Our olive harvest has begun! Our field teams are gathering ripe, oil-rich olives around the clock and taking them to the mill. Our milling team is crushing them into delicious, extra virgin olive oil. Walk into the mill day or night and you'll inhale the heavenly aroma of freshly crushed olives. It's our favorite time of year.

Over the next several weeks our field crews will collect truckloads of olives from trees across northern California.  

Below is a primer on the three olives we grow and the oil they produce.   

The Arbequina Olive and the Fruity Oil it Produces

The Arbequina olive accounts for our largest crop, amounting to about 80 percent of the olives we grow. This plump, round olive originally is from Spain's Catalonia region. And the taste? We use terms like grassy, herbaceous and green olive to describe the Arbequina oil we bottle.

Our Arbequina oil has a "medium" aroma level versus, say, the "intense" aroma of our Miller's Blend. Similarly, it has a medium level of bitterness, which is considered a positive attribute of extra virgin olive oil.

It's great for dipping and salad dressings. We also like to use it in baking when substituting olive oil for butter.  (Click here to read blog about the Arbequina olive.)

The Arbosana Olive and the Floral Oil it Yields

The round, fat Arbosana olive produces a medium-robust oil that's great with chocolate - think olive oil chocolate mousse. It's also good drizzled on soups or bruschetta rubbed with fresh garlic. As for taste, the Arbosana oil we bottle has floral, herbaceous and nutty characteristics.

Arbosana accounts for about 15 percent of the olives we cultivate. The Arbosana olive, like the Arbequina olive, comes originally from Spain. Our Arbosana oil has a "medium-intense" aroma level, slightly greater than Arbequina's "medium" aroma. It also has a medium-intense level of bitterness and pungency. (Click here to read blog about the Arbosana olive.)

The Koroneiki Olive and the Peppery Oil It Produces

Koroneiki is a small green olive shaped like a tear drop. It hails from Greece, where it's  considered that country's most important variety. The smallest of our northern California olive crop, Koroneiki accounts for about 5 percent of the olives we cultivate.

As for the flavor profile, herbaceous, pear, and green olive characterize our Koroneiki oil. It's more robust than Arbequina and Arbosana. Unlike Arbequina and Arbosana, we don't bottle our Koroneiki oil as a single-varietal oil. We blend it with other oils to make Miller's Blend, where it delivers robust bitterness and pepperiness. (Click here to read blog about the Koroneiki olive.)