The Durant family is throwing open the gates of its Dayton olive mill for all of November, hosting the 17th annual Olio Nuovo Festival with free tastings, guided mill tours, chef demonstrations and a holiday marketplace built around the season’s first pressing of olive oil. The celebration unfolds at Durant at Red Ridge Farms, home to what is described as Oregon’s only commercial olive oil mill, and most of the programming costs nothing to attend.
KATU reported that the festival stretches across the entire month and is built to feel, in the farm’s own description, “much like an Italian village during harvest,” with the property transformed each weekend into a place alive with Italian-inspired food, wine and festivities, according to durantoregon.com. Paul Durant said, “This is the moment when the oil is at its freshest and most vibrant.”
Tastings, Tours and a Seven-Course Supper
Weekly offerings include local food vendors, holiday gift shopping in the farm shop and nursery, and complimentary activities such as Olio Nuovo tastings, chef demonstrations and olive mill tours, per the farm’s own festival page. Guided Olio Nuovo Mill Tours are expected to run daily through November, with reservations required but no admission charge, the same trade outlet reports. One guided presentation walks visitors through the challenges of growing olive trees in the Northwest and the milling process behind the farm’s award-winning oils, capping off with a fresh tasting of the new Olio Nuovo.
For visitors wanting a sit-down experience, Feast Olio offers a seven-course Italian supper paired with Durant wines for $175 per person, scheduled for the first three Saturdays of November — the 7th, 14th and 21st. The Olio Food & Wine Pavilion opens each full November weekend starting November 7th, running 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free admission, the trade publication notes.
A Young Industry Rooted in Patience
Durant Olive Mill was founded in 2008. The mill is Oregon’s only commercial olive oil operation, according to KPTV…