“At this time of day, the roads are quiet. The only impediments are the strings of traffic lights that march into the distance before the desert takes over and road signs fall away. Like almost every road out of Palm Springs, the Palm Highway was carved from the mountain, blasted through fingers of rock when the right radius or gradient couldn't be reached. It's tight and twisting, the steep cliffs providing the ideal sounding board for the 12-cylinder symphony created by the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante. The road, the desert and this car are a matchless combination. Atmosphere and acoustics are experienced with perfect clarity thanks to the Volante's dropped top and an outside temperature that will eventually reach the high 80s-cool for Southern Californians, but ideal for almost everyone else.

This state is the backdrop to a pure driving experience, across an America that is imagined, recreated and mythologised everywhere from literature to cinema. The allure is not hard to understand. Although it has a population of over 300 million and more than 60 million cars, the United States is some 3.5 million square miles in size with nearly four million miles of road.

As a result, large swathes of this truly beautiful nation are open, empty and just begging to be driven across. And there's no finer driving companion than the Vanquish Volante. If the scenery is designed for Cinemascope, then the Volante is the leading player, its star quality feted throughout the world. This car is a consummate all-rounder, able to turn its hand to any role, be it a luxury grand tourer or the kind of goosebump-dispensing sports car that can slice its way through the twistiest, most demanding road with race-bred dynamism.

While the Vanquish is Aston Martin's acclaimed flagship Grand Tourer, there's an undoubted added driving experience behind the wheel of the convertible. As in the Coupe, Aston Martin's 6.0-litre V12 delivers 573 PS to the rear wheels, catapulting the Vanquish Volante to 62mph in just 4.3 seconds. They will be short seconds, but very loud ones, as the car emits one of the most brutish noises ever committed to asphalt, a deep-throated, stentorian bark that sounds as if it's strapped in the seat beside you.

Borrego Springs, an artistic enclave to the west of the Salton Sea.

The highway broadens to include a passing lane, easing the dispatch of a couple of crawling, fume-belching 18-wheelers. The finely machined aluminium paddles click down through the Vanquish's Touchtronic 2 six-speed gearbox, and as the camber shifts we drop down, dig the nose in, find the line and feed the power through the corner, arcing away further up the hill. The Vanquish tracks straight and true through the apex, the suspension filtering the road surface to maintain its poise.

This is a stunning car, more than a match for the landscape that surrounds us. The curvaceous bodywork was honed and refined in Aston Martin's design studio, before being crafted in carbon fibre. It's the first time that an open Aston Martin has been shaped from this ultra-light and ultra-strong material, which is now such a central spoke of the company's design, finishing and manufacturing operations. Carbon fibre has other advantages; its strength and flexibility reduces the number of body panels, allowing the Vanquish's form to flow seamlessly from front to rear, flaring provocatively over the wheels, up over the tonneau cover and dipping down into the unique integrated rear spoiler.

The Vanquish Volante and the open road are made for each other.

Aston Martin combines its acclaimed VH architecture with carbon fibre, achieving the extremely rigid structure required by the Volante and keeping the car svelte but also stiff for dynamic excellence. Weight is contained within the wheelbase, helping stability while also achieving 51:49 weight distribution. The car telegraphs its intentions back through the wheel with unerring accuracy, the chassis, engine, suspension and gearbox never failing to communicate the vital relationship between driver, car and road.

Our first destination is a small ranch that epitomises the changing ways in which this landscape has been worked over the centuries. The Temecula Olive Oil Company is based in Aguanga, just over 50 twisting miles from Palm Springs. Located on a former cattle ranch, left abandoned for decades, Temecula is a small-scale operation that blends craft, technology, passion and hard work. Set up by Catherine Pepe, Nancy Curry and her husband Thom, Temecula is a true labour of love set amidst carefully restored land. Over the course of two years, the company planted 1,000 olive trees and 2,000 grape vines, re-shaping the scoured earth, removing ramshackle structures and creating a business that now ships worldwide.

Our first destination is a small ranch that epitomises the changing ways in which this landscape has been worked over the centuries. The Temecula Olive Oil Company is based in Aguanga, just over 50 twisting miles from Palm Springs. Located on a former cattle ranch, left abandoned for decades, Temecula is a small-scale operation that blends craft, technology, passion and hard work. Set up by Catherine Pepe, Nancy Curry and her husband Thom, Temecula is a true labour of love set amidst carefully restored land. Over the course of two years, the company planted 1,000 olive trees and 2,000 grape vines, re-shaping the scoured earth, removing ramshackle structures and creating a business that now ships worldwide.

As Thom Curry explains, Southern California is one of the best places in the world to grow olives, even though he admits that "the best treatment for olive trees is ignorance", such is their hardy persistence. Despite their comparative youth, there are over 30 different varieties planted here, all healthy trees offering up a carpet of green and black fruits come harvest time. Temecula's big decision is when to take the olives from the tree. Green (early) or black (late) olives each offer distinct advantages and disadvantages. Pick early and the yields are smaller but the taste is more peppery and distinct. Black olives give up to twice as much oil, as well as imparting a soft, buttery flavour. Five hundred pounds of olives make eight to 10 gallons early in the season, or double that a few months later.

The harvested olives are crushed and ground for around half an hour, the pits crackling against the vast stainless steel drum of Temecula's bespoke equipment to become a thick, rich smelling paste. This is then squeezed onto stacked mats of fine stainless steel mesh and pressed, the oil dripping out along with potassium-rich water that's used to water the groves. The press is even managing to extract an organic anti-inflammatory as a by-product of the crushing process. This is an impressive performance from what Thom describes, half-jokingly, as "basically fruit juice", building on Southern California's famously accommodating culture, open to new ideas, new flavours and new approaches. Temecula's approach blends sound business sense with an engineer's understanding of process and function, as well as the all-important ingredient-finely honed taste.

From Aguanga, charged with pepper-infused olive oil, we head off down Temecula's dirt tracks before getting back onto the main road and go east. From here we climb steadily until we hit a plateau, eventually joining the Montezuma Valley Road that plunges down the hill into Borrego Springs. It's another fantastic sweep of tarmac, with the shimmer of the shallow Salton Sea on the far horizon providing the backdrop to a series of tight twists and turns.

As the road name implies, the history of this region goes back before the motor car. For millennia, Native Americans have lived here, and their reservations and territories still shape the modern era. It was not until the late 18th century that outsiders arrived, with the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza undertaking a perilous trail through the land as he rode north from Mexico to San Francisco, establishing outposts and missions along the way. The area is still indebted to these pioneering journeys, with roads and features named alternatively for optimism (Rainbow, Paradise, Hope) and for hardship (Burnt Valley, Coyote Drive, etc).