The 2024 olive harvest is finally complete, and December’s arrival—however welcome—has caught me off guard given the glorious weather we are experiencing here in the Santa Ynez Valley. 

After months of anticipation (and in all honesty, no small amount of emotional nail-biting), the 2024 harvest preparations at Luretík have begun.

It began in February with the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Competition.  L.A.’s competition is special for a number of reasons, but primarily because it comes early in the year, when the most recently harvested oils have just been bottled.

“Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

What pensive beauty autumn shows, Before she hears the sound, Of winter rushing in, to close, The emblematic round

“Just now we are having a glorious strong heat, with no wind, just what I want. There is a sun, a light, that for want of a better word I can only call yellow, pale sulfur yellow, pale golden citron. How lovely yellow is.”