California Dreamin’

The week after Labor Day found me traveling along Lucas Valley Road, a scenic route that

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winds among fields and valleys, redwood and pine forests, carving a serpentine trail through the golden hills of Marin County, California. I was visiting my parents, and we decided to go cheese tasting at Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, which hopefully lay at the end of this long, meandering road. (If you were wondering, George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch is on Lucas Valley Road, which we did pass by, but no, the road was not named after him!) If you have read some of my recent blogs, you’ll know that my daughter’s boyfriend’s family owns and operates this newly opened cheese enterprise in the quaint little town of Nicasio. And I do mean little! The town square is comprised of a ball field, a church and a long building that houses a post office, general store and restaurant. We stopped to eat lunch at the solitary restaurant and enjoyed a delicious sandwich while surrounded by more animal heads and antlers than I have ever seen in one place! Apparently hunting is a popular recreational activity in these parts.

We found the cheese company a few doors down in an unassuming blue building with a signpost out front indicating that we were in the right spot. We stepped into the tiny retail shop and were greeted by Mary Lafranchi, whose husband Will had the dream of starting a

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cheese business one day. Sadly, he did not live to see his dream fulfilled, but their children were inspired to carry the project to fruition. Three brothers and three sisters are working together to produce six varieties of cheese using only milk from their own certified organic dairy. We even were able to watch Scott the cheesemaker and his crew as they worked behind a glass partition, cutting the curd and pouring it into the cheese molds while whey splashed out everywhere. It was really fun to see the product in the making. We took several cheeses away with us that day, although Nicasio Square is by far my favorite. Fortunately, it is also the only cheese currently being shipped to the East Coast, and to only one retailer as of this writing (Sickles Market of course!) The washed rind is a lovely rosy orange and the cheese is aromatic and flavorful without being overwhelming.
 

After a delicious and informative afternoon of cheese tasting, we headed out of town, and came to the crossroad, Petaluma-Point Reyes Road. Which way to go? If we headed west toward the ocean, we would end up at Point Reyes Station, home of Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese. This full-flavored raw milk blue is one of my favorites, spread on walnut bread as an appetizer or served with fresh or dried figs. Or, perhaps we could visit Cowgirl Creamery, and delve into a heavenly Mt. Tam triple crème or knock our socks off with some washed rind Red Hawk. Well, we ended up turning east toward the town of Petaluma, to visit my sister and her husband, but, not to worry, the cheese adventures didn’t end there.

After a twenty-minute ride through rolling hills dotted with cows and scrub oak (but no cell phone service) we suddenly found ourselves driving past stately Victorian homes in the

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historic district of Petaluma. This charming town made famous by the movie American Graffiti is now in the spotlight these days for more epicurean reasons: wine and cheese! There are so many cheese companies popping up in Petaluma and Marin County next door that the area has been referred to as “Little Vermont.” Petaluma is even home to the annual California Artisan Cheese Festival with almost 5,000 attendees. With the cooling breezes and fog that blow in from the nearby coast, Petaluma has the perfect microclimate for growing certain grape varietals such as Syrah and Pinot Noir. It has a wine appellation of its own now, and is designated as the wine region of Petaluma Gap. There are already over twenty-five wineries in the Gap!

We stopped in at my favorite grocery in town, the Petaluma Market, and paid a visit to Marie,

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the very pleasant and helpful cheesemonger. We picked up some mozzarella di bufala and checked out the selection of local cheeses. One Petaluma company, Achadinha Farms, hand rolls an old world-style aged goat cheese called Capricious. Another, Bellwether Farms, makes a zippy raw sheep’s milk cheese with peppercorns. And the list goes on and on: Marin French, Spring Hill, and nearby Laura Chenel are just a few of the other local cheese companies.
 

We headed up the hill to my sister’s lovely home overlooking the Sonoma hills. As we delved into our cheeses and enjoyed some local wines I was thinking how lucky my sister was to be living in both wine and cheese country! I took full advantage of the opportunity and had plenty of both while visiting “Little Vermont.” I’m home again and those golden hills are a distant memory, but I’m still California dreamin.’


Enjoy!
Cheri The Cheesemonger