Olive harvest is underway and the crop appears to be light

The harvest of olives, a niche crop prized for its quality but dwarfed by winegrapes in Sonoma County, is under way. And the crop appears to be light.

Workers on Wednesday were picking Redding Picholine and Picholine olives at the BR Cohn Winery for its Picholine blend.

A week ago, the harvest wrapped up at Ridgeley Evers' Dry Creek Vineyard, which produces olive oil under the Davero label.

“There are about 600 acres and 150 growers,” in Sonoma County, said Paul Vossen, an adviser with the UC Cooperative Extension in Santa Rosa. That's merely a blip compared to a county that boasts 60,000 acres of vineyards. But it continues a harvest season into November and December for production of fine olive oil and other products.

While there are a few large growers, the industry is made up mostly of wineries and other small growers with an acre or less.

Evers is one of the largest growers, with 4,500 trees that are Tuscan varietals, planted in 1991 from cuttings taken from an 800-year-old grove in Lucca, Italy.

This year, however, Evers said the harvest was lighter than normal, and no one seems to know why.

“We harvested about 26 or 27 tons,” Evers said. “That is very light. Last year it was light. We got 44 tons. ... Something was odd this year. No one is quite sure what it is.”

Bruce Cohn, who has been making olive oil since 1990 at his Glen Ellen winery, has 435 mature trees on eight acres and has taken cuttings to plant another 500 trees.

“It takes six to 10 years before they start to produce,” Cohn said. “These trees are 140 years old, planted in the 1870s. They are quite mature and very large.”