As entrepreneurs will, Stollman made it happen, buying equipment and installing it in a former hardware store in Glen Ellen, a 10-minute drive from the town of Sonoma. The Chalone Vineyard brand, for example, is made from olives grown on trees brought over from France, and is strongly fruity. And then there's Stollman's own Glen Ellen blend, a robust, also fruity oil. At the other end of the spectrum is McEvoy Ranch. When she bought the property in 1991, she decided to grow olives primarily because they were less work than grapes and cattle, the dominant local farm products.
Olive trees are graceful, lovely, and low-maintenance.
Many live for hundreds of years, and some for thousands. They're almost impossible to kill. In fact, back in the Mediterranean, trees are rarely watered, and yet they manage to produce fruit in all but the most drought-stricken years. As on most California farms, of course, there is irrigation at McEvoy Ranch. It's a blend of Italian olives, although like many producers McEvoy is experimenting with olives from all over the Mediterranean.