Vicente Fox

Recently, we had a distinguished visitor, Vicente Fox, former President of Mexico. He came to see our olive grove and olive mill. He wanted to discuss numerous aspects of growing olives and producing oil. Former President Fox has started planting olive trees on his ranch in Mexico and he hopes to increase the awareness of people in Mexico of the benefits of using extra virgin olive oil. We discussed irrigation, fertilizing, pruning, harvesting and other aspects of growing olives. We also talked about manufacturers of olive oil mills and the contacts for these different companies. Overall, it was a very pleasant visit. The photo on the left shows Alice Asquith, one of the owners of Ojai Olive Oil, Inc, talking with former President Fox.

Right now (May 16), there is a heavy bloom on our olive trees. This shows us that there is the potential for a good olive crop this year. Whether or not this potential is realized depends on the weather over the next few weeks and the successful pollination of the tiny olive blossoms. It is a time of hope and of irrigation of the trees.

Golden extra-virgin olive oil straight from the press

At the beginning of this year, we sent two of our extra virgin oils to Europe to participate in an annual competition among olive oils of the world. For 2010, 865 extra virgin oils were submitted to be judged by an international panel of experts from Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Germany. These oils came from every continent, the majority from the southern European countries. Our “Signature” oil was selected as one of the best 50.

This competition is sponsored by Der Feinschmecker magazine. The letter from their editor to us said, “We are especially happy to inform you, that your oil is among the top 50 olive oils of our tasting. It will therefore be included in our edition of June 2010 as one of the best olive oils in the world.”

We started participating in this competition six years ago. Our oils have been selected five times in those six years to be included in their annual special edition on olive oils of the world.

We have just added two new balsamic vinegars to our product list. These are Peach and Blackberry Ginger. We now have 22 different products and the list is growing.

Ron Asquith
(805) 701-3825