Templeton olives star in high-end products
The hills around Paso Robles were built for the vine — but the same warm days, cool nights and lean soils make fine olive oil too. A look at California’s small, handcrafted, Tuscan-style producers, and how to judge one.
Drive California’s Central Coast and you expect vines. But scattered among the vineyards around Templeton and Paso Robles you will find olive groves — many planted by wine growers who wanted something evergreen, and discovered the tree pays its way. The oils that come out of this country are a small, proud, handcrafted category : Tuscan cultivars, pressed in tiny batches, bottled and labelled by hand. It is worth understanding what they are, because they show what the New World does well with the olive.
Why wine country suits the olive
The olive and the vine like the same things : hot dry summers, cool nights, poor stony soil that makes the plant struggle a little. That struggle concentrates flavour in both grape and fruit. Paso Robles has exactly this — big diurnal swings and lean ground — so growers already fluent in terroir found the olive an easy second crop. Many plantings here went in only a generation ago, which by olive standards makes them practically newborns.
What ‘Tuscan varietal’ really means
The signature planting is a Tuscan mix — Frantoio and Leccino above all, sometimes Pendolino or Maurino as pollinators. These give the green, grassy, peppery oil people associate with Tuscany. California growers often pick a touch later and press a little riper, so the pepper mellows into something rounder than a true Tuscan Italian oil. Same grammar, softer accent. It is a legitimate style, not an imitation.
The economics of small batch
Here is the part the pretty bottle does not explain. Handcrafting is expensive — hand-harvest, small mills, hand-bottling, imported amphora-shaped glass. That is why boutique California oil costs what a supermarket litre never could. You are paying for freshness and traceability rather than scale. The honest ones tell you the harvest year and the cultivars ; the good ones taste unmistakably fresh, green and alive, which cheap oil almost never does. See the true cost of an olive for why that price is real.
| Region | Paso Robles / Templeton, Central Coast California |
|---|---|
| Typical cultivars | Frantoio, Leccino (Tuscan blend) |
| Style | Green, grassy, peppery — often a touch riper/milder than Tuscany |
| Scale | Boutique ; small batch, hand-bottled |
| Harvest | Autumn, often picked slightly late for balance |
| Best use | Raw finishing — salads, bread, grilled vegetables |
Buying California olive oil well
- Look for the harvest year on the bottle — boutique oil lives and dies by freshness.
- Expect to see the cultivars named (Frantoio, Leccino); vagueness is a warning sign.
- Treat it as a finishing oil — its green pepper is wasted in a hot pan.
- Do not compare its price to a supermarket blend ; you are buying a different product entirely.
California olive oil: common questions
Is California olive oil any good?
The best small producers make excellent, fresh, peppery oil. Because it is often bottled close to harvest and sold locally, freshness — the thing that matters most — is easy to guarantee.
What does ‘Tuscan varietal’ mean?
It means the grove is planted with Tuscan cultivars like Frantoio and Leccino, giving a green, peppery oil in the Tuscan style rather than a specific Italian origin.
Why is it so expensive?
Small-scale, hand-harvested, hand-bottled oil simply costs more to make. You are paying for freshness and craft, not industrial scale.
Is it the same as Italian oil?
Same cultivars, similar style, but usually a little rounder and milder — California growers often press slightly riper fruit.
How should I use it?
Raw, as a finishing oil : over salads, bread, grilled vegetables or fish, where its fresh green pepper can be tasted.
Original background on California Central Coast olive oil and Tuscan-varietal plantings; written independently, not drawn from any single producer’s account.
Do not sneer at New World oil. A fresh Frantoio-Leccino pressed last autumn in Paso Robles will beat a tired ‘Italian’ blend that has been sitting on a warm shelf for two years — every time. Freshness trumps pedigree. The one thing to insist on is a harvest date ; with boutique oil that date is the whole story.
Original evergreen piece on California Central Coast olive oil; no third-party article reproduced.