NORTH BAY BOH EMI A N | MAR C H 14– 20, 20 1 2 | BO H E M I AN.COM
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Cheese ( 21 Cheesemaker: Joe Moreda Jr. (Karen Bianchi-Moreda’s son) Website: valleyfordcheeseco.com Interesting fact: Parts of the movie The Birds were filmed on the dairy. The scene in the movie where the guy’s eyes were poked out was filmed in what was Bianci-Moreda’s father’s bedroom before that.
Andante Dairy History: Established in 1999 in Petaluma Cheeses: Organic Jersey cow’s milk, goat and sheep’s milk Public tours: Closed to the public Where available: San Francisco Ferry Plaza, Oliver’s Market, Whole Foods (Mill Valley) and the Cheese Shop (Healdsburg). Restaurants include the French Laundry, Cyrus and Willie’s Wine Bar. Cheesemaker: Souyoung Scanlan Website: andantedairy.com Interesting fact: All cheese are named after classical music terms
Goat’s Leap History: Rex and Barbara Backus moved from Los Angeles north to Napa Valley in 1972. They got tiny-eared La Mancha goats for grazing, milk and entertainment, and in 1992 became licensed cheesemakers. Cheeses: Goat’s milk Public tours: No Where available: Terra Restaurant (St. Helena) Cheesemakers: Rex and Barbara Backus Website: goatsleap.com Interesting fact: Only cheese manufacturer in Napa County.
Bellwether Farms History: Former nurse Cindy Callahan founded Bellwether Farms in 1986 Cheeses: Cow and sheep’s milk Public tours: No Where available: Tomales Bay Foods (Point Reyes Station), Whole Foods, Pacific Market (Sebastopol and Santa Rosa) and Oliver’s Market Cheesemaker: Liam Callahan Website: bellwethercheese.com Interesting fact: Callahan first got sheep as a way of keeping the weeds mowed
Bohemian Creamery History: Bohemian Creamery is the creation of Lisa Gottreich and Miriam Block, who recently decided to break out of their midlife molds and fill new ones with innovative and compelling cheeses Cheeses: Goat, cow and sheep’s milk
Public tours: No Where available: The Cheese Shop (Healdsburg), Sonoma Wine Shop (Sebastopol), Paradise Foods (Corte Madera) and Whole Foods Cheesemakers: Lisa Gottreich and Miriam Block Website: bohemiancreamery.com Interesting fact: The creamery makes a cheese covered in cacao nibs
Laura Chenel History: Started in the late 1970s by Laura Chenel on a small Sebastopol farm. Its current home is the renovated Stornetta Dairy. Laura Chenel was sold in 2006 to Rian’s Group, a French cheese corporation. Cheeses: Goat’s milk Public tours: No Where available: Widely available Cheesemaker: Rians Group Website: laurachenel.com Interesting fact: Former owner Laura Chenel was once a waitress at a restaurant where Cowgirl Creamy co-owner Peggy Smith worked as cook
Matos Cheese Factory History: The Matos family are fifthgeneration Portuguese cheesemakers originally from the island of Sao Jorge in the Azores Cheeses: Cow’s milk Public tours: Yes Where Available: Tomales Bay Foods (Point Reyes Station) and the creamery Cheesemakers: Joe and Mary Matos and daughter Sylvia Website: None Interesting fact: St. George cheese is named after the island of Sao Jorge
Toluma Farms History: Founded by Tamara Hicks and husband David Jablons in 2003 Cheeses: Goat’s milk Public tours: Yes. Email in advance for reservations. Where available: Plan to have first cheeses out spring 2012 Cheesemaker: Anne Marie Vanderdreissche Website: tolumafarms.com Interesting fact: The goat herd includes Nubians, Saanens, Alpines, La Manchas and Oberhaslis
Redwood Hill History: In 1978, Jennifer Lynn Bice assumed ownership of Redwood Hill Farm and Creamery, the family farm and a goat dairy her parents
cheese. It wasn’t sold commercially, but that changed as the industry got bigger, and dairy operations moved to the Central Valley. The backlash against mass-produced food created a market for that very small-production milk and artisinal cheese. “You’re not going to make it selling commodity milk or cheese anymore,” Davis says. Even though there are now a growing number of local cheese companies, Davis doesn’t think the industry has reached saturation yet. “We’re still in our infancy,” she says. “It’s just the beginning.” In fact, Davis predicts there will soon be more local, dairy-based products other than cheese, like sour cream and kefir. She also surmises that we’ll start seeing “dairy-designated” cheese, just as wineries tout a single vineyard. More than anything, she says the industry needs to do a better job of banding together and marketing itself. “Strength in numbers,” she declares. “That’s how we’re going to be able to grow together.”
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merica at large doesn’t have much of a cheese culture. For years, brie, gouda and green cans of dusty Kraft Parmesan cheese were about as fancy as cheese got. So when French-born Colette Hatch came to Sonoma County, cheese was the last thing on her mind. But soon the East Coast transplant found herself setting up specialty cheese counters at Food for Thought (now Whole Foods) in Sebastopol, Santa Rosa and Petaluma. Given the lack of cheese available then, she didn’t expect the cheese counter to take off. “It was really the beginning of the awareness of local and wellmade food,” she says. “I’m coming from France, where local food is an everyday thing. Here it was new.” Little by little, she got shoppers to try cheese, educating them on what was then a foreign subject. “We didn’t have any cheese in Sonoma County,” she says. “I used to bring cheese from France.” But as the North Bay’s cheese industry began to grow, so did a local cheese culture. ) 24