To an Olive and Wine Grape Grower Be!
By
Hank & Sue Anderson
Valhalla Vineyards & Orchards
Paso Robles, California
Twelve years ago, we were living in Orlando, Florida. Hank was a Professor of Accounting at the University of Central Florida and a coauthor of six accounting textbooks, requiring continuous revisions. Sue was a housewife and her focus was on our children and grandchildren. We had a summer home in Flagstaff, Arizona, on a nationally ranked golf course. The plan was to retire and spend the rest of our lives playing golf, growing a few grape vines someplace in Arizona, and traveling.
Then, following Hank's retirement from UCF in the spring of 1998, a series of events significantly changed those plans. Hank got tired of golfing all the time. He also suffered a near total blockage of a coronary artery. Following stent surgery, he could no longer endure the 7,000+ feet elevation of Flagstaff. And in October 1998, we met two friends here in Paso Robles for a weekend of wine tasting. We stayed at the Arbor Inn, took a walk the next morning, saw the “For Sale” sign for this 26-acre vineyard ranch, called the realtor, toured the house and property, and returned to our winter home in Orlando. After several weeks of “discussion,” Sue finally agreed and, in December, we made an offer on the property. The rest is history!
But that was the beginning of this story, not the end. We had never planted or grown a wine grape vine before moving here in April 1999. Our only prior exposure to olive trees was the one that grew in our front yard when we lived in Villa Park, California. Its only contribution was the stain its fruit made on our beautiful lawn. We were not trained farmers. Hank had never driven a tractor prior to our first harvest in 1999. And we learned how to control weeds, birds, gophers, rabbits, deer, leaf hoppers, mites, powdery mildew, and poison oak the hard way. But this venture has truly been a labor of love. We have worked hard, studied, and attended classes. Most of our newly gained knowledge has been from “on the job training.” And we have met many wonderful people who were in somewhat the same boat as us. We have shared stories and moments of reward for our efforts. So began a new life of learning new skills and setting new goals. It took Sue almost two years and a new kitchen in our home before she finally admitted that this new life was pretty special.
The Olive Oil Venture
Our home sits on a two-acre hilltop. When we moved here, the lot adjacent to our parking area had a couple of large walnut trees, some assorted fruit trees, a couple of Thompson seedless grape vines, and a lot of weeds. Much of the area was open. So in the summer of 1999 and with the help of our friends, Sam & Janice Ortiz (the couple we were with when we found this property), we cleared the weeds and old tree stumps, laid out a forty-two tree orchard plan, dug the holes using a rented auger device, trenched the area for an irrigation system, installed the irrigation piping and risers, and planted forty-two, one gallon sized Manzanillo olive trees. Our olive oil venture had begun.
We had a hillside that was weed infested near the road by our back loading gate area. One day in early 2000, we decided to start clearing the hillside. After weeding for only a few minutes, Sue banged into an irrigation riser. A short distance away, we found another one. Before the morning was over, we had uncovered 40 risers from what must have been a defunct fruit or nut orchard. It also explained the purpose for one of the valves in our irrigation system.
With the irrigation risers already in place, we planted forty olive trees (Mission olives) on that hillside. And every year since 2000, we have planted 30-40 olive trees along roadsides or in small empty areas all over the property. To date, we have planted 350 olive trees that are in various stages of growth and olive yield. In addition to the Manzanillo (Spanish) and Mission (USA) olive trees, we have planted Frantoio (Italian), Arbequina (Spanish), Coratina (Italian), Arbosana (Spanish), Koroneiki (Greek), Grappolo (Italian), Pendolino (Italian) and Sevillano (Spanish) olive trees.
Our first olive harvest was in December 2004 and those 630 pounds of olives produced about 10 gallons of olive oil. Although we sold a couple of cases of this oil, most of it was given away as gifts or used in our own kitchen. The December 2005 harvest yielded 2,077 pounds of olives (over a ton!) and produced 38 gallons of oil. We finally had enough oil to have it certified as being Extra Virgin Olive Oil by the California Olive Oil Council (COOC). The COOC's panel of expert olive oil tasters continue to certify our olive oils as being of extra virgin quality. We are most pleased with their decisions and with the high quality of our Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Valhalla.
The Wine Grape Growing Venture
Our property is comprised of small rolling hills and has four vineyard blocks. We inherited a couple of wonderful Merlot vineyards, but two of our vineyards had suffered from many years of neglect. In 2001, we replanted one of the Merlot vineyards and the second one, Viognier grapes, has been undergoing rehabilitation since 2007. We were also fortunate to inherit two existing grape contracts, one with Wild Horse Winery and one with Alban Vineyards. Both Scott Welcher at Wild Horse and John Alban took us under their wings and helped to guide us in those early years. Somehow they knew from the beginning that we were serious about this venture and not just weekend growers. In 2006, we signed a contract with a young winemaker, Justin Kahler, for our Viognier grapes.
The Merlot grapes used to make Wild Horse Winery's 2003 Unbridled Merlot - Valhalla Vineyard were grown in three blocks of Merlot vines totaling eight acres. Every task from pruning, weeding, cluster thinning, leaf pulling (to allow more sunlight to bathe the grapes), to finally the harvesting of the grapes were all done by hand. The tractor was used primarily to till the rows and spray for insects and powdery mildew. Wild Horse Winery's vineyard manager, Chris Ferrara, and his staff monitored our progress continuously throughout the growing season. With the support of winery personnel, help from our half-time employee, Vidal, and some hard work and good vineyard management, we were able to produce a superior Merlot grape.
We are very proud of our “Vineyard Designate” status and we hope you enjoy the wine and olive oil made from the fruits of our labor!
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