PETALUMA, CA — The United States’ premier public artisan cheese event, the 8th Annual California’s Artisan Cheese Festival, today announces the participants for the Grand Cheese Tasting & Best in Cheese Competition on Saturday, March 22, 2014. Bringing together more than 50 Californian artisan cheesemakers, restaurants, breweries and wineries, this walk-around tasting event is one of the weekend’s most popular. Following the same format as last year, participating restaurants have been paired up with a cheesemaker to create unique cheese-centric bites, and attendees will have a chance to vote for their favorite. During the event, guests will be able to not only taste the offerings of each participant, but also interact with chefs, cheesemakers, brewers and winemakers at this popular roaming feast.
Cheesemakers highlighted in the Grand Cheese Tasting event include:
- Achadinha Cheese Company (Petaluma)
- Beehive Cheese Company (Uintah, Utah)
- Bellwether Farms (Petaluma)
- Casitas Valley Creamery (Carpinteria)
- Central Coast Creamery (Paso Robles)
- Cowgirl Creamery (Point Reyes Station)
- Cypress Grove Chevre (Arcata)
- Fiscalini Farms (Modesto)
- Garden Variety Cheese (Royal Oaks)
- Nicasio Valley Cheese Co. (Nicasio)
- Pennyroyal Farm (Boonville)
- Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. (Point Reyes Station)
- Pug’s Leap (Petaluma)
- Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery (Sebastopol)
- Shamrock Artisan Goat Cheese (Willits)
- Tomales Farmstead Creamery (Tomales)
- Two Rock Valley Goat Cheese (Petaluma)
- Valley Ford Cheese Co. (Valley Ford)
- Willapa Hills Farmstead & Artisan Cheese (Doty, Washington)
Restaurants that will be partnering with one of the above cheesemakers to create cheese-centric bites for the Grand Cheese Tasting event are:
- Backyard Restaurant (Forestville)
- Balboa Café (Mill Valley)
- Corks Restaurant (Forestville)
- Grapevine Catering (Santa Rosa)
- John Ash & Co. (Santa Rosa)
- La Condesa (St. Helena)
- Mateo’s Cocina Latina (Healdsburg)
- Nick’s Cove Restaurant, Oyster Bar & Cottages (Marshall)
- Petaluma Pie Company (Petaluma)
- Ram’s Gate Winery (Sonoma)
- Rocker Oysterfeller’s Kitchen + Saloon (Valley Ford)
- The Ahwahnee Dining Room (Yosemite)
- The Duck Club (Bodega Bay)
- The Spinster Sisters (Santa Rosa)
- Tolay Restaurant (Petaluma)
Breweries and wineries pouring their products on Saturday night include:
- Black Kite Cellars (Anderson Valley)
- Bucher Vineyard Wines (Healdsburg)
- Gloria-Ferrer Caves and Vineyards (Sonoma)
- Handley Cellars (Philo)
- Kokomo Winery (Healdsburg)
- Lagunitas Brewery (Petaluma)
- Navarro Vineyards (Philo)
- North Coast Brewing Company (Fort Bragg)
- Paul Mathew Vineyards (Graton)
- Ram’s Gate Winery (Sonoma)
- Russian River Vineyards (Forestville)
- Sonoma Valley Portworks (Petaluma)
- Truett Hurst Winery (Healdsburg)
- Wandering Aengus Ciderworks (Salem, Oregon)
The Saturday night Grand Cheese Tasting & Best in Cheese Competition will take place at the Festival’s host hotel, the Sheraton Sonoma County – Petaluma (745 Baywood Drive, Petaluma, CA 94954). Tickets to this gastronomic showdown are still available and are $75 per person.
Tickets to several of the Festival’s other weekend-long events are also still available, including Friday night’s Meet the Cheesemakers Reception, several of the Saturday seminars, Sunday’s Bubbles and Brunch with Chef Percy Whatley of Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel and the Artisan Cheese Tasting & Marketplace. Tickets for all events may be purchased at www.artisancheesefestival.com.
Those interested can also follow updates by “liking” the Artisan Cheese Festival on Facebook and following the event on Twitter. All events are priced separately and the Sheraton Sonoma County – Petaluma is offering special discounted rates on rooms for festival-goers.
Generous sponsors of the Artisan Cheese Festival include All American Printing, American AgCredit, Bank of Marin, Beehive Cheese Company, Bellwether Farms, Casitas Valley Creamery, Central Coast Creamery, Clover Stornetta Farms, Cowgirl Creamery, Culture magazine, Cypress Grove Chevre, Donald & Maureen Green Foundation, Edible East Bay, Edible Marin and Wine Country, Ellipses Public Relations, Exchange Bank, Fiscalini Farms Cheese, Garden Variety Cheese, John Boos, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Laura Chenel Chevre, Leafware, Marin French Cheese Company, Mike Hudson Distributing, Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, Oak Packaging and Supply, Pennyroyal Farm, Petaluma Creamery, Petaluma Market, Petaluma Post, Pisenti & Brinker, Pt. Reyes Farmstead, Pug’s Leap, Redwood Hill Farm, Relish Culinary Adventures, Rustic Bakery, Shamrock, Sheraton Sonoma County – Petaluma, Tomales Farmstead Creamery, Tony’s Fine Foods, Valley Ford Cheese Company, Whole Foods, Willapa Hills Cheese, World Centric Compostable Products and Yelp.
About California’s Artisan Cheese Festival
A 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, California’s Artisan Cheese Festival strives to increase cheese appreciation, educate consumers about artisan cheeses, support the cheesemaking community and its sustainability and celebrate the creations of California’s many farmers and cheesemakers. The festival began in March 2007 as the first-ever, weekend-long celebration and exploration of handcrafted cheeses, foods, wines and beers from California and beyond. In keeping with its dedication to the community, the Artisan Cheese Festival donates 10% of all ticket proceeds to Sonoma Land Trust, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Petaluma Future Farmers of America, California Artisan Cheese Guild and Redwood Empire Food Bank. To date the Artisan Cheese Festival has contributed more than $55,000 to these non-profit organizations that work to support the artisan cheesemaking community and its infrastructure in California. For more information, visit www.artisancheesefestival.com.
Source: California’s Artisan Cheese Festival
