Our Story

Partridge Family Olive Oil is a family-owned hobby grove producing small batches of hand-crafted California Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Our adventure essentially started in 2008 with the planting of our first trees.  In all, we have about 175 to make Tuscan-style Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

We are located at 1575 Charolais Road (between South River & Creston) in Paso Robles, County of San Luis Obispo on the California Central Coast.  We are a private residence; however, personalized visits & tastings are available by special request.  Please see our secure GroveFront page for our contact information. 

Residence

OUR PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT

Our commitment is to ensure unsurpassed EVOO quality, product distinction, and integrity.

 

A LITTLE BACKGROUND

Partridge Family Olive Oil consists of Mike, Angela & Shelby along with German Shorthaired Pointers Pongo & Cisco (Tuscan & Wyatt, now deceased).

Mike comes from English, Welsh & German descent.  He has a strong business background and has successively been at the helm of the family-built 4WD drivetrain conversion business for over two decades. His stress relief is his love to cook, especially using high quality extra virgin olive oils.

Angela is first and second generation Italian.  Her inspiration to start up a small hobby grove was a way to incorporate her heritage, and the family's love of good food and appeal towards stronger extra virgin Tuscan Olive Oils.

Although a decent amount of physical work is involved with an olive grove, it proves to be a nice distraction for us when not running our main occupation which is the  50+ year old manufacturing business in Paso Robles known worldwide as Advance Adapters.

 

POINTS OF INTEREST

What's the significance of your logo & labeling? Our 'Mondrian-style' logo symbolize our actual family name.  Our distinctive labeling also has personal or local significance which is the inspiration for the whole family when creating exceptional blends.

First year tree oil production?  2012.  

First brand name?  "Shelby's Blend".  We had many ‘firsts’ this year, namely our daughter Shelby who had to be born prematurely at 31 weeks.  Hence, within our logo you will find her footprints which we feel is a strong representation for all preemies and their families.  This oil was in a laser etched bottled.

Other blends/brands?  "Tusci" was our 2nd blend release in 2015, a medium Tuscan-style blend for everyday use.  This was the first time using veneer wood labeling, but now we use a custom gold label featuring Etruscan art.  Our 3rd release in 2016 is called "Points North" and typically our bold Tuscan blend.  The name and logo concept for this new blend was to incorporate our dogs & locale somehow, but coming up with the name was entirely a different story.  About a month of tossing around ideas, it was purely by accident that we found the right name in AAA's Westways magazine describing points of interests "all points north of Southern CA".  Whalla!  Points North was born. The label was redesigned in 2020 to resemble a geodetic survey marker and still features one of our GSPs.   And finally in 2017, we rounded out the options by combining all of our grove varietals into one ultimate 'field blend' which we offer as "The Field".

What about future releases?  Our plan is alternately offer blends from time-to-time.  Perhaps making a mild monocultivar blend using Taggiasca olives exclusively, and to offer it between Point's North, Tusci & The Field is our thought for this brand.  It largely depends how much olive oil we produce from year-to-year.  Lastly, our design plans to make the "Drop of Olive" flint crystal-like bottle was shelved indefinitely because of bottle sourcing difficulties.  Maybe one day we'll be able to offer it as a reserve line.

Other hobbies?  Spending time with our German Shorthaired Pointer(s), Confirmation Dog shows, and the old sport of Racing Pigeons.

 

THE GROVE

We grow five main Italian varietals (115 trees):  Frantoio, Leccino, Coratina, Maurino and Pendolino.   Our creative venture is to produce the ideal profile of rustic Tuscan blends having just the right balance of pepper & fruity notes with a smooth buttery texture. 

greenripeolives
  • Frantoio – Creates oil with true Tuscan character that is sharp, flavorful oil
  • Leccino – Robust Tuscan cultivar somewhat milder than Frantoio, rich & buttery
  • Coratina – From Puglia (southern Italy) high, consistent fruitfulness yet robust.
  • Maurino – Delicate and fruity
  • Pendolino – Soft and faintly sweet Tuscan cultivar

Initially we just used the ‘field blend’ method (up to 2015), but this proved too inconsistent.  After attending the Fresno State Master Milling Seminar at the Jordan Agricultural Research Center in August 2016, we learned control measures were needed to ensure that quality remains number one.  Color-coding the trees allows us to pick varietals (depending on how much we have) into separate lots if we wish. The benefit of this is we can master blend the EVOO based on characteristics or desired percentages of each varietal; and/or if one is exceptional, bottle it as a single cultivar or create other brands. 

60 Tree TAGGIASCA Block Addition

In the spring of 2015, we planted another block in the upper portion of our acreage of strictly Taggiasca trees.  We chose this cultivar because of the close genetic similarity to Frantoio. (both cultivars share a common ancestor).  Taggiasca olives are prized for having exceptional flavor and high yield in oil.  We also selected this varietal not only for its uniqueness, but suitability.  This block location has North & South weather & wind exposure, and these trees are able to handle these conditions.

This varietal has a bit of rich history.  The Taggiasca olive varietal is an olive tree with origins in Western Liguria on the Riviera del Ponente.  Its history dates back to the Benedictine Monks of Taggia Monastery from Pedona (known today as Borgo San Dalmazzo in Piedmont) who brought olive transplants from Monte Cassino – the birthplace of the Benedict Order located on a rocky hill 8 miles SE of Rome.  The Benedictine Monks cultivated the Ligurian olive trees by meticulous selecting & grafting. 

Then by the 16th century when oversees navigation began, this olive oil became a commodity most traded from that region.  Since that time, this varietal has been called “Taggiasca”, derived from their ancient Roman city name ‘Taggia’ (taggiasche); and these olives constituted one of the most important economic income sources for the local populace in the province of Imperia, Liguira (Italy).  This cultivar is one of thousands available world-wide but is still the only varietal grown in Liguria.  Today, the Taggiasca olive has become one of the most sought after olive oils because of its distinctive characteristics.  We feel privileged to be growing it here in Paso Robles, CA and we plan to press these olives separately for an exclusive bottling when the trees produce fully.