By late June here in the valley, the sun seems to hesitate overhead, lingering just a little longer each evening over the Santa Rita Hills as if reluctant to say goodbye. It’s the solstice—the longest day of the year—and in Tuscany, that means preparing l’acqua di San Giovanni. The water is prepared at dusk, on the evening before St. John’s Day, June 24th, by placing garden herbs and blossoms—rosemary, mint, sage, fennel, calendula, roses, and wildflowers —into a basin of water and setting it outside beneath the stars.

Perhaps it is my bias, but there is something unmistakably Italian about summer, especially here in California.  Sun-drenched afternoons and meals that unfold al fresco when the kitchen moves outdoors, translate to dishes that are more simple but more vibrant, making the the delight of a shared, well- laid picnic table all the more relaxed and enjoyable. 

There’s no season that slips away faster—or means more while it lasts—than spring. It’s not still like winter or lazy like summer. The season has an urgency about it, full of promise unfolding right before your eyes. One moment it’s bare branches and cold soil, and the next, the world is bursting with possibility. .

Just a few weeks ago, we tasted the first oils of the season—bright, assertive, and full of character. That first encounter always brings a quiet sense of celebration: a confirmation that the work of the harvest has yielded something alive and full of promise. But that moment is also a beginning.

Some find it surprising that I cherish my mid-winter visits to Tuscany. Spring and summer may be when most fall in love with Italy, when it matches the popular imagination—bathed in sunshine and brimming with natural beauty. But in winter, stripped of its postcard-perfect glow, Tuscany reveals itself more fully.

As winter lingers and we spend more time indoors, prioritizing health becomes more important than ever. While seasonal staples like vitamin C-rich juices and hearty vegetable soups come to mind, the benefits of high-polyphenol olive oil are often overlooked.

The 2024 olive harvest is finally complete, and December’s arrival—however welcome—has caught me off guard given the glorious weather we are experiencing here in the Santa Ynez Valley. 

After months of anticipation (and in all honesty, no small amount of emotional nail-biting), the 2024 harvest preparations at Luretík have begun.

It began in February with the Los Angeles International Extra Virgin Competition.  L.A.’s competition is special for a number of reasons, but primarily because it comes early in the year, when the most recently harvested oils have just been bottled.

“Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

What pensive beauty autumn shows, Before she hears the sound, Of winter rushing in, to close, The emblematic round

“Just now we are having a glorious strong heat, with no wind, just what I want. There is a sun, a light, that for want of a better word I can only call yellow, pale sulfur yellow, pale golden citron. How lovely yellow is.”