The Big Cheese is Back
California artisan cheese festival returns after covid hiatus
There may be only one gathering in the world where can you interact with a dairy herd, admire hardworking honeybees and try goat yoga … and then taste through 20 different artisan-crafted cheeses. This slice of heaven is the California Artisan Cheese Festival, and—from Bubbles & Bites to farm tours, pairing seminars and the Grand Tasting Marketplace—the festival is back in a big way this year. In fact, the event’s producer, Judy Groverman Walker, says she expects more than 100 vendors to showcase their wares at the three-day extravaganza.
It’s not only about cheese, though. The festival, taking place at the Sonoma County Event Center from March 24–26, will also offer tastes of just about everything else that goes well with handcrafted cheeses: acclaimed local wines, delicious sparkling mead, hard ciders and beers, varietal honeys, premium olive oils and vinegars, delicious jams and jellies and inventive chocolates. You’ll also find artisanal charcuterie, confections and all manner of things fermented and pickled.
“We include new vendors every year,” Walker says, and participants are screened to assure that they “fit the vibe,” as well as offering high-quality products that complement the cheeses. Goldeneye Winery, Keller Estate, Dutton Estate, Il Fusti olive oil and Cavaliere’s Bakery are among the dozens of new Marketplace vendors for 2023.
History as an Economic Engine
The first California Artisan Cheese Festival took place in 2007, the brainchild of Tom Birdsall, the owner of the Sheraton hotel in Petaluma where the event was held for a decade before it outgrew the space. Birdsall recalls the inception of the festival: “I was aware of Gilroy and the Garlic Festival, and I wanted to do something that was true to our own area, to support the cheesemakers. We had tremendous support, and were able to take advantage of the history, talent and skills that have developed here for as many as six generations. Many of the creameries were family-owned, and 90% were women-owned. Marin French Cheese Company, Laura Chenel and Bellwether Farms were all key to getting it [the festival] going. That made it easy.” It was the first-ever multi-day celebration of California’s acclaimed cheeses.
“After we’d been going for a few years,” Birdsall says, “I heard we had visitors from Vermont and Wisconsin. It’s one of the best shows for consumers in the country.”
By 2019, the festival had become an economic powerhouse—and then the coronavirus hit. As a health and safety precaution, festival organizers canceled the event in both 2020 and 2021. Last year it tiptoed back as a one-day event, but this year the festival returns with gusto and three full days of activities. According to Walker, this year’s festival is expected to drive more than $1,150,000 into the local economy.
At its height, the festival attracted “more than 2,500 guests and more than 100 vendors,” Walker says. “We aren’t entirely back to pre-Covid size, but we’re pretty close. Some of the restaurants aren’t back yet, so we aren’t doing the Best Bites event this year. But we’ve added the Cheese Crawl, which should be a lot of fun!”
Tom O’Leary at Sonoma County Tourism says the festival “has become a signature event over the years, bringing hundreds of attendees to Sonoma County during our off-peak season. As the event has now grown back to a multi-day offering, the economic impact to the North Bay will also increase—through both direct and indirect spending.”
Nearly two-thirds of trackable ticket sales are to cheese lovers coming from outside Sonoma County. They come from 25 or so states, from Florida to Massachusetts to Washington State; some cheese aficionados travel from as far away as Canada, Mexico and Europe. “Most people don’t get this kind of opportunity,” Walker says. “We’re so fortunate to have so many creameries within a couple of hours drive around Marin and Sonoma, and to have the opportunity to try out cheeses and products from artisan producers.”
Building Community, Engaging Visitors
As a nonprofit, the California Artisan Cheese Festival has a mission that emphasizes educating consumers about cheese producers and other artisan food and drink makers as a way of supporting the local agricultural community. The event also gives festival-goers a behind-the-scenes look at what’s involved in building that kind of sustainable community.
“It’s fascinating to learn about how we’re all agriculturally connected,” Walker says. “We all work together. Point Reyes Farmstead feeds wheat by-product from Lagunitas Brewing Co. to their cows. Wolf Coffee in Cloverdale roasts coffee beans for VOLO chocolate; then VOLO supplies chocolate to Wolf Coffee.”
Folks come to the festival eager to learn. Michael Zilber of Heidrun Meadery in Point Reyes, maker of Champagne-style sparkling mead, says the attendees he’s met “really do want to understand the nuts and bolts of the process and why we make mead the way we do. We are thrilled to host a tour and tasting at our facility every year. It is always a very engaged group, hungry to understand how we produce our unique meads. We appreciate that we can really go in-depth with them.”
2023 California Artisan Cheese Festival Events
Friday Farm and Producer Tours
Each of nine all-day artisan creamery tours includes lunch plus a winery or brewery presentation. Many are tours you can’t do on your own—you’ll spend a day on a farm or at a creamery, meeting the producers and makers behind the food. The owner, cheesemaker or vintner talks with you in a small group, and guests can get up close with the cows, sheep and goats. Cheese is available for purchase, so bring a cooler.
Saturday Seminars and Pairing Demos
On Saturday, the action will be at participating wineries, where four interactive seminars provide a rare opportunity to learn from some of the industry’s most knowledgeable experts:
• Award-winning cookbook author, educator, cheese guru and chef Tracey Shepos Cenami hosts attendees at Kendall- Jackson winery to uncover the mystery of why some wines and cheeses go particularly well together.
• Laura Werlin, the James Beard Award—winning author of The All American Cheese and Wine Book and five other cheese books, offers a fun and delicious seminar in the beautiful tasting barn at Bricoleur Vineyards.
• Alyssa Gilbert from Graze + Gather shows the way as you make your own Instagram-worthy cheese-and-charcuterie displays at Balletto Vineyards’ new event facility, where you can be a wine club member for a day and get comped bocce time and specially priced wines.
• Chocolatiers Jeff and Susan Mall of VOLO Chocolates will explain why some chocolates are especially wine-and-cheese- friendly as you taste along at Sonoma Valley’s collective wine tasting lounge, Sugarloaf Wine Company.
New for 2023—The Cheese Crawl
The festival’s newest offering, the Cheese Crawl, comes with its own app directing tasters to eight cheese pairings at The Barlow in Sebastopol. If you check in at each of the eight participating businesses at the Barlow during the two-hour event, you’ll win a prize.
Sunday—Bubbles, Bites & Early Entry
Clark Wolf, writer and TV and radio personality, co-hosts this event along with a guest chef. They’ll give attendees the inside scoop on new items at this year’s Marketplace and pairing tips while they enjoy a glass of sparkling wine, breakfast bites and early-entry into the Marketplace. “People love this,” Walker enthuses. “You get all your shopping done before noon, when the general public comes in.”
Sunday Marketplace
With over 100 participating vendors, the Sunday Marketplace is a feast for the senses. “It’s like a big indoor farmers’ market—for cheese!” Walker says. “Everyone gets an insulated bag and ice pack, and people walk out with their bags full!”
The festival also gives visitors a first-hand experience of the connectedness and camaraderie of the North Bay food and drink producer community. Naomi Ansbergs of event participant Gold Ridge Organic Farms says that she found the festival was an excellent way to strengthen their connections, both to foodies and to other local producers. “Last year was our first time participating in the festival—and it went beyond our expectations. Not only did we meet many new food- and farm-loving customers, who responded positively to our story and our estate organic olive oils and apple cider syrup, but we also met many excellent cheesemakers whose creations we now feature in our Sonoma-local cheese pairings.”
The festival’s founder Tom Birdsall will be there this year, pouring wines from Black Kite Cellars, the winery he co-founded in 2003.
Check the festival’s website for the latest schedule and list of participants, and to purchase tickets. In the meantime, you can start planning your Sunday Marketplace meal. Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery will be serving raclette, Tomales Farmstead Creamery will offer cheesy bagel sandwiches—and I heard a rumor about an exceptionally delicious mac & cheese.
