UC Davis Olive Oil

Caption the photo to say what year's bottle are being shown

The Grounds Division at UC Davis actually harvests a lot of the olives from these trees, bottles it up, and sells high quality olive oil. The UC Davis Olive Center is involved as well. Three different blends of extra-virgin olive oil were created and sold in 2008: Wolfskill, Gunrock, and The Silo. The Quad has not been available since 2006. All of the olive oils have won awards at the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition and the Yolo County Fair. In 2010, the product line includes two wine vinegars: Dinny Red Wine and Dinny White Wine Vinegar, both named after a former Viticulture and Enology professor. The 2009 olive harvest which supplies oil on the shelves for 2010 was a very low harvest year. Because of this, there are only two UC Davis extra-virgin olive oils available in 2010.

You can buy Silo and Gunrock at the UC Davis Bookstore, in person or online, and on the UC Davis Olive Center website. The new UC Davis olive oils for 2010 will be released at the bookstore on July 22, 2010. Silo is a medium bodied EVOO and Gunrock is more robust.

According to a study published in 2010 by UC Davis and Australian researchers, more than two-thirds of the imported olive oils sold in California do not meet the highest-grade “extra virgin” standards their labels profess.

Media

Caption the photo to say what year's bottle are being shown Read a feature blog about the UCD Olive Oil Center from a February 2010 post by Davis Life Magazine.

2008-06-14 19:24:13   I think the UC Davis olive oil is quite disappointing. It really isn't very fruity for EVOO, and it has a bitter aftertaste. Thats just my opinion. —MattHh

2008-07-02 19:59:37   The olive oil definitely has an aftertaste (more spicy than bitter) but I really enjoy trying all the different oils and vinegars. I buy it because it's local (as local as you could possibly get it!) and it's pretty good for salad, pasta, and cooking. It makes a great UC Davis gift for friends and family who don't need another t-shirt from the Bookstore... —SRB

2010-06-18 09:37:18   The spicy aftertaste is a sign of high quality. It's a taste characteristic on which extra virgin olive oils are judged. —EdwardNiemand