28321 Sun Mar 14 16:18:58 -0800 2004 13 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 118210 Anyone here have some favorite local EV olive oils? It would be nice to get a comparison between the local producers. I know everyone's taste is different and that this message board is generally for restaurants, but I am at a loss for who to ask and I figured since we have so many excellent "hounds" here, I'd give it a shot. So far, I am a fan of Bariani as it is high quality (I would never heat it) and it is affordable. Any others? Any SoCal producers? Sun Mar 14 16:18:58 -0800 2004 0 Kevin 1 118215 I just opened a bottle of the McEvoy Ranch EV oil. It is made in Marin County. Seems quite good, but it is not cheap. Link: http://www.mcevoyranch.com/ Sun Mar 14 17:37:25 -0800 2004 118210 0 Joel Teller 2 118939 Olio Santo. I think it's available at Whole Foods. Fruity taste, no bitterness, reasonable price ($11 +-). Link: http://www.stonehouseoliveoil.com/oliosanto.htm Sun Apr 04 04:59:21 -0700 2004 118215 0 Steve Green 1 118216 I too like Bariani very much, but as my all-purpose olive oil. At the Saturday Ferry Plaza Market, there is another vendor (not McEvoy or the other inside vendor) with a wide range of varietal olive oils, whose name escapes me at the moment. My favorite -- which I only use for salads -- is an unfiltered ascolana varietal olive oil. It has a flavor reminiscent of artichokes. Lots more expensive than the Bariani, but exceedingly nice for a simple vinagrette on good, very tender lettuces. Sun Mar 14 18:01:17 -0800 2004 118210 0 Joan Kureczka 2 118306 That's Sciabica. Mon Mar 15 22:07:08 -0800 2004 118216 0 Morgan 1 118221 Here's my fav. Link: http://store.olivasdeoro.com/index.html Sun Mar 14 19:43:47 -0800 2004 118210 0 Ken Hoffman 1 118222 I was lucky enough to work with an excellent grower/producer of California extra virgin olive oil for several years. The market is still emerging and has been somewhat slowed by the recent economic contraction. Currently, there are numerous small producers that make a few thousand gallons or less each year. You will find most in specialty stores such as Oakville Grocery, Dean and Deluca, etc. As a nation, the US does not produce a significant amount of olive oil. Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Tunisia and other Medditerranean countries dwarf our annual production by a huge margin. It is for that reason that Californian olive oils will not be sold as cheaply as European and African olive oils. In addition, since our olive oils account for such a small amount of California's formidable agribusiness industry, there are virtually no government agencies that regulate the grading of olive oils. Locally, a group of producers has attempted to create a self-regulating body, the California Olive Oil Council, which has provided some measure of quality assurance. However, companies must pay for membership as well as its approval/endorsement. All of this means that consumers should be well aware that California olive oil is a rather difficult product to police and as result, you will find lower grade oils from other countries or older oils that are blended and labeled as Californian, from time to time. Generally, with the exception of Calio Groves in Tehama County and Sciabica & Sons in the central valley, most California olive oil makers are relatively small and fairly new. Due to the expense of land in California and the scarcity/high cost of fruit and harvesting, the prices of olive oils produced in state are quite a bit higher than our foreign counterparts. Geographically, while much of Tehama and Madera Counties are dedicated to growing olives, these have been largely used to supply the canned olive industry. As is the case with table grapes versus wine grapes, olives grown for canning purposes are not well suited for producing olive oils as they are much higher in water content. Bear in mind that there are more varietals of olives grown worldwide than there are types of grapes. That being the case, the four primary types of olives grown in California were brought over by the Spanish missionaries and are: Mission, Manzanillo, Sevillano, and Ascolano. The Mission and Manzanillo are the most common. Fortunately, the Mission olive makes a decent olive oil and can be cultivated to yield a good amount of olive oil per ton of fruit. The other three varietals are lower in yield, but often add interesting dimensions when blended. As is the case with wines and winemakers, olive oil makers can use a variety of olives harvested from different areas at different times of the season to yield a quite complex array of California olive oils. That being the case, some general things to remember are that early harvest oils tend to be quite herbacious and usually bear a distinctly green hue from the higher amounts of Chlorophyll. They often have a pronounce "peppery" finish which is very different from typically low end olive oils that have either been processed and/or blended with older or lesser oils. Late harvest olive oils have a very golden color and are quite a bit softer on the palate but lack the "punch" and fruitiness of younger fruit. Accordingly, a blend of early, mid and late harvested olives can result in a very balanced oil. In addition to harvest time, varietals, and terroir, the type of extraction and filtration have a great deal of influence on the ultimate type of olive oil produced. "First Cold Press" is often noted on many labels of extra virgin olive oil. Cold pressing ensures that the olive pulp is not heated during the extraction process. While heated the pulp can increase the yield, it also accelerates the breakdown of the oil and lowers the quality. Not all cold pressing is the same. Olives can be crushed using anything from the very old and very traditional stone wheels to more sophisticated machinery from Europe. Each can yield an excellent, but slighlty different olive oil. Lastly, the decision to filter or not is can also influence the ultimate flavor of the oilve oil. Normal decantation will yield a clear oil, but with sediment on the bottom. Do not be afraid of this. Light filtration is accomplished using a gravity feed at room temperature and raw cotton fiber filters. This is yields a clear oil with very little seditment. Forced filtration is done using pumps and a multilayer paper filter (like a coffee filter). This yields a very clear oil with no sediment. Lastly, industrial producers such as Bertolli or Star, use a heated filtration as well as heated extraction. By heating the oil, the viscosity is lowered and filtration is faster and easier. However, this breaks down the oil and hastens rancidity. All in all, this is where personal preference comes into play. Only you can decide which extraction and filtration, or lack thereof, is more desireable to you. Besides this general information, it is important to remember that in much the same way as one would have numerous "favorite" wines depending on the situation, so too may you have several different olive oils that you would like depending on type of cuisine and use. My advice is to sample as many as you can from all over the world to help develop your palate. You will then have a better idea of what you like and dislike in an olive oil. Also, do not be surprised if the oil from a given producer does not look or taste exactly the same from bottle to bottle. I recall the buyer at Williams-Sonoma complaining to our company that the latest shipment did not look exactly the same color as the prior year's. I explained that, again as with wine, each harvest and blend is going to be different. Imagine if you were to buy a tomato every week from your grocer and it looked exactly the same each time. You'd probably be more than a little suspicious. If you are interested in tasting many of the local producers' oils against one another, I would recommend attending the Olive Oil Festival hosted by COPIA in Napa each year. You may also consult the California Olive Oil Council (see website below) for a listing of their members. Here are some of the notable olive oil companies that I was able to work with in the industry while employed by Critelli Olive Oil Company and Calio Groves. All of them produce high quality olive oils. I highly recommend trying each. 1. B.R. Cohn - one of the first olive oil/wine producers. Located in Sonoma, his olive oil is in a distinctive slender longneck bottle with an etched label. 2. McEvoy Ranch - Former Editor-in-Chief of the Examiner, Nan McEvoy cultivates Italian olive varietals such as Frantoio, Lecchino and Pendolino and uses a unique cold press extraction by chopping the olives with many spinning blades as opposed to stone crushing or traditional milling. 3. Calio Groves - a larger producer which has land in Tehama County, as well as leases in Madera County. Uses largely Mission and Manzanillo olives, with some Sevillano and Ascolano blended in. Also makes different blends marketed under different labels such as Stonehouse, V.G. Buck and Olio Santo. Has tasting room in Fairfield nearby to Jelly Belly factory. 4. Critelli Olive Oil - primarily supplies restaurants, but still has a small production of retail bottled olive oil available directly from the factory. Also imports and blends private label extra virgin olive oil for restaurants such as Il Fornaio and Piatti. 5. Stutz - Ken Stutz has been making olive oils for some time and offers several excellent varietal specific oils, as well as late harvest specific olive oils. 6. DaVero - produces excellent extra virgin olive oils from the Dry Creek region of Sonoma County. 7. Lila Jaeger - one of the founders of the California Olive Oil Council, Lila Jaeger is one of the more established olive oil makers in California. Well, that should get you off to a good start. Again, if you have read any of my other posts, you already know my tendency to give as complete a response as possible. This just happens to be an area of personal and professional interest for me. I hope that I did not overwhelm you or omit any specific aspect. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. a sante, Curtis Link: http://www.cooc.com/home.html Sun Mar 14 19:56:51 -0800 2004 118210 0 Curtis 2 118307 That's a terrific writeup! Thanks. Mon Mar 15 22:07:43 -0800 2004 118222 0 Morgan 2 118419 thanks for taking the time to write so much and so well about the California Olive oil scene. Wed Mar 17 10:41:56 -0800 2004 118222 0 gordon wing 1 118234 Sciabica Link: http://www.sciabica.com/ Mon Mar 15 12:14:05 -0800 2004 118210 0 Tom Hall 1 118337 Thanks to everyone for their replies! Especially thanks to those of you who took so much of your valuable time to write a lengthy response! Tue Mar 16 12:40:29 -0800 2004 118210 0 Kevin 1 118786 There is a shop in Glen Ellen which specializes in olive oil and olive oil production. There you can sample four or five different olive oils that are locally produced. The name of the shop might be The Olive Press, or Olive Mill, I don't remember exactly; it is located on the east side of the road just as you come into the town. Sun Mar 21 00:42:36 -0800 2004 118210 0 Michael 2 118790 Here's a link to my post on Glen Ellen's Olive Press. It's located in Jack London Village. Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/25337#101098 Sun Mar 21 02:39:59 -0800 2004 118786 0 Melanie Wong 1 118906 Interesting posts but when all is said and done, for flavor and without a doubt price....nothing can touch Bariani!Recently I did a tasting of Bariani vs. the finest oils from Australia at four times the cost and there was no question which was the stellar oil. A visit to the Bariani stand at the Ferry Building on Saturdays is a real treat. Sat Mar 27 00:27:07 -0800 2004 118210 0 llr