Award Winning
Extra Virgin Olive Oils
Arbequina-Mission Reserve
California Mission
2024
2023
2022
100% Arbequina
100% Arbequina
Arbequina-Mission Reserve
California Mission
Arbequina-Mission Reserve
Arbequina-Mission Reserve
Welcome to Basque Away
Our family owned olive ranch in Creston, just outside Paso Robles, California, in San Luis Obispo County has ideal warm days and cool nights. Our 655 Arbequina, Mission and Picholine olive trees thrive in this Mediterranean climate. Each olive is hand picked and locally cold pressed within hours of coming off the trees. We are unabashedly proud of our oils, certified as "the finest quality extra virgin olive oil" and awarded THREE GOLD MEDALS and TWO BEST IN CLASS in 2024 by the prestigious California Olive Oil Council. Basque Away is on a roll as we also won two GOLDs in 2023 and a SILVER in 2022. It just keeps getting better.
Our EVOO
(EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL)
California Mission
Described by the COOC as "balanced, green and grassy", our GOLD MEDAL winning California Mission is our most ROBUST with a classic EVOO bite and peppery finish from its very high and healthful polyphenol count of 707.
100% Arbequina
Described by the COOC as "balanced with notes of green apples and herbaceous", our 100% Arbequina won not only a GOLD MEDAL but also BEST IN CLASS SPANISH SINGLE VARIETAL. This beautiful Spanish olive produces an elegant oil with the classic EVOO bite and peppery finish from its high and healthful polyphenol count of 492.
Arbequina-Mission Reserve
Described by the COOC as "balanced and robust with green fruit notes" (and I also pick up a creamy cashew note), our Arbequina-Mission Reserve blends our Arbequina and Mission with a French kiss of Picholine olives. No wonder it won both a GOLD MEDAL and BEST IN CLASS for OTHER BLENDS. Once again, it has the classic EVOO bite and peppery finish from its very high polyphenol count of 632.
** Shipping restricted to 375 ml and 750 ml bottles.**
Lemon Infused
We infuse our award winning 100% Arbequina EVOO with lemon extract oil for a citrus hint ideal with seafood, salad dressing, vegetables or anything else where you want a lemon twist. We love it on sweet potatoes. (No infused oil can (or should) be certified as extra virgin olive oil as it is no longer 100% olive oil).
250 ml, 266 ml and 300 ml sizes also available at the farm in Creston and events
For those who simply cannot make up their minds which of our award winning oils to order first, we also offer discounted 3 Bottles Sample Packs of each of our 3 GOLD MEDAL winning EVOO's in 375 ml or 750 ml sizes. We also offer 4 Bottles Sample Packs which also includes our Lemon Infused oil.
Why Basque? Why Olives?
So when Cynthia retired from being a lawyer in the San Francisco Bay Area for 40 years, it seemed like the perfect fit for a “recovering lawyer”. Basque Away LLC was formed in 2018 and named in honor of Guy’s mother and her proud heritage.
Guy’s mother was born to Basque parents who immigrated from Vizcaya and Navarre to Nevada where they had a large sheep ranch. After Guy’s mother had raised nine children, she and her husband moved to Sonoma California where she thrived in her garden growing fruits and her beloved peonies.
One of Cynthia’s fondest childhood memories was sitting with her Cuban father overlooking El Generalife gardens and Alhambra in Spain eating tapas, including olives of course, while sipping fino sherry (but the latter was a secret from her mother!)
Basque Away has been a proud member of the California Olive Oil Council since 2018 and recipient of awards since first entering EVOO competition in 2022. Cynthia went back to school and received her Master Milling certificate from the University of California, Davis Olive Center in 2022. By appointment, Basque Away can, in its state of the art Pierilisi mill, process small batches of between 200 and 400 pounds of olives for small growers who would prefer not to lump their olives in with cooperative crushes.
Our Farm
That's our family hand harvesting. Farm visits and free olive oil tastings welcome by appointment.
We Care about our Community
Philanthropy Basque Away will donate a portion of its profits and award winning EVOO's to local community food assistance programs in 2024 so participants also have the healthful benefits of true extra virgin olive oils. We also donate 10% of our sales during the Wine 4 Paws Event to support sheltered dogs and cats at the Woods Humane Society.
Events
April 20-21: Wine 4 Paws. We will be at Barton Family Wines and Grey Wolf Cellars at 3090 Anderson Road in Paso Robles where we will donate 10% of our sales and offer free tastings of our award winning extra virgin olive oils. No tickets or reservations required.
May 4: Fresno Basque Festival, 15516 S. Walnut Avenue Caruthers, Ca. Free olive oil tastings. No tickets or reservations required. If you know you want more oils released in 2023 (which we are discounting 30%), just email cynthia@basqueaway.com so we can have those oils in the sizes you want on hand for you, without incurring shipping costs.
May 11: Paso Robles Annual Olive and Lavender Festival, located at the Paso Robles City Park Booth 106 on 12th Street off of Spring. Look for our white tent, our blue banner and our 2024 awards proudly displayed for free tastings while you listen to fun music. Again, no tickets or reservations required. That's me, pictured below, at our booth.
And stay tuned for our other upcoming Basque Festivals:
May 19: Los Banos
May 25-26: Bakersfield
June 2: San Francisco/Petaluma
July 20: Reno
September 1: Chino (maybe July 7)
October 12: Rocklin
We may also try to attend other Nevada Basque Festivals.
Farm Visits, Free Tastings, Direct Orders and Inquiries The Paso Robles area is known for its wines and beauty. Add FREE OLIVE OIL tastings at our olive farm to your next Paso Robles trip. Just contact Cynthia at cynthia@basqueaway.com, or call 650 814-7955 for direct orders, inquiries or reservations, because that's what small family owned and run farms should do!
You can also purchase our oils at Centro Basco restaurant in Chino, California.
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Join our email list and get our suggested and seasonal EVOO recipes, see our holiday gift baskets and bottles, and learn more about the Basque Festivals we will be joyfully attending.