Hello, my friends! Last weekend, the California Artisan Cheese Festival took place in and around Petaluma and Santa Rosa. I was able to participate all of Friday, and wanted to share this magical experience with you!
I had the great chance to participate in a daylong tour and the Best Bite competition in the evening. The tour group met at a local hotel in Petaluma, where we began the experience with a blind cheese, fromage blanc, and yogurt tasting with Kirstin Jackson, author of “It’s Not You, It’s Brie.” She was brilliant, no surprise, and attendees quickly learned to tell some differences between goat, sheep, and cow milks!
Next, our tour group was off to the charming Bohemian Creamery, where owner Lisa Gottreich showed off some of her many cheeses, including cajeta-filled Cowabunga. We got to visit the aging rooms, too!
Next, we stopped at the Barlow shopping center in Sebastopol, where we lunched at Zazu Kitchen + Farm, owned by Duskie Estes and John Stewart. We sampled black pork bacon-wrapped dates with Wm Cofield Bodega Blue and saba, enormous ravioli stuffed with Bellwether Farms ricotta, with artichokes, white truffle butter, and fava leaf, and Bohemian Creamery Bodacious with a red wine poached pear.
After lunch, we walked across the way to Wm Cofield Cheese, founded by Keith Adams of Alemar Cheese fame, and winemaker Rob Hunter. What a gorgeous creamery. Well planned, and beautifully executed, it features many white walls on which people can write notes, a majestic gem of an aging room, and a make room that is visible to shop visitors! Of course, we tasted their cheese, which included cheese curds, their 12-month cheddar McKinley, and their Stichelton-style blue named Bodega Blue.
By this point, I was weirdly exhausted, despite having not moved around THAT much. However, we had one more stop to make, at Spirit Works distillery, around the corner from Zazu and Wm Cofield. In the one tour hiccup of the day, no one at the distillery was aware that our tour group was coming, but they quickly managed to accommodate everyone with a tour and tasting. I’m not much of a drinker, but I did learn about how husband and wife owners Timo and Ashby, and their team, make their famous sloe gin, gin, vodka, and whiskey.
The Best Bite Competition took place at a new venue this year, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. I had a friend with me to take in allll the bites. It felt like this year’s bites were massive! The only way we could approach tasting everything was by sharing bites! We particularly loved John Ash & Co.’s sliders made of Nicolau Farms Calabrian Chile Casiago and Niman Ranch Pulled lam. The bun included Nicolau Farms Capra. The ensemble was dressed with Sparrow Lane raspberry pear vinaigrette and Red Dragon arugula. It was a little spicy, a lot savory, and so delicious. We actually did go back for seconds on that bite! Maybe my friend and I have good taste, because this pairing won the judges’ choice chef award! Other notable bites included the Piquillos Rellenos with Midnight Moon by Cypress Grove, created by La Marcha Tapas Bar in Berkeley. So flavorful, bright, and satisfying! I also really loved the pairing by Gourmet to Go, “Verde on Blanc” with Orland Farmstead fromage blanc, lime zest, Rustic Bakery meyer lemon shortbread, and basil. It was so refreshing and appropriate for spring!
There were far too many cheese pairings to name, and most of them were just delightful! It was lovely to see Willapa Hills Creamery from Washington State there, and new-to-me Stuyt Dairy and their array of goudas.
The new venue was spacious, unlike the tight tent set up of past years. If you attend next year’s Best Bite competition, come with a big appetite! You will need it to make it through all the scrumptious pairings.
Thank you to the California Artisan Cheese Festival for inviting me to attend my first organized cheese tour! Keep your eye out for next year’s tickets. According to the attendees on my creamery tour, these people reserve their tickets as the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve/Day! That’s hardcore cheese love!
California Artisan Cheese Festival
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