Can I brag on my state? California is about to host its 14th annual Artisan Cheese Festival, a three-day event that just keeps getting better. (I have perfect attendance.) Cheese fans: Your dreams can come true here. Want to step inside the aging cellars of an artisan Cheddar producer? Or visit three super-hip craft distillers? (There will be cheese. And a driver.) Want to meet the latest rock-star cheesemaker? (Hint: She’s not old enough to vote.)
This year’s California Artisan Cheese Festival is Friday, March 27, through Sunday, March 29, and the entire schedule of activities is online. My advice: Take a farm tour on Friday, sign up for an educational seminar on Saturday and come hungry to the walk-around festival in Santa Rosa on Sunday.
Some highlights:
Visit Bivalve Dairy in Petaluma, a longtime supplier of cow’s milk to Cowgirl Creamery, now making its own cheeses. I’m looking forward to trying its Foundry Fresh cheese and Mendonça, a Portuguese-style aged wheel.
Supernova: Shooting Star Creamery’s Avery Jones
Tour Wm. Cofield Cheesemakers in Sebastopol, a Cheddar producer that doesn’t typically open its creamery and aging room to the public.
Meet Avery Jones of Shooting Star Creamery, the 16-year-old wunderkind whose sheep cheese took third place at last year’s American Cheese Society competition. She’s bringing that cheese (Aries) and two other new sheep cheeses to the Festival marketplace on Sunday.
On Saturday, I’ll be leading a tasting of cheeses paired with a beverage I could drink every night: the elegant sparkling wines of Roederer Estate. Three of them! Winemaker Arnaud Weyrich will join me. If you’re not yet convinced that bubbles are the most versatile wine for cheese, well, be there.
A portion of ticket sales goes to local agriculture-related nonprofits. So far, the festival has raised $135,000 for these worthy causes.
Cheese Class: Raw-Milk Cheese Showcase
Wednesday, April 15
Silverado Cooking School
Napa
5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Reserve
We’ll celebrate tradition in this class devoted to cheeses made exclusively with raw milk. For many purist cheesemakers, in the U.S. and abroad, working with full-flavored, unpasteurized milk is non-negotiable. Come taste some standouts.