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Chris and Julie Caputo are the first to admit that they're not the farming typesChris is an attorney with Baker Donelson; Julie works in health-care policy. But what the Germantown couple does have is a serious passion for food, the people who make it, and the world that revolves around it. Which is why they've given flight to their own personal food fantasy and invested in an Italian olive oil company called Trampetti.
The two first fell in love with Italy while traveling on their honeymoon in June of 2000. They immediately declared that they would someday buy a home thereand in 2007, they did, purchasing one in Umbria that came with about 80 to 90 olive trees and a caretaker named Corrado. At the time, the couple was living in Memphis and traveled to Italy several times a year for Chris's work and to visit the homeCorrado took care of the trees. Through him, Chris says, 'we got a feel for the process, the harvest in October, the pruning in January.” They also connected with 'the local food eccentrics,” he laughs, including Federico Bibi, who worked at a winery and as director of marketing for the region.
'Good olive oil, not supermarket olive oil but good olive oil, is always a family business,” says Chris. 'The land is passed on from generation to generation […] and Federico was involved in this olive oil business. So we tasted the oil, and it was just killer. But you could never get your hands on much of it because it would just sell.”
The couple became fast friends with Bibi (Chris is the godfather of Bibi's son), so when the opportunity came up to invest in 2013, the Caputos went for it. Around the same time, Chris was transferred to the Baker Donelson office in Nashville. Though Trampetti had already been exported to the States for years (just after making the investment, the Caputos came across several bottles at Lazzaroli Pasta in Germantown), their involvement in the company and their move have given the business Nashville roots. The couple was on hand at last year's Music City Food & Wine Festival, where chefs like Matt Bolus of The 404 Kitchen and Karl Worley of Biscuit Love Truck were drizzling it over their dishes.
'This was our opportunity to get involved in a family business in a meaningful way,” says Chris. 'The intersection of getting involved in Trampetti and then moving to Nashville has been great because it's a city that is just our pleasure to introduce it to. And everyone is always willing to lend a hand.”
Trampetti produces two oils, one of which is 100 percent organic and made with Moraiolo olives. 'Single varietal oils are pretty unusual,” says Julie. 'This one is very, very grassy; a serious, finishing oil. I tell people it's not for cooking popcorn.” The other is nonorganic and made with a more traditional Italian blend of Moraiolo, Frantoio, and Leccino olives.
As for getting their product into the hands of local chefs, the Caputos do most of their networking at the table. 'I'd love to say it's a business strategy, but we just spend a lot of time at restaurants,” Chris laughs. And really, he adds, this isn't about a return on investment. 'I'd be lying if I said it's the way I'm going to retire. But I'm obsessed with food [and] this is our chance to produce something.”
Trampetti oils are available at Lazzaroli Pasta, 1314 5th Ave. N., 615-291-9922; lazzaroli.com; trampetti.it.