Artisan cheesemakers roll into Petaluma

The California Artisan Cheese Festival just wrapped up a three day weekend of tours, seminars, and food tasting events, all centered around the West Coast artisan cheese industry. For anyone with a passion for artisan cheeses, this has become a must attend event, and from all the smiling faces, and bags full of goodies at Sunday’s Marketplace, it was clearly a huge success.

In its ninth year, the festival has grown in diversity and popularity. Although the list of cheeses, beers, ciders, and wines are limited to the western states, the event has gained national acclaim. The Festival aims to educate the public about craft cheese making, to support artisan cheesemakers, and last but not least, to celebrate and enjoy the fruits of those cheesemakers’ labor. The Festival achieves these goals through farm tours, seminars, and lots and lots of cheese pairings and tastings.

Artisan vs. Farmstead

Before I dove headfirst into three days of creamy indulgence, I wanted to better understand some of the terminology. “Artisan” and “farmstead” are not uncommon around Petaluma, but for a guy who eats lots of cheese, surprisingly I did not know what they meant. Luckily, there is no shortage of knowledgeable volunteers at the festival and so I learned quickly. Both types of cheese can be made from any kind of milk but “artisan” is about how the cheese is made, while “farmstead” is about where the milk comes from. Artisan cheese is produced in small batches, with particular attention paid to traditional cheese making methods, leaving the mechanization to the Krafts of the world. Farmstead cheese is made with milk sourced directly from the cheesemaker’s cows, goats, sheep, and exotics, like donkeys and camels. The milk cannot be sourced from beyond the cheesemaker’s personal herd, flock … drove or caravan. Finally, a “cheesemonger” is someone who sells cheese.

Friday: Farm Tours

The Festival opened on Friday morning with a herd of buses from Pure Luxury Transportation whisking willing guests into the west Petaluma countryside. Cowgirl Creamery, Marin French Cheese and Point Reyes Farmstead topped the list of internationally known farms on the tour schedules. Many of the other farms may not be well know outside the cheese world, but they are household names to those of us lucky enough to live around Petaluma. These powerhouses included Achadinha Cheese, Barinaga Ranch, Gypsy Cheese, Haverton Hill Creamery, Nicasio Valley Cheese, Pug’s Leap, Two Rock Valley Goat Cheese and Valley Ford Cheese. But if those names don’t necessarily ring a bell, the farmers’ surnames certainly will. If you grew up here, or have thumbed through a local phone book recently, you recognize names such as Giacomini, Lafranchi, and Pacheco.

I was lucky enough to join Farm Tour A - “Marin County Milk Magic.” Our handler was a very friendly and knowledgeable home cheesemaker named Al, who hails from the Peninsula. He graciously educated those of us with no cheesemaking knowledge, while discussing more intricate topics with those who may have given it a try on their own at some point. After a picturesque drive along pastoral D Street/Red Hill Road/Point Reyes Petaluma Road (or whatever else you might call it) we stopped at Nicasio Valley Cheese, run by the Lafranchi family. We learned about their Swiss ancestry, century of dairy work, and recent transition to cheese making.

After a whole lot of cheese tasting, we continued to Tomales Bay, where our next stop was at Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese, run by the Giacomini sisters. I have a soft spot for this farm because they converted me to blue cheese years ago when I inadvertently bit into a bacon burger topped with this moldy cheese. Luckily, it wasn’t just any blue cheese, but was Point Reyes’ blue. Instead of the normally pungent and crumbly blue I had avoided for most of my adult life, the Giacomini’s is more like blue and brie cheese combined. It is smoother and creamier and as far as I’m concerned, a bacon burger is no longer complete without it.

Point Reyes’ farm tour was captivating and informative, even to someone who grew up around ranches, but it was lunch, served in the infamous Fork dining room, that really took the (cheese) cake. Bravo TV’s “Top Chef Boston” contestant Melissa King incorporated the farm’s cheeses into a one-off, world-class meal. She even demonstrated how she made each dish and included all her recipes in our take-home materials.

The Giacomini family has created a slice of heaven on earth with their farm, their cheeses, and especially the sensory overload of visual and taste experiences one can expect when the doors to Fork are periodically opened to the public. If I only learned one thing from this weekend it is that I need to join their mailing list. (I’ve been advised by many that one must act quickly because events at Fork sell out immediately.)

As an added bonus, lunch was masterfully paired with wines from Paul Mathew Vineyards. Owner and winemaker Mathew Gustafson was in attendance and was serendipitously seated across the table from me. I am not normally a wine drinker, but Mat’s Pinot Noir blew me away. I sought his Pinot out for the rest of the weekend’s events in a selfish attempt to confirm that it was in fact that good … and wasn’t just the wine and cheese talking. Two Italians in our Friday night tasting party confirmed that I was right; Paul Mathew Vineyards makes a great Pinot Noir.

Heidrun Meadery was the last stop on our tour. We learned that mead is a sparkling wine made from honey, instead of grapes. We tasted how diverse mead flavors can be and how those flavors all related back to the plants the bees harvest to make their honey. Fiscalini Farmstead Cheese, out of the central valley, provided cheese which fit perfectly alongside the meads. My personal favorite was San Joaquin Gold, which has the consistency of good cheddar but with hints of toasted nuts and browned butter, interspersed with salty, crunchy, protein crystals.

Friday Night: Cheesemonger’s Dual - The Best Bite

Our bus arrived back at the Sheraton Hotel with time enough to sneak in a quick nap before the evening’s festivities. The Cheesemonger’s Dual gave Bay Area cheesemongers a chance to shine as each was given a different artisan cheese and free reign to create an innovative bite-sized meal. Guests were free to roam from table to table sampling these cheese creations, as well as wines, ciders, and beers. Additionally, there was a huge table adorned with every conceivable cheese in attendance. While we stabbed into the piles of fresh artisan cheese with a never ending supply of toothpicks, each cheesemonger took their turn on stage to introduce themselves, their cheese shop, and present their creation to the judges. So enthralled with the plethora of choices, I never heard who took first place, but am confident that the real winners were those of us sampling freely, and at a gluttonous and voracious pace.

Saturday Seminars, Cooking Demos and Pairings

Saturday’s presenters are the crème de la crème of the cheese world. Captivating our attention were such industry stalwarts as Sue Conley and Peggy Smith (Cowgirl Creamery), Lynne Devereux (Laura Chenel’s Chèvre and Marin French Cheese, as well as the Festival’s founder), Janet Fletcher (Planet Cheese), Louella Hill (AKA: The San Francisco Milk Maid, Laura Werlin (author), Stephanie and Lassa Skinner (The Word on Cheese), and Amina Harris (pollination expert), just to name a few.

The seminars ranged from cheese pairings with cider, beer, honey, and chocolate, to hands-on lessons in the art of making feta, mozzarella and Romano cheeses. I had the pleasure of visiting all the seminars but spent most of my time learning about cider from Tilted Shed’s Ellen Cavelli and cheese author/educator Janet Fletcher. Cavelli’s passion for artisan cider was evident not only through the flavors of her own ciders but also through the way she welcomed us enjoy and create our own experience with each of the ciders. Before giving her own opinion, Fletcher looked to the class for our personal taste preferences, which made her seminars interactive, entertaining, and informative. Another popular class, also taught by Fletcher, was the Hops vs. Malt beer pairing class. With such distinct flavor profiles, Fletcher helped walk guests through a bevy of cheeses, in an attempt to pick which combinations respond best to each other. If Cavelli and Fletcher represent the caliber of seminar guide throughout the Festival, I’m sure all the rest of the groups were just as pleased as ours was … then again, it was 10 a.m. in the morning, and in front of each of us were bottomless glasses of six different and distinct ciders, as well as 10 kinds of cheese. It would be quite a challenge for someone not to have enjoyed themselves.

Copperfield’s Books had a table covered with great food books and Petaluma’s own Frances Rivetti was signing copies of her wildly popular and mouth-watering title, “Fog Valley Crush.” Petaluma Market provided an incredibly thoughtful lunch in consideration for those who were already stuffed full of cheese from our morning seminars, and those planning on stuffing themselves full of cheese throughout the afternoon. In fact, lunch was one of the highlights of the day and was available to everyone, even if only attending a morning or an afternoon seminar.

Saturday Night: Chefs vs. Chefs – The Best Bite

Saturday night’s dinner was a variation on Friday night’s Best Bite, but this time the cheesemongers stepped aside and it was time for area chefs to put their best food forward. More than 20 restaurants, caterers, wineries and breweries put on a gastronomic showdown, vying for the crowds’ vote.

Sunday: Bunch and Marketplace

Sunday started at a relaxed pace with brunch prepared by J Vineyards & Winery’s executive chef, and was paired with their sparkling wines. More than your standard brunch, Chef Erik Johnson’s passion for pairing cheese and sparkling wines was evident throughout the three course cheese-centric experience. Chef Erik has actually spent time learning the art of cheese making so as to have a grater understanding of how to incorporate it into his cooking. (See what I did there?)

The afternoon Marketplace was a celebration of cheese, and included other regionally offerings, such as mustards, meats, magazines, kitchen products, baked goods, and deserts. For those who were in attendance all weekend, the Marketplace was more than just a chance to taste cheese. It gave us an opportunity to test our new found skills in analyzing different styles of cheese and pairing them with the available wines, ciders, beers and other goodies.

Although pricey for some, the experience of attending such a well thought-out festival is hard to put a price on. This event is about more than simply tasting large quantities of the best cheeses on the planet. The festival strives to educate visitors about who makes these cheeses, how they are made, and where they fit into our cuisine and our historic community. Additionally, part of the proceeds are donated to the Sonoma Land Trust, Petaluma Future Farmers of America and Redwood Empire Food Bank.

Petaluma is quickly gaining notoriety as the Provence of the Americas. Similar to that bountiful region of southern France, Petaluma, and the surrounding region are filled with provincial farmers who are able to provide every ingredient needed to make even the most finicky chef, or home cook, happy. When one reads between the lines there is an important lesson to be learned at an event like the California Artisan Cheese Festival, beyond simply educating us about cheesemaking. Festivals like these are a window into our local artisan cheese making culture. Guests learn how our historic farmers care for the land and livestock entrusted to them by previous generations, and discover how recent transplants import new ideas and impart a budding enthusiasm for the age old craft of cheesemaking. But collectively they share a common and deep-seated desire to provide a healthy, sustainable, and ethically produced food experience for the rest of us to sample and savor, whether we grew up in, moved to, or are simply visiting the Petaluma area.

(For a more detailed look at the California Artisan Cheese Festival, visit Houston Porter’s blog at http://rivertown.blogs.petaluma360.com)