We often are asked...how did you get into all of this? We usually just smile and say, "Well it has been quite a ride!"

Albert and Kim first met in college at UC Berkeley. This part is important because it shows how when paths are crossed, you never know where they might lead. Albert was studying California politics, and in particular the history and the use of water for irrigation in our state - the 'seed' of his interest in small-scale farming. Kim was studying art and design, but wanted to finish her last semester of college with a political science course since it was a presidential election year (if we tell you the year, you would know how old we are!), and as luck would have it, Kim ended up sitting next to Albert.

One thing lead to another, and after marriage and the arrival of our first daughter, we were jumping in and opening our own restaurant - both of us were in our mid twenties. We had a sensational run for ten years with our elegantly small dinner house serving 'local' and fresh California style cuisine. We both were deeply moved by our visits to the fairly new Chez Panisse down the road in Berkeley, and in hindsight we realize how much our meals there influenced us.

During those restaurant years, Albert honed his skills as a promising young chef. He was ahead of his time in searching out local, fresh product from nearby farms, and he loved cooking dinners for those hard working farmers as often as he could. Later, these relationships proved 'fruitful' when we started making our own line of Branches Preserves and gathering our Branches Honeys.

When our second daughter seemed to be growing up before our eyes, we both wanted a change of scene for our family. We had taken an amazing trip to Italy where we tasted many new things, but it was the olive oil that really got us. We were about to reinvent ourselves by moving to Napa Valley, and as luck would have it, the olive oil production in Northern California was just about to bloom. Quite serendipitous! Albert became one of the founding members of the California Olive Oil Council in 1993 during this time.

In the late 90s, we met our farmer friend, Jim, and together we began our education of growing Tuscan and Italian varietal olive trees in California. Now, more than a decade later, we have mature groves that are CCOF certified organic in the historic and agriculturally rich Suisun Valley. Our olive oil making skills have also been well honed, and in 2011 when we received the first ever "Best of the Best" Gold Medal at the Yolo County Fair, - out of more than 140 competitors - we knew we were on the right track.

Jim is also a wine maker, so the next step was learning how to make truly authentic vinegar using his viniculture expertise. Albert had always wanted to try his hand at making an 'agrodolce' style elixir (sweet and sour), and after many trials and errors with Jim at the helm, the first successful barrel of our Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc Vinegar was born. Now we have five distinct varietals of vinegar to offer with our olive oils.

Kim's hand came into play when she designed all the packaging and the overall 'look and feel' of KATZ. It turned out to be a bonus that her passion and love of design has a very needed component of establishing a successful family company.

To bring it all full circle, KATZ products are now used in the kitchens of Chez Panisse where in many ways our inspiration first began.

For our next chapter, we are planning to build a tasting room on a property near our olive groves in Suisun Valley so that our amazing customers, many whom have become friends, can drop by and visit. We look forward to this part of our journey in the very near future. But above all, we truly know that without all of you none of our story would sustain us.

Our oliveoil411 website is created to provide you with valuable information while viewing our gathering of artisan-made products. We provide you with collateral material, such as shelf talkers and recipes to download for marketing and sales.