Our Story: From One Grandfather’s Legacy to Your Kitchen Table
How a family grove in Kotë, Albania became the home of Murataj & Son olive oil — and why we named our company after the man who started it all.
In the hills above Kotë, a small village on Albania’s southern coast, there are over one thousand olive trees. Out of passion and legacy, Skender purchased the land and built the estate.
Why Albanian Olive Oil
Albania sits on the same latitude as southern Italy and Greece. The same Mediterranean sun. The same limestone soils. The same centuries-old tradition of olive cultivation. But while Italian and Greek oils fill supermarket shelves worldwide, Albanian olive oil remains virtually unknown outside the Balkans.
That is starting to change. Albania’s southern coast — where our grove sits at 300 metres above sea level — produces extra virgin olive oil with a character that rivals anything from across the Adriatic. Robust, peppery, full of life. The kind of oil that reminds you what olive oil is supposed to taste like.
We believe Albanian olive oil deserves a place on every kitchen table. Not as a curiosity or a novelty, but because it is genuinely exceptional.
The Estate in Kotë
Our grove covers hillside terrain above Kotë, a village in the Himarë municipality on Albania’s Riviera. The soil is limestone and clay — poor for most crops, perfect for olives. The trees are stressed just enough by the rocky ground and coastal wind to concentrate flavour in every fruit.
Every October, our father Skender harvests by hand. No mechanical shakers, no bulk collection. Each olive is picked at the right moment, and the harvest is pressed within twenty-four hours at a local mill. First cold pressed, no heat, no chemicals, no blending with oil from other farms.
The result is a single-estate extra virgin olive oil of genuine provenance. You can trace every bottle back to one family, one grove, one harvest.
Two Collections, One Standard
We produce two lines of olive oil under the Murataj & Son name.
The Estate is our single-estate oil from the family grove in Kotë. It comes in 250ml and 500ml green glass Marasca bottles — the same format used by premium producers across the Mediterranean. This is the oil for finishing dishes, dressing salads, and tasting at its purest. Every bottle comes from our own trees.
The Grove is extra virgin olive oil sourced from trusted Albanian growers across the southern region. We taste and select every batch before it carries our name. It comes in 500ml, 2 litre, and 5 litre tins — for kitchens that use good oil every day and want the convenience of a larger, light-proof format.
Both are extra virgin. Both are first cold pressed. The difference is provenance: one family’s trees versus the broader Albanian growing region. Both are better than anything you will find on a supermarket shelf.
Why Hydo Exists
Our father Skender purchased land in Kotë and planted a grove of over one thousand olive trees, in tribute to his father Hydo. He did not do it for export or for business. He did it because it was the right thing to do with the land.
We — the next generation — saw what that grove produced, and we believed it deserved to be shared. Not in bulk, not anonymously, not stripped of its story. But properly: with the family name on the label, the village on the back, and the grandfather’s name on the company.
That is what Hydo is. A family company bringing Albanian olive oil to the United Kingdom for the first time.
What Comes Next
Right now, Murataj & Son is olive oil. But Albania produces far more than olives. The same mountains that shelter our grove are home to wild honey, mountain herbs, artisan raki, and emerging vineyards producing wines that the rest of Europe has not yet discovered.
Our long-term mission is to build Hydo into a home for the best of Albanian produce — starting with our family’s oil and expanding, carefully, to include other producers we trust. Every product selected by our family. Every producer someone we know.
For now, though, it starts with olive oil. One grove. One family. One harvest at a time.
Murataj & Son extra virgin olive oil is available from www.hydo.co.uk. Produced in Albania, bottled in the UK by Hydo Ltd.