Great olive oil can only come from great cultivars
Each of our oils is made from specially selected cultivars, grown and harvested with an emphasis on taste and quality. Care is given throughout the growing season, not just at harvest, to insure superior taste and quality. Some cultivars need to be picked well before they are ripe in order to boost polyphenols. Our cultivars permit us to harvest with an emphasis on taste while still delivering the high polyphenols and very low oxidant levels expected of a premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Traceable, Sustainable
Olive oils are often blended with other oils from multiple locations, which can unintentionally obscure the origin of the oil. We work closely with our growers to maintain complete product traceability. We emphasize minimal, lightweight packaging designed to both protect the olive oil and reduce our carbon footprint. We were the first to recycle our pomace and olive water, the natural byproducts of olive pressing, to create our Green Valley Color® botanical dyes.
“Ardor, Attentus, Humilitas”
Our watchwords are passion, care and a humility taught by nature. Our passion and care extend from the cultivars we work with, to our growers, business partners and customers. Whatever contribution we may make, Olioculture is an ancient vocation and we are constantly aware that we stand on the shoulders of giants.
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About The Team
Greg Daggett - Operations
Greg gets it done, whether it is planting a new orchard, making sure our irrigation works and is properly logged, or our equipment is in proper working order. Greg is always quick to catch something we could be doing better, and is just as quick to do it. Greg has over 15 years of experience in the Northern California construction industry and is a former U.S. Army Ranger.
Umberto Chironi Lubelli - Technical Director
Great olive oils can only come from great cultivars. Great cultivars can only come from the cuttings of great rootstock. Umberto Chironi Lubelli insures we have the most productive trees and advises on production as well as the quality and taste of our oils. Umberto is a native of Puglia, at the heart of Italian olioculture, but calls California home. His contributions to the California olive industry are internationally recognized and he continues the advance the state of olioculture in California with the introduction of new cultivars such as Favolosa and Don Carlo.
Norimoto Nakagawa - Marketing Director
Norimoto Nakagawa is an experienced retail veteran with years of experience in fashion and food marketing in Japan and his knowledge, persistence and wise advice have been instrumental in securing shelf space for Green Vally Olive in Japan’s best retailers. After a number of years in merchandising for Japan menswear specialty retailer Taka-Q and England's Laura Ashley Japan, he founded MNC Planning, where he supported brand development for a number of Japanese and international companies. As board director of Team Greens Co., Ltd. he is on the forefront of environmentally friendly product develompment and marketing and he has played a key role in the development of Green Valley Color®.
Jeff Daggett & Kaoru Yoneyama - Founders
Kaoru brings over 15 years of fashion experience and expertise to the Green Valley Olive team. Beyond her informal role as Green Valley Olive's ambassador to Japan's tastemakers, Ms. Yoneyama is CEO and Chief Designer of her own women's apparel brand, Kaon, embodying on-trend, feminine, elegant fashion true to Tokyo's "Real Clothes" sensibility. Retailers currently carrying the Kaon brand include United Arrows, Isetan Restyle, Barney’s New York, Zozotown and other department stores and select retailers. Kaoru holds an Olive Oil Sommelier Certificate from The Olive Oil Sommelier Association of Japan.
The seeds for Green Valley Olive were planted in in the late 1990s, when, after frequent trips to Italy over a number of years Jeff became convinced that his home region of Northern California could be a global leader in premium olive oils. With food consumption expenditures forecast to increase over 70% globally on the strength of growing affluence in Asia, in 2004 Jeff began working in earnest on what would become Green Valley Olive.
Jeff's background includes investment banking, real estate, retail operations, merchandising, marketing and general management positions at a number of consumer-facing global companies. Prior to founding retail consultancy Aisonne in 2002, Jeff served in leadership positions of increasing responsibility at The Gap, Levi Straus & Co., Nike and the Louis Vuitton Möet Hennessy group. At Aisonne, he worked with Apple, Vodafone and others to establish or rebrand and grow their Japan retail businesses. Businesses he has participated in creating in Japan currently generate in aggregate well over $1 billion per annum for their owners.
Prior to his career in consumer branding and retail, Jeff worked in investment banking for Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. and in real estate development for Oakland, CA based Intercontinental Development Group, Ltd.
Jeff received his B.A. in Business Administration from Pacific Union College and his M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley.