Tehama Trail
By way of the "Tehama Trail" - Watch for our MAP coming soon.
In Tehama County we have a unique connection of byways and highways that combine to form what we are beginning to call “The Tehama Trail”.
Let me introduce you to this opportunity as we wander and investigate the bounty and variety of agriculture products, unique micro enterprises, and educational opportunities in our own corner of the world. Tehama County has diverse crops and offerings, let'sl focus on olive oil, olives and our local fruit of the vine – wine.
The beauty of this trail is that it has no beginning or end. You can choose where to start, take side trips and join back up at many points along the way. Today we begin in Southern Tehama County at the South Avenue exit off I5 north of Rolling Hills Casino and the Southern end of the City of Corning. Corning, long known for olive production now is beginning to make their mark with olive oil, but we will discuss this when we come back around at the end of our trail tour.
First, lets travel west on South Ave. to the small community of Vina. Here we find one of our oldest, yet most recently discovered landmarks in the Abby of New Clairvaux (
www.newclairvaux.org), a community of monks of the Cistercian Order, whose efforts are bringing back winemaking with their New Clairvaux Vineyard (
www.newclairvauxvineyard.com). At the Abby you can meet with Winemaker, Aimee Sunseri, or tour the beautiful grounds of the original Leland Stanford’s Great Vina Ranch, the world’s largest vineyard, winery and distillery in 1890. Here history and modern technology are being combined in an effort to bring us a new tradition of wine and winemakers.
Returning to South Ave. and traveling west you intersect with State Highway 99E (East), turn North and you follow this two lane road through acres of local fruit and nut producers prime land and roadside produce stands open during their fruits seasons.
As we head toward the City of Red Bluff there is an opportunity to branch off our trail and travel up Highway 36 to the small town of Mineral, where just beyond is the gateway to the Lassen National Forrest and the newly opened Lassen Park Visitor Center. If you have not had an opportunity to see this new addition to the park you are in for a treat.
Also off Highway 36 is the turn to the city of Manton, where you can find four small wineries clustered together in an area producing award winning wine. Each of these wineries specializes in their own blends and varieties and offers tasting or visits by appointment or on specific days. Their wines can be found locally at restaurants, at special tasting events and for purchase on their individual websites. Some offer the opportunity for individuals to participate in the harvest and then be able to purchase the fruits of those efforts when the wine is aged and bottled. Tehama County wineries in Manton, their winemakers/owners and websites are as follows:
Heading back down the hill and just north of Red Bluff is one more winery in Cottonwood called Burnsini Vineyards. Here two gentlemen, Tom Burnham and Jim Tomasini decided to master the age old tradition of winemaking. They blended not only their wine but the names to create the “Burnsini” brand. You can visit by appointment, purchase their wines online (
www.burnsini.com), or at one of their local tasting events.
Back in Red Bluff where east meets west, that is Hwy 99E and Hwy 99W (West), we head south back toward Corning. Here we re-enter the area where the Olive is once again taking center stage in the form of “liquid gold” or olive oil. Just north of Corning is the Flynn Family orchards where they produce Pacific Sun Olive Oil. Their recent field day, “Love at first Crush” was an overwhelming success that offered fine food, wine tasting and a view of how olive oil is milled, filtered and processed. Jane Flynn, Brandon and Kristie Flynn and those at Pacific Farm and Orchard invite you to find out more about olive oil and their operation by visiting
www.pacificsunoliveoil.com
Heading south to Corning you will find the Corning Olive Oil Company, which has a long and wonderful history of olive oil production and is now owned by several original employees of the founding family operation. This is Corning’s oldest olive oil milling site that also does custom crushing and private labeling. You can contact them and view their fine products at
www.corningoliveoil.com. This milling and bottling operations rests next to another familiar landmark in Corning, the Bell Carter Olive plant. Bell Carter is best known for their Bell Olive brand which you can purchase at numerous grocery stores throughout the country.
Hwy 99W continues down the main street of Corning. Prior to turning south is a familiar landmark retail operation, the Olive Pit. Founded by Pete and Ann Craig over 30 years ago, the Olive Pit is under the management of their son Ron and his daughter Hannah. The Olive Pit is known for its fine olive, nut and dried fruit selections under the Olive Pit brand that can be purchased at this retail location or online at
www.olivepit.com. The Olive Pit also ships your purchases where ever you need to send a gift and is know the world over by many seasoned travelers. The Olive Pit is one place you don’t want to pass by.
Following 99W south you pass the newest olive milling operation in Tehama County, Lucero Olive Oil. Dewey Lucero comes from many generations of Olive producers and has been blending and selling Lucero Olive Oil from their website,
www.lucerooliveoil.com for several years. This fall they are crushing their first crop at this location. He hopes in the future to provide opportunities for visitors to see how Olive Oil is produced from harvest to final product.
Last but not least just south of our start point is the Olive Hut, a retail olive operation that offers fresh olive fruit for those who like to make their own home cured table olives, as well as, their own line of olive oils, garlic and dried fruit. They also feature other local Tehama products that can be purchased at
www.catechnologies.com/olivehut/products.html.
To see the full range of award winning olive oils from all our Tehama County producers visit their individual websites.
So, this has been just a taste of what can be found on “The Tehama Trail”. You can leisurely take the connecting highways that lead you through Tehama Counties small towns, burgs and rural lifestyle we sometimes take fore granted and one that our urban neighbors are interested in visiting. Come and investigate the fruits, nuts and food offerings, our hunting and fishing opportunities and the art and cultural efforts of individuals and groups with in our communities.