PETALUMA, CA — The United States’ premier artisan cheese event, the 7th Annual California’s Artisan Cheese Festival, announces the participants for the Grand Cheese Tasting & Best in Cheese Competition on Saturday, March 23, 2013. 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. New this 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:
Beehive Cheese Company (Uintah, Utah)
Bellwether Farms (Petaluma)
Bleating Heart Cheese (Sebastopol)
Casitas Valley Creamery (Carpinteria)
Central Coast Creamery (Paso Robles)
Cowgirl Creamery (Point Reyes Station)
Cypress Grove Chevre (Arcata)
Garden Variety (Royal Oaks)
Laura Chenel’s Chevre (Sonoma)
Marin French Cheese Company (Petaluma)
Nicasio Valley Cheese Co. (Nicasio)
North Bay Curds and Whey (Tomales)
Orland Creamery (Orland)
Penny Royal Farm (Boonville)
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. (Point Reyes Station)
Pugs Leap (Petaluma)
Redwood Hill Farm & Creamery (Sebastopol)
Shamrock Artisan Goat Cheese (Willits)
Spring Hill Jersey Cheese (Petaluma)
Two Rock Valley Goat Cheese (Petaluma)
Valley Ford Cheese Co. (Valley Ford)
Willapa Hills Farmstead & Artisan Cheese (Doty, Washington)
Winters Cheese Company (Winters)
Restaurants that will be partnering with one of the above cheesemakers to create cheese-centric bites for the Grand Cheese Tasting event are:
Balboa Café (Mill Valley)
Corks Restaurant & Russian River Vineyards (Forestville)
Freestone Artisan Cheese & Creperie (Freestone)
Jimtown Store (Healdsburg)
La Condesa Napa (St. Helena)
Little River Inn (Mendocino)
Lodge at Sonoma (Sonoma)
Nick’s Cove Restaurant, Oyster Bar & Cottages (Marshall)
Olive & Vine (Glen Ellen)
Patisserie Angelica (Sebastopol)
Parallel 37 (San Francisco)
Petaluma Pie Company (Petaluma)
Ram's Gate Winery (Sonoma)
Rocker Oysterfeller’s Kitchen + Saloon (Valley Ford)
The Ahwahnee Dining Room (Yosemite)
the girl and the fig (Sonoma)
The Strudel Guy (Sonoma)
Tolay Restaurant (Petaluma)
Breweries and wineries pouring their products on Saturday night include:
Acorn Winery/Alegria Vineyards (Healdsburg)
Black Kite Cellars (Anderson Valley)
Gloria-Ferrer Caves and Vineyards (Sonoma)
Half Moon Bay Brewing Company (Half Moon Bay)
Navarro Vineyards (Philo)
Keller Estate Winery (Petaluma)
Lagunitas Brewery (Petaluma)
North Coast Brewing Company (Fort Bragg)
Ram's Gate Winery (Sonoma)
Russian River Vineyards (Forestville)
Sonoma Valley Portworks (Petaluma)
Turkovich Family Wines (Winters)
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 inaugural Meet the Cheesemakers Reception, several of the Saturday seminars, Sunday’s Stark Reality Brunch with 2013 James Beard Award nominee Chef Mark Stark 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. 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 Ag Credit, Bank of Marin, Basin Street Properties, Beehive Cheese Company, Bellwether Farms, Bleating Heart, Casitas Valley Creamery, Clover Stornetta Farms, Cowgirl Creamery,Culture magazine, Cypress Grove Chevre, Donald & Maureen Green Foundation, Exchange Bank, Garden Variety Cheese, John Boos, Keller Estate Winery, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Laura Chenel Chevre, Marin French Cheese Company, Maverick Media, McClelland’s Dairy Organic Butter, Mike Hudson Distributing, Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, North Bay Curds and Whey, Petaluma Market, Petaluma Post, Penny Royal, Pisenti & Brinker, Pt. Reyes Farmstead, Pure Luxury Transportation, Pugs Leap, Redwood Hill Farm, Relish Culinary Adventures, Reynolds Packaging, Shamrock Artisan Goat Cheese, Sheraton Sonoma County, Spring Hill Jersey Cheese, The Cheese School of San Francisco, Tomales Farmstead/Toluma Farms, Whole Foods Markets, Willapa Hills Farmstead, Wine Country Party & Events and Winters Cheese Co.
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 will donate 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 $45,000 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