WHAT WE’VE SET OUT TO DO
Our focus has been to help the planet, through helping humans, through helping bees. Sound long and convoluted? It’s all more simple than it sounds: bees are at the root of human survival: they pollinate all the plants that bear all the fruits (and veggies) that we humans consume for survival. In recent years, there has been a decline in bees.
If, in fact, this decline continues, food supplies will be in jeopardy. Knowing all this, we decided to snap to it and help cultivate both bees and good living. The plight has been utterly enjoyable! Not only do we feel like our family has expanded to thousands of bee babies, but we’ve also produced award-winning olive oil, wines and, of course, honey.
OUR HISTORY
Zafarelle had its beginnings in 2002 when we bought a small olive grove and vineyard and got our first 400 bees. We barely knew what we were doing, but the bees taught us the rest. Michael Mason became a full-time winemaker in 2005 and with our first sip, he became our third partner. In 2012, Michael helped convert a dairy barn into a full-fledged winery.
Our foray into olive oil wasn’t the easiest, but it proved one more amazing avenue for us. We botched one whole harvest of olives, but learned a lot in the process. We hired Antonia Ortega (a sixth generation ‘frantoia’) to take things over from us in 2006 and our presses have been humming ever since. We’ve worked hard to achieve stellar status and 100% organic certification.
