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www.gourmetnews.com 4 Oli e Aceti • Gourmet News www.gourmetnews.com KIMBERLY OSER Publisher JULES DENTON-CARD Senior Associate Publisher LORRIE BAUMANN Editorial Director ANTHONY SOCCI Associate Publisher GREG GONZALES JEANIE CATRON Associate Editors YASMINE BROWN Art Director JONATHAN SCHIEFFER Graphic Designer CAITLYN MCGRATH SUSAN STEIN Customer Service Managers TARA NEAL Circulation Director JAMIE GREEN Circulation Manager Oli e Aceti is a product of Gourmet News, is published by Oser Communications Group ©Copyright 2019. All rights reserved. Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Executive and editorial offices located at: 1877 N. Kolb Road • Tucson, AZ 85715 T 520.721.1300 • F 520.721.6300 www.oser.com LEE M. OSER JR. Founder OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP G OURMET N EWS A G U I D E T O O I L S & V I N E G A R S A ceti O li Award Win Propels Growth for Mountain Springs BY GREG GONZALES Mountain Springs Olive Oil comes from an 80-acre ranch in Paso Robles, California that was originally planned as a retirement idea. With a recent win at the San Joaquin Valley Olive Oil Competition and growing demand for the brand's unique extra-virgin olive oils and a solid growth season, things are about to change. Though Mountain Springs is a young company with just four years in business, the ranch got its start in 1968, when mother of co-Founder Marcy Lindberg bought the property and started an almond ranch. The orchard had de- teriorated over time, so Marcy and her husband Scott Lindberg purchased the land from her mother in 2004. Now the ranch is home to 2,500 olive trees, in two varieties that produce award-winning oils. The gold-winner is the Spanish- style Arbequina, which has a buttery flavor with a peppery finish. The Greek-style Ko- roneiki won silver at the competition, with the same buttery taste but a milder pepper finish. According to Scott, the oils get their fla- vor from a later harvest and a short jour- ney to pressing. They usually harvest in late November, said Scott, which gives it the flavor their customers want. "The first year we har- vested, instead of late November we did it in the first part of October, and it was a bit more of a grassy flavor," he added. "You get a little bitter if you pick too green." And though the extra-virgin label only requires pressing within 48 hours of har- vest, these olives are cold-pressed in less than 24 hours, which takes a small army to achieve. Family and friends come out during harvest to help, along with a hired crew — harvesting olives by hand from 2,500 trees and getting every olive to the press within 24 hours is no easy feat. "It's both sides of Marcy's family, my family, the grandkids, nieces and nephews, they all show up," Scott said. Part of the challenge is that all the olives have to be hand-picked. Marcy explained that when they were setting up the farm, the land didn't allow for machine harvest- ing because the farm is situated on rolling hills. So the Lindbergs planted their trees at just over a foot tall, to be hand-picked. "The positive side of planting the trees so small is that we could train the trees to grow the way we wanted," she said. That also eliminates the need to use any chemicals on the plants, Scott explained. "We open-base prune our trees to let the sun- light in, and the hot weather deters the fruit flies from coming in and doing damage," he said. The company has never sprayed pesti- cides on its plants, and uses organic fertilizer, with plans to get certified organic by the USDA in coming years. It's also a sustainable operation, with no need to use water from out- side sources. The trees are watered with spring water from a spring right under the ranch — hence the name Mountain Springs. And the next project, Marcy said, is to go full solar. The operation has seen its share of chal- lenges, however. When the trees were blooming before the last harvest, a nasty wind brought a hard freeze to olive oil country, leaving many producers with half or less of the crop they need for production. Mountain Springs was hit hard too, but had enough oil to help neighboring farms offset their losses by selling them oil in bulk. This year, however, Scott said they expect their biggest harvest yet, and the weather is looking good for the valley. In addition, the Lindbergs have been experimenting with flavored oils. "We may do a lemon Arbe- quina this coming year," Scott said. "We're kind of experimenting with that. And Marcy was talking about a blood orange flavor, be- cause not many people do those. It depends on what the customers want." Both the Arbequina and the Koroneiki come in 12.7-ounce bottles for a suggested retail price of $19.95, or cases of 12 for $220. They're also available in bulk barrels. For more information, call 805.227.6617 or visit www.mountain springsoliveranch.com. GN

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