"Every harvest brings something a little different to the oil, which is what makes Olio Nuovo so exciting," Paul Durant told the Newberg Graphic this month, as his family's farm near Dundee got ready for its 17th annual Olio Nuovo Festival. "This is the moment when the oil is at its freshest."
By mid-October the grape harvest is mostly over. Across Oregon in 2025, picking ran from late August through early to mid-October, according to the Oregon Wine Board's 2025 harvest report. The other crop on Breyman Orchards Road is still on the trees. In the Dundee Hills, November follows the olive, and the olive follows the thermometer. The month's events are scheduled around a fruit grown close to the coldest climate it can survive.
Why the Olives Wait Until November
Durant at Red Ridge Farms calls its mill Oregon's first commercial olive mill. It was founded in 2008, and the farm's FAQ says milling usually starts in mid-to-late October. The orchard grows Aglandau, Frantoio, Leccino, Mission, Nocellara del Belice, Pendolino and Picual, among other varieties. The mill presses fruit from its own grove and also olives brought in from Northern California.
The Dundee Hills' own olives are picked late on purpose. Paul Durant laid out the timing in a 2023 interview with OPB. Harvest is typically in November, he said, and the farm pushes it "as far as we can to get the fruit as ripe as possible, to get that oil content up." He described each year as a race against freezing weather, because "anything really below 30 degrees can result in damage to the fruit on the trees."
Research from Oregon State University shows how little room growers have. A July 2026 OSU Extension report says Oregon sits near the northern limit where olive trees survive winter. It adds that the short ripening season here affects yield, maturity and oil quality. In OSU's cultivar trial, a January 2024 cold spell dropped to 15°F on several nights and badly damaged 19 of the 116 cultivars being tested. The researchers say they need more data before recommending specific varieties.
The festival runs all November because the mill is pressing all November, and every event on the schedule is built around that work.
November 15 Is When the Harvest Opens to Small Growers
The day that best shows how this works in a cool climate is Community Milling Day, set for 10 a.m. on Sunday, November 15, at Durant Olive Mill, 5700 NE Breyman Orchards Rd in Dayton. The mill collects olives from small growers around the Northwest, mostly people with less than 1,000 pounds of fruit, and presses all of it together into one extra virgin olive oil. Durant describes it in its Tock event listing as a way to show off the flavors of "our cool-climate region."
If you have a few olive trees in a yard in Dundee, Newberg or farther up the valley, here is how the day works, according to Durant's event listing:
- Cost: $1.50 per pound of olives processed.
- Yield: about half a gallon of oil from 50 pounds of olives, depending on quality, handling and ripeness.
- Picking: as close to the milling date as the weather allows, then stored somewhere cool and well ventilated.
- Transport: uncovered, in a vented container such as a 5-gallon bucket or bin.
- Inspection: every load is weighed and checked, and damaged fruit is turned away.
- Pickup: the finished oil should be ready by December 6, and the mill contacts growers when it is.
- Hospitality: Durant Brut sparkling wine, mimosas and light brunch bites for guests.
The pick-late, pick-close, no-damaged-fruit rules ask small growers to run the same race against the cold that Paul Durant described for his own orchard.
Durant is not the only mill doing this. The Oregon Olive Growers Association lists two producers offering community or custom milling, Durant Olive Mill in Dayton and Coyote Hill in Sherwood. Coyote Hill's own milling page lists its community milling on the same date, November 15, 2026, and says the date may move if damaging cold arrives. Its appointment-based custom milling opens November 14 at $2 per pound.
Four Weekends Organized Around the Mill
Durant's festival page lists four weekends: November 7–8, 14–15, 21–22 and 28–29. There is no entry fee, and each week includes free Olio Nuovo tastings, chef demonstrations and mill tours. The rest of the Dundee Hills fills in around those dates.
November 7–8. The Olio Food & Wine Pavilion opens in Durant's tasting room, with live music, wine and Northwest food from local restaurants, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every festival weekend, free. Feast Olio starts the same Saturday. It runs from noon to 2:30 p.m. and costs $175 per person for a mill tour and a seven-course, olive-focused Italian meal with wine pairings, prepared by resident chefs Eric Bartle and Sara Kundelius. It repeats on the next two Saturdays, through November 21. The Oeno & Olio communal tasting of wines, olive oils and fresh bruschetta starts at 11 a.m. on three straight November weekends and costs $75 per person.
November 14–15. Domaine Drouhin Oregon holds its Pre-Thanksgiving Open House on Saturday, November 14. The next morning brings Community Milling Day at Durant, and the farm's free self-guided tastings let visitors try each olive variety on its own.
November 21–22. Harvest in the Hills, a tasting of Dundee Hills AVA wines, runs 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on November 21 at Domaine Serene, 6555 NE Hilltop Lane in Dayton. The Dundee Hills Winegrowers Association says 26 wineries are pouring, Durant among them. Archery Summit holds its Fall Release Open House across November 21–22. On Sunday afternoon, Knudsen Vineyards hosts Fireside Wreaths & Wine from 1 to 3:30 p.m. at 9419 NE Worden Hill Road.
November 28–29. Durant closes the festival with Olysters & Olio, freshly shucked oysters dressed with olive oil and served with sparkling wine, plus a holiday market spread through the mill, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. Over Thanksgiving weekend, Dobbes Family Winery in Dundee holds its Sparkling Red Release and Knudsen Vineyards serves wood-fired pizza with its wines.
Throughout the month, Durant's nursery and greenhouses become a winter plant and flower market, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. It sells fresh-cut olive branches from the orchard, olive crowns and holiday wreaths made with olive foliage. Mill and winery tours run all November, and Durant requires reservations through durantoregon.com.
Why the New Oil Is a Seasonal Purchase
"Olio nuovo" is Italian for "new oil." It means early-harvest extra virgin olive oil bottled soon after milling, usually without filtering. In its coverage of California producers, Olive Oil Times explains that skipping filtration leaves olive solids and water in the bottle. That makes the oil cloudy and stronger in flavor, but it also shortens shelf life, to about six months under ideal storage in one producer's estimate.
That completes the timeline. The fruit stays on the trees for as long as the cold allows, the mill presses it in late fall, and unfiltered new oil keeps its best flavor for a limited time. For anyone who lives within a short drive of Breyman Orchards Road, the four November weekends are when this year's harvest is first available in a glass bottle instead of on a branch.
Kendall Bergstrom has worked in this market for more than three decades, including wine country estates. If you are thinking about a vineyard estate or acreage near Dundee or Dayton and want to talk through how a property sits within that working landscape, Kendall Bergstrom Group offers a complimentary, white-glove consultation, whenever you are ready to start the conversation.
