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Special Feature O I L S & V I N E G A R S GOURMET NEWS MARCH 2016 www.gourmetnews.com SPECIAL FEATURE 1 5 BY MICAH CHEEK "May third, we had a serious freeze. We lost about a quarter of the grapes," says Steve Darland of The Darland Company. "One year we had a family of bears." Darland's farm is located in Monticello, New Mexico, a former ghost town just north of Truth Or Conse- quences. This arid environment, though sometimes unforgiving, is an ideal place to age balsamic vinegar. Darland personally in- spects and prunes his grapevines throughout the growing season. Every grape counts; it will take 200 pounds of fruit and at least 12 years to make each bottle of Traditional Or- ganic Balsamic of Monticello. Grapes that make it to harvest are crushed and heated over a wood fire. After being re- duced and fermented, the grape must is poured off into handmade barrels. These casks are crafted by Francesco Renzi, whose family has been making them in the same building for 500 years, long before balsamic vinegar was considered a viable mass market product. The grape will spend 12 years cir- culating through casks made of oak, chest- nut, cherry, juniper, acacia and ash, drawing volatile compounds from each to develop its snappy, resinous flavor. Darland says, "Peri- ods of intense work are followed by long pe- riods of time where grapes are growing or vinegar is aging in its casks." Monticello is a hub for organic farmers, despite the spring frosts and animals. They all meet in Truth Or Consequences for a farmer's market, which the Darlands helped start after their first grape harvest. The rev- enue for their first batch of balsamic was over a decade away, so other sources of income came from the farm. "A great way to fill the time is to grow unique, but potentially pop- ular, healthy, delicious organic crops which thrive in this environment," says Darland. The farm produced shishito peppers, pome- granates, and other organic products. "My wife, Jane, became the Johnny Appleseed of Sierra County by helping other growers choose, then order and plant the right fruit trees to survive and thrive in our climate – thousands of trees," he adds. The more you learn about Darland's process, the farther removed it is from the balsamic vinegars readily available on shelves. These products, known as industrial vinegars, are generally aged for as little as hours or days before being thickened with sugar, molasses or mosto cotto, a sweet grape syrup. This thick and sweet vinegar is made to mimic the traditional balsamic flavor, be- cause demand for the product has long ago outstripped supply. This demand has fueled a massive market for the sweetened balsamic. "It may be a polite fake, but with an esti- mated quarter billion dollars of annual US sales, it is a much, much better business than it is a gourmet food item," says Darland. For him, these products do not even fit into the category of real balsamic vinegar. "The key thing for people to learn: when you read the ingredient list on the label and it has more than one, it is industrial balsamic. Like it or not." The Darlands devote their down time to travel. They conduct tastings at stores and restaurants to highlight the differences be- tween their balsamic and the less expensive industrial alternatives. "We take nearly every opportunity to visit islands of foodies, wher- ever we can sample and talk about the real thing, since ours is the only American com- mercial balsamic and probably the only or- ganic version in the world," says Darland. Surprisingly, one of the most difficult groups to convince is chefs. "Chefs are challenged with being fashionable, and making a profit. In culinary school or other training, chefs are shown how to make faux balsamic," says Darland. Many chefs will cook down inex- pensive industrial vinegars with sugar to make a facsimile of a rich, aged balsamic to use for plate presentation. They end up with a sweet product that clings to the tongue, but has had all the subtle flavors and volatile compounds cooked out of it. "It's a hoax on the menu. It makes everyone the fool – the wait help, the kitchen staff, the chef and the diner all get the wrong lesson without ever tasting balsamic." says Darland. "There's a cruel humor in it." While cost-conscious chefs are reticent to pick up a bottle of Monticello vinegar, Dar- land has had to turn away many retailers try- ing purchase his product. Producing a maximum of 1000 bottles per year makes re- lationships with retailers a delicate balancing act. Each new retailer thins out the number of bottles that go to all the rest. "We sell on- line and through very special retailers, and have to be judicious with supply. We sold everything we bottled last year, and we were down to just two bottles when the year ended," says Darland. "So, we want retail al- lies with smart retail staff who we can rely on for sales. In turn they can rely on us for sup- ply." In addition to the 1000 4.5-ounce bot- tles, limited batches of one ounce bottles are released, as well as a condiment balsamic version made from the same grape must, but aged for less than 12 years. When asked how he is planning on ex- panding, Darland states, "I'm not." While some nationwide retailers have tried to bring Traditional Organic Balsamic of Monticello to their shelves, Darland doesn't have enough stock, and more importantly, doesn't like the way they do business. "If we had done that, we would have done it 23 years ago," says Darland. "The retailers we have are really smart and really know what they've got." Though making organic and artisan products is more involved, Darland steadfastly be- lieves that small production of quality ingre- dients has a growing place in the market. "These days, everything is monetized. But with true balsamic, there is no short term fis- cal shortcut. Rather than repeating the clas- sics, people have settled for fakes. Still, there is room for real, and things made with great care," says Darland. "Handcrafted, organic, small production is a lively segment for bal- samic and many gourmet products." GN Domestic Balsamic in the Heart of New Mexico For David Neuman, CEO of Gaea North America, education is the fruit from which olive oil sales flow. "Selling is a function of knowledge," he says. "For instance, no one's going to buy a $20,000 diamond un- less they know what it is." Olive oil is a fundamental product in the world of specialty foods grocery sales, even though oils aren't among the top 10 cate- gories for retail sales of specialty foods. "But if you look at the ring, olive oil is es- sential," Neuman counters. "There are very few categories where you ring up at $17 per unit." Persuading grocery buyers, both at the wholesale and retail level, that they should invest in quality olive oils that retail for much more than the price for cheaper oils depends on teaching them to understand what it is that they're being asked to pay for. Neuman, a 30 year specialty foods in- dustry veteran with an 11-year focus in olive oil as the former president of Lucini Italia and the current CEO of Gaea North America, is passionate about spreading that word. "It's a less sales-directed way to encourage the purchase. It's far more about information. I'm happy that my staff and I can donate our time. I'm happy that we can do consumer events. These are invest- ments and expenses that we're happy to make to try to correct the wrongs that buy- ers have learned. Buyers have learned that consumers are looking for cheap oil, but that's not the case," he says. "The consumers who shop at specialty food stores don't necessarily want cheap oil," he argues. He points to the wine aisles in the store, which demonstrate that these customers are willing to pay for what's in a good bottle as long as they understand the value and trust the merchant who's selling it to them. That's why many spe- cialty retailers employ sommeliers who have the credentials that help ensure that quality products are on the shelves and that inspire trust from the customers. Building that kind of trust for olive oil retailers starts with a similar investment in training, which is why Neuman says he personally has put on countless training sessions that he calls EVOO 101 over the past four years for major retailers, industry association gatherings and consumer events in the United States and Canada. "This is all pro bono. We do this as a labor of love, to help raise the standard and un- derstanding of quality, extra virgin olive oils versus the mass-produced, low-quality oils that many of the larger brands are dis- tributing," he says. "That is time and money out of my pocket, but these are things that we do because we care about the consumer, the integrity of good extra virgin olive oils and the industry as whole." Key members of Gaea's staff are also trained. They attend the ONAOO (Orga- nizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Olio di Oliva's) technical courses on the theory and practice of organoleptic evaluation of virgin olive oils. "My staff can't just be ex- pected to be knowledgeable in an anec- dotal way," Neuman says. "They have to go to school. That's a question that retailers should ask, 'Are the people representing the olive oil in America actually trained?'" "In my opinion, vendor representatives should have some kind of formal training as well, and that must be communicated in many different ways to buyers and the trade, so that they have credibility," he continues. He believes that better educated buyers and consumers will choose better oils, even at higher cost, which is how his com- pany, Gaea, stands to benefit from the in- vestment in better olive oil education. "As a start-up – Gaea went into business last March -- our company is proud that we are investing money and time that we don't have to spare because we feel that it's im- portant to the category. In the end, buyers will know more about what's required to make a high-quality oil, and that is where Gaea will benefit, as we are the perfect product for all of these stores. We are not just telling them that we are the best, we are training them to be able to identify high quality oils and draw the conclusion on their own," he says. "This is very im- portant for us to communicate. Gaea prod- ucts exceed every standard there is, but if the buyers aren't knowledgeable in the cat- egory, they're going to go with the path of less resistance, which is how inexpensive the oil is and how fast they can move it." "Retailers can up the ante, so that they're offering the high quality oils that cus- tomers have a right to expect, not just set- tling for the commodity oils that they think people want," he adds. "Just like the wine category, where consumers are will- ing to spend a premium price for a pre- mium product, customers will also be willing to pay for a premium olive oil. Re- tailers who don't offer premium products on their olive oil shelves are missing out on those sales." GN Olive Oil Education Pays Dividends for Retailers