Pacific Sun Bay Area Demo Tour 5/26&27/05

Dan Flynn will be bringing Gold Medal winning Pacific Sun Olive Oil to the Bay Area 5/26/05 and 5/27/05 Here is the schedule. Please stop by one of these fine stores and say hi to Dan if you have the time.

Here is the schedule:

Whole Foods Market Redwood City
5/26/05 11am-2pm
1250 Jefferson Ave
Redwood City, CA 94062
650.367.1400

Whole Foods Market Palo Alto
5/26/05 4pm-7pm
774 Emerson Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301
650.326.8676

Whole Foods Market San Francisco SOMA
5/27/05 11am-2pm
399 4th Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
415.618.0066

Whole Foods Market San Francisco Franklin
5/27/05 3pm-7pm
1765 California Street
(Corner of California & Franklin)
San Francisco, CA 94109
415.674.0500

Report From The Field - 5/24/05 Coke Ranch Corning Ca.

Here are a few pictures from the Coke Ranch in Corning, Ca. In general, this ranch is a bit behind some of the other ranches in terms of its bloom progress. All in all, the bloom looks consistently decent throughout the ranch. Some trees are especially heavy. Here is a picture of one of the younger trees at the ranch with nice, even bloom coverage.

Here is a close-up of some olive blossoms. These are a week or more behind the Mission olive blossoms pictured in the previous post.


Here are some general numbers that are thrown about regarding olive germination. The average number of blossoms per mature tree is taken to be around 500,000, 1% germination is considered to be a respectable rate. This means that there would be approximately 5000 olives per tree.

Since olives are largely self-pollinated, weather is especially crucial. We want the wether to be reasonable still, perhaps lightly breezy. The temperature should be below 90 degrees fahrenheit and there should be enough moisture in the orchard to keep the blossoms moist. Strong, hot winds can be cataclysmic since they dry the blossoms out very quickly and decrease the possible number of viable blossoms.

Please feel free to post your qusetions if you have any. I will add more information as the olives develop.

Sincerely - Brian - The Classicist - Sales and Marketing Manager

Report From The Field - 5/23/05 Gerber, Ca

We are on the tail end of the bloom. Here are the latest snapshots from our Mission trees on Gerber Road. After the blossoms have germinated, the olives begin to form. In these pictures, you can tiny green olives under the flowers which will most likely fall off by the end of the week.


Here is another picture with the tiny olives more clearly visible.

Things are moving along here in the field. In the next few weeks some of these olives may drop from the tree or fail to develop. By the middle of June we will have a better idea of what the crop for 2005 will look like.

Sincerely - Brian - The Classicist - Sales and Marketing Manager

Internet Connectivity Issues

Our Office Internet Access Is Intermittent Currently Due To An Unspecified Problem..... Posts may occur less frequently until we can set up a new service. Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely - Brian - The Classicist, Sales and Marketing Manager

Gold Medal Winning Pacific Sun Olive Oil

I just got off the phone with the "Olive Oils Of The World Competition" at the LA County Fair, we sent five enteries and got 4 gold medals and 1 bronze medal. The results are as follow:

• Pacific Sun Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tehama County Blend - Gold Medal
• Pacific Sun Extra Virgin Propietor's Select Ascolana Olive Oil - Gold Medal
• Pacific Sun Extra Virgin Olive Oil Woodson Bridge Sevillano - Gold Medal
• Pacific Sun Extra Virgin Olive Oil Manzanillo/Sevillano Blend - Gold Medal
• Pacific Sun Extra Virgin Olive Oil Riverview Ranch Tuscan Blend - Bronze Medal

This is great news indeed. Hats off to everyone at Pacific Farms and to all of our excellent growers. More information on this will be posted in the near future. Here is a quick note about the competition:

The Fair also hosts the Olive Oils of the World competition held in conjunction with the wine event. Begun in 2000, the competition is now the largest olive oil competition in the nation. The 2004 competition received 239 oils from around the world.

Sincerely - Brian - The Classicist - Sales and Marketing Manager

Report From The Road - Back Home Again

We returned from Portland on Saturday Night/Sunday Morning at 3am. It is great to be home. The road would be much less tolerable were it not for the fact that we have great friends who provide us with hospitality and lodging. Brian Kenny would like to thank Josh and Megan Nelson for putting up with him on this last trip:


Brian with his cousins Mike McElwee and Josh and Megan Nelson

Dan Flynn would like to thank Matt and Diana Schindler for opening their home to him:


Diana, Saul, and Matt Schindler with Dan

Thanks again to the aforementioned for taking good care of us.

Sincerely - Brian - The Classicist - Sales and Marketing Manager

Report From The Road - Portland

Yesterday was a great day. The sun actually re-emerged from behind the clouds and illuminated the 256 shades of rain-wrought green so prevalent in the Pacific Northwest. The demos and meetings that we conducted yesterday went very well. We really love New Seasons Market. We were fortunate to get to see our friend Eric Rose at New Seasons yesterday. Eric has been a real proponent of our product in Portland and we can't articulate how much we appreciate his support, attitude, and world-view.

We were also fortunate enough to be able to enjoy lunch at Provvista (our most excellent distributor here in the Northwest) yesterday. We caught the tail end of a seminar on Stilton (an amazing cheese that is like a blue cheddar) and enjoyed lunch with the Provvista crew. They are an exceptional group and their passion for food is both infections and encouraging. The quality of their staff and the products thay represent is second to none. It is an honor to have Provvista represent our products.

Thanks to everyone at Provvista especially Tim, Ben, Alex, and Randy Montgomery.

One of the most impressive things about the Portland food scene is how humble, friendly, receptive, and generally cool all of the food people are up here. Despite the fact that Portland has long had a number of great restaurants, the Portland food scene has only recently emerged as a force with which to be reckoned. Despite all of the recent attention and acclaim, the city's top chefs are a very friendly and humble group dedicated to supporting local, artisinal producers. We want to thank the Portland chefs who have supported us in the past. We would also like to congratulate Vitaly Paley on his recent Beard award for Best Chef Northwest (the other three nominees were all from Seattle).

We also had a great meal last night on the Southeast side at "Three Doors Down." We were in excellent company, dining with Matt and Diana Schindler (friends of Dan's with whom Dan is staying) and the food was great as were the drinks and the service.

Report From The Road - Oregon, We Come In Peace

We have been catching a great deal of flack regarding the current diaspora of Californians to Oregon. We at Pacific Sun have come to Oregon in peace bearing both olive branches and a message of peace:

We are sorry large portions of population of California is relocating to Oregon (Portland especially). There are many reasons for this exodus and we could discuss them for days on end. The Most important thing is that you can get all of the Californians to leave. Simply elect Charleton Heston as your govenor and all of the ex-Californians will flee into the loving embrace of Arnold the Governator.

Sincerely, Brian - The Classicist - Sales and Marketing Manager

Report From The Road - Portland

New Seasons Market is a great place. Dan and I worked both the Orenco Station and Sellwood storres yesterday. We were really impressed by both the quality of the stores and the quality of the folks running them. The customers are great too. If every store was like New Seasons, the gorcery industry would have a great reputation. Thanks to the folks at bith stores expecially Sam and Christie at the Orenco Station store and Maia and Stephen at the sellwood store. Here is Dan representing at the Orenco Station Store:

Report From The Road - Eugene

Dan Flynn and I left Northern California On Tuesday, 5/10/05 and drove through a winter storm (in May, no less) to Eugene, Or. We arrived at Capella Market in time to start our demo. Capella is a great little store that just opened in March. The staff at Capella are great but it is the mural of a cloudy blue sky adorning the cieling that steals the show. Here is a shot of it with Dan hiding behind the demo table:


Thanks to the folks at Capella, especially Dottie, Ethan, Mark, and Michael.

The demo was followed by a fish-and-chips fest at Turtles, just up the road from Capella, with Matt and Yaeko Rodrigues. Matt is an old friend of mine, Yaeko is his better half, and it was beyond great to get to spend some time with them.

Demo Tour - Eugene and Portland, Oregon

Dan Flynn and I will be doing in store demonstrations of Pacific Sun Olives and Pacific Sun Olive Oil in Eugene, Oregon and Portland, Oregon fron 5/10/05 until 5/14/05. If you are one of the fortunate souls who call these fine cities home, please come by and see us and taste the fruits of our labors.

Here is the schedule:

Tuesday 5/10/05 - 4-7PM
Capella Market, Eugene Oregon
2489 Willamette Street
541-345-1014

Wednesday 5/11/05 - 11-2pm
New Season's Market Orenco Station
1453 NE 61st Ave.
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Phone: 503/648.6968

Wednesday 5/11/05 - 4-7pm
New Season's Market Sellwood
1214 SE Tacoma St.
Portland, OR 97202
Phone: 503/230.4949

Thursday 5/12/05 - 4-7pm
New Season's Market 7 Corners
1954 SE Division St.
Portland, OR 97202
Phone: 503/445.2888

Friday 5/13/05 - 11-2pm
New Season's Market Raleigh Hills
7300 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy
Portland, OR 97225
Phone: 503/292.6838

Friday 5/13/05 - 4-7pm
New Season's Market Concordia
5320 NE 33rd Ave.
Portland, OR 97211
Phone: 503/288.3838

Saturday 5/14/05 - 2-5pm (Tentative)
Lamb's at Stroehecker's
2855 SW Patton Rd., 503-223-7391

We hope to see you in the market. Sincerely - Brian - The Classicist, Sales and Marketing Manager

Dramatic Weather 5/9/05

What a morning! We are in the midst of a winter storm and its May? Very strange indeed. Here are a few dramatic pictures from this morning's sunrise.


Sunrise On I-5 before Gerber, Ca exit


Sunrise on Flores Avenue, Proberta, Ca.


Clouds Over Our Young Walnuts, Heading West On Gerber, Rd - Gerber, Ca

May Flowers

April was heavy with showers so it only follows that May would be heavy with flowers. Here are a few pix of the roses that are growing around our shop and office.

The May weather has been pretty dramatic. We have had alternating Late Winter and Early Summer weather and the swings have been striking. We had some hail yesterday. The clouds have been very dramatic lately to me they look threatening. Hail is a bad thing...

Pacific Sun Proprietor's Select Ascolana

Pacific Sun Gourmet Presents
Pacific Sun Proprietor's Select Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Grassy, Forward and Fruity with a
Buttery Body, Peach Overtones
and a Lively, Peppery Finish

Coming Soon!

View From The Field - Coke Ranch, Corning, Ca

This picture was taken on 5/4/05. This is one of the orchards from which we get our Ascolana Olives. We use the Ascolana variety in our Mission/Ascolana Blend, our 2005 Proprietor's Select, and our Friar Oil. Les and Barbara did a great job pruning the orchard and we are primed to set a great crop and make some more award winning oil in 2006!

Here is what the same block of trees looked like last year.

Notice that you cant see through the trees. The canopy was blocking the sunlight and keeping the sun out of the center of the tree. This kept the crop from sizing in the center of the tree and also made it more difficult to harvest the olives. Notice also that last year's bloom was in full swing as of 5/2/04. We are a few weeks behind this year.

The First Bottle Of Pacific Sun Friar Oil

Pacific Sun Gourmet Presents:
Pacific Sun Friar Oil

Coming Soon To A Store Near You