Ana, left, and Marcela Hernandez with the oil that makes the Grove 45 engine run. [Photos by Duncan Garrett Photography]
The best ideas in life often come out of nowhere. People can even be sitting on a great idea, and they just don’t know it yet.
Ana and Marcela Hernandez of Grove 45 olive oil, for instance, were entirely unaware they were sitting on a life-changing inspiration that was destined for success.
The mother-daughter duo run a family-owned olive oil company based out of Napa County that focuses on producing the highest quality extra-virgin olive oil.
Originally from Guatemala where her family ran an Italian restaurant, Ana came to the United States in 1996 to study at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. Ana fell in love with Napa Valley wine country, but after graduating she returned to Guatemala—settling into adult life with a marriage and five kids. In 2010, Ana and her husband decided to move back to Napa because they wanted a better place to raise their family.
The family moved to a parcel in St. Helena where there were hundreds of olive trees scattered throughout the property—trees planted in the 1880s by Charles Krug, pioneering winemaker and founder of Charles Krug Winery.
With the discovery of these century-old olive trees on their hands, the Hernandez family decided to harvest the olives the following year with the intent of producing table olives. When their initial experiment with table olives didn’t pan out, Ana and Marcela decided the following year to instead try their hands at producing olive oil. Pleased with the results, in 2012 they began gifting their self-produced oil to friends and family—utilizing the timing of the late-November olive harvest as a chance further share their oils during the holidays.
From 2012 to 2018, the family picked and harvested their olives and made olive oil as a hobby.
In 2019, the Hernandezes took a leap of faith with multiple stars aligning, allowing the family to take the next step in their olive oil ventures. After six years of making olive oil as a hobby, the Hernandez family was contacted by Bonnie Storm and Nena Talcott, the original owners of Grove 45. After hearing about the Hernandez family’s olive oil-making journey, Storm and Talcott offered to sell their business to Ana and Marcela as they were looking to close that chapter in their lives. The timing couldn’t have been better, as Marcela had just graduated from the University of Arizona business school and the mother-daughter duo had spoken in the past about their entrepreneurial aspirations.
The family took the risk and bought Grove 45 but what they didn’t realize at first was that the offer wasn’t just for the brand, but everything that came with it—including their olive trees in the Napa Valley.
“Marcela, my daughter, had just graduated from business school, and I had a background in culinary, so we thought it was a great project to take on and put together,” says Ana. “When we bought Grove 45 we didn’t only buy the label. We bought also the trees where they started Grove 45.”
With the addition of the olive trees, Marcela and Ana decided to make two distinct extra virgin olive oils, each deriving from one of the two olive groves they now possessed. The olive oil made from their property is named Monte Olivos Special Section while the oil made from their new trees would stay with its original name, Grove 45 extra virgin olive oil.
Marcela recalls that when they took over Grove 45 in 2019 the majority of the company’s revenue came through wholesales to retail stores. As effective as that had been to revenue growth, Marcela realized that in order to further expand they needed to add e-commerce and direct consumer sales to their portfolio.
“One of the main things I remembered from business school—[and this] was late in 2019 when we bought [Grove 45]—was how important e-commerce was becoming and how [consumers] were mostly leaning toward buying online,” says Marcela.
The transition worked in more ways than one—not only were they able to add a second revenue stream for selling their olive oil, but it also set them up for the unprecedented change coming with the world shutting down in March of 2020. The transition brought their business a lifeline during a time when not much was open because of the pandemic.
“And so late 2019, right before COVID, we opened our e-commerce account, built a website and we started selling online. By doing this we reached a completely new audience, but at the same time, little did we know COVID was coming. And it was very much a saving grace because there was not much retail open and we sold a lot online,” says Marcela.
Ana and Marcela have now owned Grove 45 for more than four years and have recently opened a tasting room at 935 Silverado Trail in Calistoga. The tasting room, which opened earlier this year, not only offers tastings for olive oils, but two balsamic vinegars and the Hernandez family’s Museion Rosé wine—made in-house through their wine business venture operated by Marcela, her father and her brother.
We asked Ana and Marcela about the challenges of running a family food business, what they’ve learned along the way—and what the heck makes an olive oil “extra virgin.”
What inspired you to launch an olive-oil business?
Ana: I have five kids and [around 2018] some were already starting to leave the nest—but one [Marcela] was coming back. So I think it was to keep them close, to still have something to do, something fun, something that would keep us connected.
What makes your olive oil unique?
Marcela: When we harvest our olives we take them to the mill within 12 hours—and the requirement to be an extra-virgin olive oil is 24 hours. We really try to produce as fresh of a product as possible. We don’t use any heat or chemicals to produce our olive oil. And, if we’re talking about our special selection, we use our 140-year-old trees to make the olive oil. I would say that’s extremely unique.
What do you wish people knew more or about olive oil?
Marcela: The amount of health benefits that come from extra-virgin olive oils—the antioxidants are equivalent to like a cup of blueberries. Your gut health increases with a tablespoon every day along with your skin, hair and all those things. That is something I pride myself on, knowing that you’re putting a product out there that’s making people healthier.
Ana: We like to tell people when they sit down here and taste our olive oil to not only use it for finishing food, but that they can actually cook with olive oil. You can make whatever you want. We have a cake for our tasting room that is made with olive oil. We have an ice cream that is made with olive oil. We’re showing people that there are a lot of things that you can do with your olive oil, not only finish your salad.
Has being a small, family company competing for sales with national brands been a struggle?
Marcela: As a family business there’s a lot less people running a company, a lot less capital to start with or grow the business. Right now, we are growing a lot faster than we had anticipated. This is a great problem to have, but it’s a problem nevertheless—the demand is a lot more than we can actually give. So we’re going through some growing pains, but slowly-but-surely growing.
Are there any specific challenges as a Latino-run olive oil company?
Marcela: Being a Latino family-owned business has been our superpower rather than a challenge. The support from other women-owned businesses and other Latino-owned businesses [has been amazing]. For us, it’s like, “Hey, we heard you were women-owned and we wanted to come.” Or like, “We heard you guys are from Guatemala and we wanted to come and check it out.” It’s definitely been a superpower.
What does it mean to be extra-virgin olive oil?
Ana: To be a real extra-virgin olive oil, you have to do the harvest and mill process within 24 hours [of picking]. And you have to have the seal.
How do you get the seal?
You have to be lab tested [by the California Olive Oil Council]. We have the seal, this means that we were lab tested and they said we are an extra-virgin olive oil. [Lab testing in order to earn the seal] is something that you choose to do. You don’t have to do it.
What do you like best about running Grove 45?
Marcela: Seeing things that start as ideas come to life. Like our monthly “high tea” parties. My mom had always talked about wanting to have high tea parties since I was born. We now sell out every third Sunday of the month. [I enjoy] the gratification that comes from being able to do that and then having people tell you that they love your products.
What’s most challenging?
Ana: That you have to make those dreams come true. Of course, it is fun to get to the top of the mountain and see the view, but you have to enjoy the journey, too. For me, the most difficult part is that we aren’t just sitting down working and getting paid. But instead, you have to come and work to [so that everyone else gets paid]. And for me, that’s the scary part, having that responsibility because people are counting on you.
Marcela: As a business owner, you work 24/7. Even more so in a family-owned business because you’re sitting at the dinner table, even if you’re going to dinner and you’re with your colleagues and you ask them, “Oh, by the way, did you remember to turn in that paperwork?” We are never off the clock.
What’s an important business principle your company follows?
Marcela: This is an internal thing that we talk about at every meeting—but it’s that we’re all equals in the workplace. My mom and I aren’t the only ones that can come up with ideas. We encourage every single one of our colleagues to bring up ideas. If you think you have a better way to do things, we can try it. Not everything’s going to work and that’s OK. But we will always take everyone’s opinions and ideas and try to make them work.
Any advice for others dreaming of starting their own business?
Marcela: You have to be passionate about what you’re doing. There has to be a big force of passion and love for your product or for what you’re putting out there. [Businesses] are kind of like sit-down and buckle-up because it is an extremely difficult journey. But it’s also extremely gratifying.
Ana: Take your time to build your team. You have to surround yourself with people that believe in what you’re doing, and that you can see that they have the same passion you have and believe in the project.
Grove 45
The Grove 45 tasting salon is located at 965 Silverado Trail in Calistoga. Hours are Sunday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Grove 45 Olive Oil and Balsamic Tasting is meant as a fun and educationally immersive experience conducted by a private host featuring a line of four extra-virgin olive oils and two balsamic vinegars accompanied by seasonally paired bites, as well as fresh local bread and/or popcorn. $40 per person.
Grove 45 Olive Oil, Balsamic & Museion Rosé Tasting features the oils, balsamic vinegars, paired bites, bread and/or popcorn, plus a glass of Museion Rosé. $50 per person.
Visit grove45.com.
