Californians Navigate a Challenging Harvest with Unwavering Commitment to Quality

Producers in California cel­e­brated a strong fin­ish to the 2022/23 crop year, claim­ing 71 awards at the 2023 NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition.

Home to vir­tu­ally all of the United States’ olive oil pro­duc­tion, California farm­ers and millers won the most sig­nif­i­cant share of awards, claim­ing 89 per­cent of all those won by U.S. pro­duc­ers at the world’s most pres­ti­gious olive oil qual­ity con­test.

Producers from across the state, which is larger than Italy and Japan but slightly smaller than Spain, over­came drought and extreme weather events at the onset of the har­vest to pro­duce award-win­ning qual­ity.

According to the Olive Oil Commission of California, the state pro­duced 1.94 mil­lion gal­lons (7.34 mil­lion liters) of olive oil in 2022/23, 20 per­cent below the rolling five-year aver­age.

Among the biggest win­ners in California was its largest pro­ducer, California Olive Ranch (COR), which won a Gold Award and two Silver Awards.

“We are ecsta­tic with our multi-year wins on our prod­ucts,” Mary Mori, COR’s vice pres­i­dent, told Olive Oil Times. ​“We have been sub­mit­ting our brands to NYIOOC since 2017, and every year are pleased with mul­ti­ple achieve­ments from this pres­ti­gious com­pe­ti­tion.”

Despite being a rel­a­tively young com­pe­ti­tion, Mori said the NYIOOC quickly became a yard­stick by which COR mea­sures its progress and qual­ity.

She added that the com­pany, which pro­duces extra vir­gin olive oil from California-grown and imported olives, care­fully mon­i­tors olive devel­op­ments and har­vests at home and abroad to ensure qual­ity.

“Our num­ber one pri­or­ity in sourc­ing our inter­na­tional oils, as well as what we pro­duce in California, is the strict qual­ity stan­dards we hold,” Mori said. ​“We have a rig­or­ous process in approvals for oils from our part­ners across Chile, Argentina, Portugal and Italy and approve every lot prior to any pur­chase, and con­stant test­ing upon receipt, dur­ing stor­age and bot­tling.”

COR sources olives from around the world to mit­i­gate the impacts of chal­leng­ing har­vests in any loca­tion. Still, Mori said the com­pany faced plenty of other chal­lenges dur­ing the har­vest.

“As many have seen in the olive indus­try, we are see­ing unprece­dented times with qual­ity oil avail­abil­ity,” she said. ​“From the Ukraine war affect­ing sun­flower oil, caus­ing many to look at olive oil for a lower cost option, to the frosts seen in California, Europe and Chile, there have been immense chal­lenges for olive oil pro­duc­ers to main­tain high-qual­ity pro­duc­tion.”

Situated in San Luis Obispo County, the peren­nial award win­ner Pasolivo man­aged to main­tain its high-qual­ity pro­duc­tion.

Located in south-cen­tral coastal California, San Luis Obispo County is home to many of the coun­try’s best olive oil pro­duc­ers. This year, ten pro­duc­ers from the county com­bined to earn 22 awards at the NYIOOC, more than one-quar­ter of the awards earned by U.S. pro­duc­ers and importers.

Pasolivo was among the most suc­cess­ful, earn­ing five Gold Awards for its care­fully crafted blends that com­bine the millers’ artistry with a care­ful sci­en­tific process.

While the com­pany has won 32 awards since 2016, gen­eral man­ager Marisa Bloch Gaytan told Olive Oil Times that the excite­ment and pride of win­ning do not dimin­ish.

“In fact, it is almost more pres­sure to per­form as well as you have in prior years,” she said. ​“It is always an honor to win such high acco­lades.”

Pasolivo achieves con­sis­tently high qual­ity by main­tain­ing close rela­tion­ships with har­vest con­trac­tors to get the olives har­vested effi­ciently and take care of the fruit and trees dur­ing the process. Bloch and her team also taste each extra vir­gin olive oil sep­a­rately before care­fully craft­ing each blend to achieve the desired fla­vor pro­files.

She said the state’s per­sis­tent drought was the biggest chal­lenge Pasolivo and other San Luis Obispo County pro­duc­ers faced in the 2022 har­vest but added that con­di­tions look good for the next one.

“The lack of rain­fall was the biggest chal­lenge lead­ing into the 2022 har­vest,” she said. ​“Even though we water fre­quently, it is always best to get the nat­ural rain­fall on the trees.”

“Things are look­ing really good [ahead of the 2023/24 crop year],” she added. ​“We got record amounts of rain­fall in late 2022 and into 2023. It is look­ing like it will be a big crop, but also a later har­vest due to all of the rain.”

Karen and Malcolm Bond cel­e­brated another suc­cess­ful year, adding to their streak of wins dat­ing back to 2017. Their com­pany, Bondolio, based in Yolo County, near Sacramento, earned its fourth Gold Award for an organic medium-inten­sity blend.

“As a grower and a pro­ducer, we think we make great extra vir­gin olive oil, but you must val­i­date your­self against oth­ers, and the NYIOOC allows us to val­i­date our­selves glob­ally,” Karen Bond told Olive Oil Times.

Along with the hard work of farm­ing, she said a pas­sion for excel­lence and con­tin­u­ous efforts to improve agro­nomic and milling prac­tices helped them main­tain their qual­ity year after year.

Despite the suc­cess, Bond said California’s hot autumn resulted in higher labor costs and pre­sented the most sig­nif­i­cant chal­lenges in the pre­vi­ous har­vest.

“The weather was so hot that we had to watch irri­ga­tion more closely,” she said. ​“The cost of labor has really gone up in California in the last cou­ple of years. Since it was so hot, we wanted to hire more labor so the olives could get to the mill faster to main­tain qual­ity. This made our labor cost dou­ble.”

Still, Bond said Yolo County’s cli­mate helps the region stand out in California. Three Yolo County-based pro­duc­ers com­bined to earn seven awards at the com­pe­ti­tion.

“Our cli­mate is very sim­i­lar to Sicily, so it is an ideal place to grow olives,” Bond said. ​“Yolo County also has some of the best soil in the world, so we are able to grow organ­i­cally and only use a cover crop. Also, we have lots of water in Yolo County, unlike other areas.”

Producers from across the state fre­quently attribute California’s Mediterranean cli­mate to their abil­ity to pro­duce high-qual­ity extra vir­gin olive oil. This is espe­cially true of five pro­duc­ers in Sonoma County, who won eight awards at the com­pe­ti­tion.

“Sonoma County’s wine coun­try has a unique Mediterranean cli­mate, so grapevines, olive trees and stone fruit are all com­mon agri­cul­tural crops,” Brent Young, the direc­tor of agri­cul­tural oper­a­tions at Jordan Vineyard & Winery, told Olive Oil Times.

“Most Sonoma olive oil pro­duc­ers and Sonoma winer­ies that make extra vir­gin olive oil grow olive vari­eties that orig­i­nated in Italy, Spain, or France,” he added.

Jordan Vineyard & Winery earned a Silver Award for its medium-inten­sity blend. Young, who said the com­pany felt incred­i­bly proud and hon­ored to win the award, added that high-qual­ity blend­ing is the key to their suc­cess.

“Though each olive vari­ety is har­vested and milled sep­a­rately, all com­po­nents are blended before bot­tling with the goal of cre­at­ing an extra vir­gin olive oil that is vibrant, ele­gant, and smooth – just like our wines,” he said.

“Focus is placed on har­vest­ing olives at their peak ripeness and press­ing within just a few hours – to ensure the high­est qual­ity,” he added. ​“Jordan’s olive trees are planted 15 by 15 feet (4.5 by 4.5 meters) apart, which has allowed each tree to develop a beau­ti­ful ​‘open cen­ter’ canopy and not shade out the lower branches.”

Bi- and tri­en­nial prun­ing, along with effi­cient water­ing, are two of the other keys to the company’s suc­cess, Young added.

Despite this suc­cess, Young said the dry weather faced by pro­duc­ers in Sonoma County resulted in a sig­nif­i­cantly lower har­vest, with the amount of olives picked falling from the usual 18 tons to just 10 tons.

Despite these chal­lenges, the entire team at Jordan Vineyard & Winery was pleased to win the Silver Award

“It was a great recog­ni­tion of the hard work, ded­i­ca­tion, and pas­sion our team puts into cre­at­ing qual­ity and deli­cious olive oil that hon­ors Italy and Spain’s extra vir­gin olive oil-mak­ing tra­di­tions,” he said.

“Receiving this award will only help build our rep­u­ta­tion and fur­ther estab­lish Jordan’s cred­i­bil­ity as not only a pro­ducer of time­less, European-style wines but also as a notable extra vir­gin olive oil pro­ducer,” Young con­cluded.