PETALUMA, Calif. — As the grape harvest winds down in Sonoma County, another is on the horizon. Olives will soon be ready to make the journey from tree to mill, offering a taste of the season.
Visitors can trace freshly harvested olives from the trees to the mill, then taste the oil with bread during McEvoy Ranch's olive harvest mill tour this autumn.
Guests begin in the groves of the 550-acre Petaluma ranch, walking among olive trees and learning how the ranch grows, tends, and harvests the fruit.
They then follow the olives' path to the onsite mill to learn how the fruit becomes extra virgin olive oil.
When milling is underway, visitors can watch the process in real time. Each tour ends with a taste of freshly milled olive oil served with bread.
The harvest shapes each visit to the ranch, whose olive oil operations were established after founder Nan McEvoy imported 1,000 seedlings from Italy in 1990.
She drew her inspiration from Tuscan olive oil. Guests to the Petaluma ranch may see workers picking olives, fruit arriving at the mill, or fresh oil emerging from that day's production, according to the ranch.
Because milling follows the harvest rather than a fixed schedule, the mill may not operate during every tour.
Dates: Oct. 6 to Nov. 3
Times: Two daily tours, 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Duration: 45 minutes
Price: $40 per person; $34 for McEvoy Ranch Social Club members
Reservations: Open to the public and available through Tock
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