STORM OLIVE RANCH - California - 375 ML

375 ml Bottle - Napa, California

The profile of this year's oil is bold and assertive, earning it a gold medal at the 2007 Yolo County Olive Oil Tasting.

Reflective of Tuscan roots, and now with some added Sicilian ones, this oil is a a deep green, with a nose of grass and green olive. It's smooth and silky on the lips; its flavors run deep with ripe and green fruit. It rolls through a hint of olive sweetness, and lacks any bitterness usually associated with "green" Tuscans - I attribute this to the addition of the Belice di Nocellara, a varietal from western Sicily. It has a marvelous peppery and pungent finish that is expected of such youthful and fresh oil.



Awards!

Storm Olive Ranch oil is also a four-time Gold Medal Winner at the Los Angeles County Fair's Olive Oils of the World Competition, currently the most prestigious event of its kind in the United States. 2006 and 2007 gold medal winner at the Yolo County Fair and 2006 winner at the San Diego Wine & Food Competition.

About the Producer:

Storm Olive Ranch Estate extra-virgin olive oil comes from an historic property located in a remote area on the eastern slopes of the Napa Valley. In 1992, armed with a dream of producing great olive oil, owner Bonnie Storm purchased the land, a 130-year-old cattle and dairy ranch. This area, known as Pope Valley, remains rugged and generally unsettled. Due to its reputation for being hotter and drier (not to mention all of the rattlesnakes!) than the bucolic valley floor, it provides the perfect stressful climate in which olive trees are known to thrive.

In 1994, as Bonnie planted the 1,000 trees she had imported from Italy, she was unaware that her family had a history in olive oil production. She was astonished to find an ancestral connection: Her German great-grandfather had settled in California in 1850 and supported himself by planting olive trees and making oil.

Storm Olive Ranch oil produced from cultivars native to Tuscany: Frantoio, Leccino and Maurino. The "front grove," planted in 2000 with the variety Nocellara del Belice (native to Sicily), now makes up about 15% of the finished blend. All of the olives are pesticide-free and pressed at a local frantoio (olive mill) within 24 hours of picking. Bonnie Storm is proud to release the extra-virgin olive oil from those trees planted on her ranch in Pope Valley.