Grovestone Opens First Retail Location in Champaign

  CHAMPAIGN, IL - 01/11/2017 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

A dream has come alive in Champaign for Loui Liagridonis, who proudly announced the opening of his first olive oil store, Grovestone. The Liagridonis family has been producing olive oil for many generations in Greece and previously sold their ultra-premium olive oils only in Europe. The family’s ancestors used olives as their main source of fat because they thought animal fat was unhealthy as the barbarians subsisted off of it. The health and therapeutic benefits associated with consuming olive oil were first mentioned by Hippocrates, the Greek “father of medicine,” who used olive oil to treat his patients. Olive oil was named “liquid gold” by Homer because exporting it generated trade potential with other Mediterranean regions.

The olive tree has been a symbol of wisdom and peace for Liagridonis’s ancestors. At the ancient Olympic Games, every winner was presented with a simple olive wreath fashioned from a branch cut with a gold-handled knife from a wild olive tree. Indeed, olive oil’s history has been entwined with Greek history for more than 4,000 years.

Guests can visit Grovestone’s beautiful, ultramodern tasting room and select from more than 40 varieties of the best olive oils and balsamic vinegars. As Liagridonis said, “Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and wine are gifts from the Mediterranean. Our extra virgin olive oils are handpicked, cold-pressed, nonfiltered, and beautifully packaged with the finest materials. We also carry the best aged balsamic vinegars from Modena, Italy. Unlike what you find in many places, our balsamic vinegars contain no caramel coloring, artificial flavoring or preservatives and are gluten free.”

Grovestone also features packaged goods (e.g., olives and tapenades), dry pastas, spices, jams, honey, gift boxes, gift baskets and much more.

The Grovestone team personally monitors grove-to-mill and mill-to-market quality. Liagridonis uses airtight stainless steel tank topped off at regular intervals with inert nitrogen gas, to minimize light and oxygen degradation. Grovestone is also the first retail store in the country to randomly test the olive oil’s acidity levels on site before bottling.

Grovestone’s tasting room is now open at 1707 W. Kirby Ave., Champaign, in Old Farm Shops, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on Grovestone, please call (217) 239-2700 or visit http://www.grovestone.com.