Berger: California olives, grapes are good partners

An old wine industry saying: Where nothing grows, plant olives and grapes.

Both fruits are hardy, grow well in poor soils, do not demand water after they are established, and make basic products that sustained poor farmers for centuries, who could sell their wares without much fanfare.

Basic countryside wines and basic olive oils of the 17th and 18th centuries were unheralded staples without much distinction or sophistication.

Wine was the first of these two basic foods to gain world fame, notably with the 1855 classification of the wines of Bordeaux and the 20th century creation of a class of wine lovers who collected the stuff to age, speculate in, and sell to a viable commercial market.

It took a lot longer for olive oil to gain world fame - a tale best told in the terrific book “Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil,” by author Tom Mueller.

The parallels between the two liquids are striking. Both come from roundish fruits with seeds that, after little processing, may be eaten by the piece. And both, with careful procedures, can be turned into sublime liquids.

After a wine fermentation, the spent skins are pressed to get the last remaining drops. Many wine makers suggest that the “free run” juice is best since little or no pressing is involved that can make the wine bitter.

Olive oil is similar in that heavy pressing of the spent olives can create bitterness. So the phrases Virgin and especially Extra Virgin are used to indicate higher-quality oils in which pressing is not used.

Extra Virgin oils from Europe are prized and can be pricey, but the United States does not regulate that term. So when it is seen on a bottle of U.S.-produced oil, the meaning is muddy.

Italy and Spain are considered by oil experts to be the producers of the best oils, but we have tasted excellent oils from Greece, Portugal, Israel, New Zealand, Australia and even Chile and Argentina. In the past decade or so, many California oils have become well regarded and are gaining oil experts’ plaudits.

The best oils, say experts, are those made from individual varietals, with some olive varieties seen as better for making finer oils and some olive varieties seen as bland and indistinct.

Chardonnay, pinot noir and other grapes are best as varietal wines. As good as blended wines can be, in most cases it’s varietal wines that command the most attention.

The same is true for olive oils, though the tale is not as well told or widely understood as it is with wine.

Blended oils are widely available and can be good. But beware of labels that say “Packed in” Italy or Spain. The contents could be a modest-quality blend of oils from various countries that are not stated on the labels.

Varietal oils, notably from fine estates, typically command the highest prices and often will state the name of the olive used on the label.

Tuscany in Italy is rightly famed for its oil and the slightly peppery taste it gives, especially when young - the famed “olio nuovo.” Among the top olive varietals for fine extra-virgin Tuscan oil are Leccino and Frantoio.

A website for a nonprofit group, World’s Best Olive Oils, recently listed Venta del Baron, a Spanish oil, as the world’s finest Extra Virgin based on an analysis of olive oil competitions. The main olive used in that oil was a Spanish variety, Picudo, which mainly grows in Europe.

The Venta del Baron is available for about $23 for a 16.9-pounce bottle. An Internet search will help find it.

Another popular high-quality olive is Arbequina, which is widely planted in Catalonia and Andalusia, and which makes a superb, floral oil when grown in northern California.

Regional oils can also be fascinating, as we learned on a trip to Italy a few years ago when we tasted a fabulous and delicate, citrus-y oil from Liguria. We later learned that the oil was made from the local Taggiasca variety. Disappointingly, we tasted two Ligurian oils that are imported to the United States and found them to be tired.

That may be because olive oil begins to deteriorate soon after bottling and may not have withstood the trip here. (It’s best to store olive oils as cool as possible and use them as young as possible, which is one reason some excellent oils carry the vintage date.) Fresh is always better.

Graber, a historic California olive producer from Ontario, still makes tree-ripened olives of extraordinary character from the Mission variety, and its locally produced olive oils are among the finest in the state.

A final tip: If you dislike the taste of olive oil but still want its reported health benefits, try a light olive oil, which usually has little to no olive-y taste.

Sonoma County resident Dan Berger publishes “Vintage Experiences,” a weekly wine newsletter. Write to him at winenut@gmail.com.