Red Ridge Farms Brings Traditional Italian Olio Nuovo Festa To The Willamette Valley Nov. 16-18

Those looking to experience a traditional Italian Olio Nuovo festa no longer need to cross the Atlantic and can instead stay stateside and head to Oregon's bountiful Willamette Valley. The Oregon Olive Mill at Red Ridge Farms celebrates their 2012 olive harvest and olive oil pressing with the 4th annual Olio Nuovo Festa the weekend of November 16-18. Visitors will see firsthand how the olive oil is made on the Oregon Olive Mill's imported Italian olive press and sample the fresh new olive oils, including Arbequina from Spain and Koroneiki from Greece, as well as a blend of Italian varietals known as Tuscan. Area restaurants are joining in on the festivities by creating a special dish made with Olio Nuovo olive oil and featuring it on their menus the weekend of the festival, providing guests with the chance to taste how the unique flavor of the olive oil can be highlighted in a dish after they have seen how it was made.

"In Italy and now in Oregon, we are celebrating the new olive harvest, fresh from the orchard during the Olio Nuovo Festa," says owner and general manager, Paul Durant. "Fresh cold-pressed olive oil has long been recognized as the finest, best tasting olive oil and eagerly sought after for its fruity, grassy flavors. By collaborating with area restaurants during our festa weekend we provide our guests with the opportunity to taste how these flavors can enhance dishes."

Oregon's Willamette Valley has been known for its pinot noir and pinot gris grapes for the past four decades and now, thanks to visionaries like the Durant family, olive oil is emerging as a new agricultural and culinary trend in Oregon. The Durant Family first planted a small olive orchard in 2005 at Red Ridge Farms and now have 13, 000 olive trees on 17 acres in the Willamette Valley. Four years ago they built the Oregon Olive Mill, the first olive processing facility in Yamhill County and largest commercial mill in the Northwest.

Olio Nuovo Festa - November 16-18, 2012
The three-day traditional Italian event honors the first pressing of artisan olive oil- celebrating the olive, the harvest and the pressing of the Olio Nuovo olive oil, which has a spicier flavor with a shorter shelf life than extra virgin olive oil. The Durant family will also pour tastes of their estate wines from Durant Vineyards. Guests can purchase olive oil by hand-filling a bottle from the fusti's (stainless steel decanters).

Dates: Friday to Sunday, November 16-18, 2012
Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily
Cost: Free
Take Home: Fresh-pressed Olio Nuovo available for purchase, along with Durant Vineyards wine
Location: Oregon Olive Mill at Red Ridge
5700 NE Breyman Orchards Road, Dayton, OR
Phone: 503-864-2200
Email: Info@oregonolivemill.com
Web: www.OregonOliveMill.com