Sonoma Valley vineyard breaks record for olive harvest

Following the smallest olive harvest in Gloria Ferrer’s history, 2022’s harvest “snuck up on us” and obliterated all expectations, said vineyard manager Brad Kurtz.

In 2021, the yield was dismal, with just 1.9 tons of olives harvested from the Arnold Drive property. But this year, Kurtz’s team picked and plumed their way through 15 tons of olives from Gloria Ferrer’s onsite grove.

“We ended up with a record harvest by like 20%, higher than any previous harvest in the last 15 years,” Kurtz said. “They alternate between a heavy yield year and a lighter year … this was on the coming off of an extremely light year in 2021.”

While a big harvest was expected, Kurtz said the early ripening of the crop this year caught his crew flat-footed. Gloria Ferrer began harvesting its olive crop nearly two weeks ahead of schedule on Oct. 20, he said.

“We blinked and all of a sudden all the olives are ready to pick,” Kurtz said. “With the heavy yields, we had we expected a later harvest day because typically you have a later harvest date when you have those a bigger crop load.”

In terms of production, olives are one of the most consistent crops in Sonoma County, according to the Sonoma County Crop Report, and they thrive in the Mediterranean climate of the North Bay.

Over the last five years, Sonoma County olive growers produced between 381 and 391 tons per year — representing $400,000 to $523,000 in sales. While far behind the county’s most lucrative crops of winegrapes ($540 million) and cannabis ($121 million), olives are often grown on winery estates, creating a second crop for the property.

Olives are sturdier than many of the grapes grown in Sonoma County. Fragile grape skins can become sunburned or tainted by smoke, while the skin of olives are “much more robust.”

“A lot of the varieties that we grow in California are Spanish or Tuscan varieties that are well adapted to high heat,” Kurtz said, mentioning the heat wave that spiked in fall. “The main effects seems to be that it's sped up to harvest date by quite a bit.”

The crew at The Olive Press kicked into high gear in late October through November, when the mill pressed pound after pound of high-quality extra virgin olive oil, said Teresa Hernando, general manager of the Olive Press.

“Fall is the most exciting time with the mill in action to produce our annual Olio Nuovo from the first press of freshly harvested olives,” Hernando said in an email. “This is the first crush of the season and produces a pungent, vibrate green oil, bursting with the intense flavor and aroma of fresh olives.”

That late autumn heat wave encouraged the olives to ripen faster than normal — but not evenly at Gloria Ferrer. Microclimates caused olive trees on the property to ripen individually which adds to the final product, Kurtz said.

“Uneven ripening across the board should add to complexity and flavors,” Kurtz said. “We pick about 50/50, where half of them are green and half of them are black. That kind of maximizes the oil yield while retaining the green and pretty flavors that are so important in oil.”

This balancing act between green and black olives is a science for olive producers like Kurtz and the Olive Press.

“Ripe black olives will yield a lot of oil, but it may not be the flavor profile that you're looking for,” Kurtz said. “You may not get that the acidity and you may not get the peppery green flavors that a lot of people like in a higher quality olive oil.”

Similar to winemaking, the key to making a succulent olive oil is limiting the oxidation of fruit before it’s pressed into oil and bottled. The unexpected heat activated Gloria Ferrer’s picking team earlier than usual for their record-shattering harvest.

Luckily, Kurtz said, “We're very nimble.”

“We were coming off of a little bit of a scary year last year,” Kurtz said. “It was a real rebound year for us, and we're really excited about that, because we're going to be able to offer our olive oil to pretty much anybody that wants it this year.”

Contact Chase Hunter at chase.hunter@sonomanews.com and follow @Chase_HunterB on Twitter.

Correction: A previous version of this article contained a misspelling of the Olive Press’s General Manager Teresa Hernando. The article has been updated to reflect the accurate spelling of her name.