St. Helena
The Olive Oil Factory

Italian Founders' Classic

The Olive Oil Factory in St. Helena on Charter Oak Avenue has been around for as long as I can remember -- not flashy, never advertising, but always there...and quietly thriving.  The family was originally from Lucca and their olive oil, which is only sold at the Olive Oil Factory,  is every local's favorite. If you are native to Napa Valley (or almost native), it is probably running in your veins -- along with cabernet sauvignon and charbono! Their fruity, herbaceous oil plus the "autentico" Italian character of the place will keep you coming back for more.   When I make the monthly or so pilgrimage there to buy my olive oil, I also buy slices of Italian parmesan, pecorino, salumi or homemade nougat from the earthy but benevolent-seeming Senora who sits at her roll-top desk and calculates your bill (it used to be only cash but now you can pay by credit card). I think about practicing my Italian, but then I chicken out...one day soon, I think, I will try to drum up a conversation with her in Italian.  Many of the founders of our beautiful Napa Valley were Italians, arriving in the 1860s and up through the decades with a dream of making family and fine wines in the new country to help make it feel more like the Old Country.  Celebrate this dream and the Italian tradition in Napa Valley with a stop by The Olive Oil Factory the next time you are in St. Helena.

835 Charter Oak Ave.  (707) 963-4173