What Gertrude Stein’s salon was to the Lost Generation’s literati, Albert Katz’s gourmet grocery is to northern California’s newest crop of artisans.
Inside Katz’s tidy Napa Valley shop, where his mellow yellow Labrador frequently takes her repose, the talk and tastes have turned of late to a modern American renaissance.
“Buttery, no?” Katz asked as he hovered near the centerpiece table of his establishment. “Try this one,” he said, gesturing toward a small bowl. “Interesting, but they may be asking too much of us.”
Wine still holds sway here in Napa and Sonoma Counties, but that a revolution is under way amid the vineyards is evidenced by the tastings, the gatherings and the gossip at Katz & Co.
At the heart of it all is one of northern California’s oldest residents, a gnarled but resilient breed with credits of the biblical rather than the Hollywood sort.
The region’s olive trees are making a comeback, and with them so is an impressive array of oil.
After peaking early in this century, California olive oil production went into steady decline as less-expensive vegetable oils grew in popularity and lower-priced olive oils from Italy and Spain flooded the market.
But that is starting to change.
“For whatever reason, it just clicked,” Katz said. “The idea just took shape to do something with all those olives that kept falling on the ground.”
Perhaps it began as a way of dealing with that annual precipitation, but a lot has happened in the three years since a small band of Napa and Sonoma pioneers turned their attention to those piles of purple fruit.
Thousands of trees are being imported from Tuscan hillsides to be lovingly tucked into New World soil. Ancient trees, some planted by Spanish missionaries as they migrated north from Mexico, are being revived.
Traditional California olive varieties are being supplemented by newcomers from Italy, Spain and France. Mission and manzanillo olives that have long graced the hills of northern California are now sharing grove space with picholine and lucques from France and frantoio, maurino and leccino from Italy.
Presses and crushers, some modern hydraulic devices and some century-old stone wheels, are grinding away.
And barely a weekend goes by when there isn’t a gathering at Albert Katz’s place, where the latest crop of oils–some buttery and smooth, some peppery and pungent–is sampled by the connoisseur and the curious rookie.
These are not oils for the fainthearted, nor for a hot saute pan. These are oils with characters and flavors as distinctive as vintage wines. These are oils to be dribbled delicately on salads and sopped sparingly on bread. For full appreciation, experts suggest, they should be licked off a spoon.
And now retailing around the country, including Chicago, in small bottles for $15 to $50, they are certainly not items for everyone’s kitchen.
“These are for intelligent palates,” said Ridgely Evers, one of the new breed of California olive-oil producers.
“People need to treat these oils like a condiment,” said Gregory Reisinger, who along with his partner, Bruce Cohn, produces some of northern California’s best and priciest olive oils. “We are always going to be targeted at a gourmet user, someone who can appreciate the quality of this oil.”
Perhaps snob appeal is part of the marketing strategy. Packaging often seems to get as much emphasis as what is inside.
Reisinger and Cohn’s top-of-the-line oil comes in a hand-etched, numbered bottle signed by the artisan who made it. The 500-milliliter bottle retails for $50.
But used sparingly, these oils can provide drop-for-drop pleasure that is not only for the wealthy. Some of the best flavors can be had at reasonable prices that make for sensible savoring.
However, that the industry is “hot” is attracting some makers more interested in the fad than the quality of their product, said Susan Goss, partner in the Chicago restaurant Zinfandel and a participant in a Good Eating tasting (see related story).
“My general impression is that this is an industry that people are jumping to get into, and because of that, the quality varies drastically,” Goss said. Consumers should be willing to try a variety of the oils if their first experience is not a good one.
“There are lots of good oils out there,” she said. “And given the relative youth of the industry, I’m very excited that there’s so much and so many out there that are so good.”
Time, Goss said, will even out inconsistencies. “People who are truly into it are going to put all their efforts into producing a top-quality oil. The people who aren’t are going to drop out.”
All of these are extra-virgin olive oils pressed in small batches by people who pride themselves on the ability to pick and blend for the fullest and most subtle possible flavors. They are nothing like the basic olive oil found on the grocery store shelf.
Listening to Jerry Berg describe a batch of his oil is almost as rich an experience as tasting it.
“The oil we pressed on Nov. 15, 1993, had a distinct taste of banana to it,” said Berg, manager of the Soda Creek Ranch in Napa. “It was definitely tropical, a desert kind of oil, very smooth.
“Two weeks later, the banana flavor had been replaced by subtle hints of apple, and some of the sweetness had started to fade.”
And to hear Berg tell it, young olive oils share certain characteristics with some adolescents.
“All new oils are brash,” he said.
Most of the new olive producers are also in the wine business. Such established California vineyards as Silverado, Glen Ellen and Rutherford are now in the olive oil business as well.
Others are new arrivals. Bruce Cohn used to manage the Doobie Brothers. Still others come from the ranks of newspaper and Hollywood heiresses. Walt Disney’s daughter Diane Miller also is making olive oil these days.
One relative newcomer is Jill Harrison, who started her olive-oil business because the olives, like Everest, were there.
“We got into this mainly because it was different,” she said, standing next to the huge stone wheels of the crusher the Harrisons shipped from Italy and then hauled over vine-covered hillsides to their oil atelier.
“It just made sense to do it here since olive trees were planted alongside the vineyards,” she said. “Besides, all the olives were going to waste.”
Her father purchased the vineyards a few miles east of St. Helena in Napa in 1989. She and her husband uprooted themselves from Boston to join in the new family venture, Harrison Vineyards.
It was two years later when she decided that there was some valuable fruit simply going to waste.
The Harrisons are determined to stay viable but small, and they seem content with their present production levels. Minor in comparison with some of the other fledgling producers, the Harrisons’ 1994 crop will yield only 800 cases of 12 (375-milliliter) bottles (about $12 a bottle).
Although their operation is small, the Harrisons are leading the way in terms of innovation this year with a startlingly flavored oil they call Olio Nouveau ($14.95).
“Something else, eh?” said Harrison as a visitor tasted the newly pressed oil.
It is indeed something else.
Be prepared for tangy tastes of avocado, a hint of banana and a final strong prick of pepper as an aftertaste. This is an oil with such a powerful flavor that it is going to elbow most others out of the way. It might complement some salads, but perhaps this delectable bully is best enjoyed simply with a meek sliver of bread.
The goal of these California producers is to raise the level of quality to the point where it equals, and some hope surpasses, that of the best European oils.
“The quality is definitely possible,” said Lila Jaeger, one of the very first to pioneer the new, high-quality olive production. “But there is a question as to whether it will ever be economically viable.”
That, many say, depends upon the willingness of Americans to venture into this new world.
“Ultimately, what this is all about is what you like,” said oilmaker Evers. “The health benefits of olive oil can be had from the least expensive olive oil you can buy.
“So you have to get people used to what to do with high-quality olive oil. It has to be more than something to dab behind each ear before your spouse gets home.”
Searching for California gold
The following stores carry some brands of California olive oil and are in Chicago unless otherwise noted:
Convito Italiano, Wilmette
Don’s Finest Foods, Lake Forest
Foodstuffs, Evanston and Glencoe
Knightsbridge, Deerfield
Leonard Solomon’s Wines & Spirits
Marshall Field’s, Chicago and Oak Brook
Mitchell Cobey Cuisine
Neiman Marcus stores
Schaefer’s Fine Wines, Foods & Spirits, Skokie
Spicery & Savory Seasonings, Mundelein
Whole Foods stores
Zinfandel Restaurant
LILA JAEGER’S CALIFORNIA OIL VINAIGRETTE
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: About 3/4 cup
Serve this dressing over crisp romaine tossed with shreds of fresh Parmesan cheese and a handful of black and green olives.
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons Champagne or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced fresh tarragon or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Minced fresh garlic, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1. Blend oil, lemon juice, vinegar and tarragon in a food processor or blender until smooth. Add cheese, garlic, salt and pepper and blend until smooth.
Nutrition information per tablespoon: 87 calories, 9 g fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 0 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein
KATZ & CO. OLIVE OIL MARINADE
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Yield: About 3/4 cup
Use this flavorful marinade for poultry, pork or lamb. For an easy duck or chicken salad, double the marinade and use half to marinate 2 boneless breast halves for about 1 hour. Then grill or pan-fry the duck until medium, about 10 minutes (increase time to about 12 minutes for chicken), then slice thinly. Serve the slices over a bed of mixed salad greens that have been tossed with the reserved marinade.
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 orange
Finely grated rind (colored part only) of 1 orange
2 tablespoons each: balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
2 bay leaves, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Fresh sage leaves to taste
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed, crushed, optional
1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Refrigerate up to several days.
Nutrition information per tablespoon: 35 calories, 3 g fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0 mg sodium, 1 g carbohydrates, 0 g protein
FETTUCCINE WITH BROCCOLI, ROASTED PEPPERS AND OLIVES
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
This recipe is adapted from “Fields of Greens” by Annie Somerville. The red pepper can be roasted directly over the gas burner or under a broiler until the skin chars on all sides, then peel and seed it. If time is short, substitute bottled roasted red pepper sold in the Italian food section of most supermarkets.
1 roasted red bell pepper, peeled, seeded
1 stalk broccoli, about 3 cups flowerets with stems
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 Nicoise or Gaeta olives, pitted, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Salt, freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound fresh fettuccine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs such as marjoram, parsley, thyme
Grated Parmesan or romano cheese
1. Heat a large pot of water to a boil. Slice the roasted pepper into thick strips, saving the juice, if any. Cut the broccoli into flowerets about 1-inch long, slicing the stem diagonally as you cut. Trim away the tough outer skin of the broccoli stalk and thinly slice on the diagonal.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet; add the garlic and cook and stir over medium-low heat for 2 minutes, being careful not to brown it. Reduce the heat and add the pepper strips and their juice, olives, lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
3. When the water is boiling, add 1 teaspoon salt and the fettuccine. Cook pasta for 30 seconds to 1 minute; add broccoli, and cook about 1 minute. Just before you drain the pasta, add 1/4 cup of the cooking water to the saute pan. Immediately drain the pasta and broccoli in a colander and shake off the excess water. Add to the skillet with the remaining tablespoon of oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt and the fresh herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with grated cheese.
Nutrition information per serving: 203 calories, 12 g fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 21 g carbohydrates, 5 g protein.
