives Oro di Milas its distinctive character: green, fresh and beautifully herbaceous.

The Colins quickly became students of olive oil, working with agronomists to restore the orchards and eventually building their own mill right on the property. That decision was about freshness: the olives are harvested early, when their flavors are vibrant, and milled within hours of picking. The result is an extra virgin olive oil that captures something of the landscape itself: fresh grass, green olive, tomato leaf, green apple, almond and wild herbs, with a lovely peppery finish.

We love the story behind Oro di Milas because it feels like a true return to place. Emine came back to Türkiye, found a landscape that spoke to her, and turned a collection of forgotten olive trees into something remarkable. Even the name feels poetic: Oro di Milas means “Milas’ Gold.”

And when you open the bottle, you understand why.

 

WHY WE LOVE IT

Oro di Milas is the kind of olive oil that makes you stop after the first taste.

It is wonderfully fresh and aromatic, with the unmistakable green character of early-harvest olive oil. But it remains balanced enough to pour generously over warm bread, grilled fish, ripe tomatoes or a simple salad. It has enough personality to make a beautiful finishing oil, yet it is versatile enough to become the bottle you reach for every day.

And then there is the bottle.

The exquisite black bottle, decorated with symbols inspired by the ancient carpets of the Milas region, is every bit as beautiful as the oil inside. The design incorporates traditional imagery representing the tree of life, Mother Nature, the eye and the olive leaf: a lovely connection between the ancient culture of the region and this very modern olive oil.

It makes Oro di Milas feel like more than a bottle of olive oil. It feels like a little piece of Türkiye to bring home.

That makes it an especially beautiful gift for the food lover who appreciates both what is inside the bottle and the story behind it. Give it to the host who always has something wonderful on the table, the cook who loves discovering ingredients from faraway places, or anyone who would appreciate a gift that is as beautiful to unwrap as it is delicious to use.

We like to imagine it arriving with a loaf of good bread, a few ripe tomatoes and an invitation to slow down for dinner.

Because sometimes the best gifts are the ones that transport you somewhere.