April 4, 2025—Between the stone walls at Vella Cheese Factory, complicated feelings result from simple craftsmanship.
The emotions run from sudden joy (Is that price real?) to self doubt (Is it responsible to buy this much cheese?) to deep satisfaction (Is it OK to lay down here?).
Meanwhile Vella’s family leadership and approach to cultures, care and hands-on practices remains far less complicated.
The 120-year-old building that started as a brewery—then survived Prohibition by switching to cheese, and also braved fires and repeated earthquakes—sits a few blocks from Sonoma Plaza, a leafy, historic and foodie-friendly square in a city stacked with attractions (more on those in a second).
By the square, The Sonoma Cheese Factory does a great job curating cheeses—on the level of the Cheese Shop Carmels and 831 Cheese Shops of the world—but they sell it at a steep markup.
That serves as helpful motivation to visit the working factory for both experiential and financial reasons.
Vella staff administers samples generously, knowing how hard it is to try them and walk away without a bag loaded with classic and more creative ferments.
Cheese brought me to Sonoma for the 19th Annual California Artisan Cheese Festival.
My county-crossing long weekend began at Timber Cove for yurt dining starring smoked trout chowder, then moved to Inn at Sonoma, then culminated with two volunteer shifts in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa.
Across four communities, cheese was the primary theme, but I also encountered a block of more savory takeaways, which tend to accumulate when you have an appetite for travel.
Here appear a few favorites.
Location remains supreme.
A partnership with Pacific Grove-headquartered Four Sisters Inns gave me a chance to stay at Inn at Sonoma for a night.
It also enabled an overstuffed buffet of cliffside hikes, local food finds and gentle lodging that inspired “Found Treasure: Mendocino Magic” a year ago.
Four Sisters’ guest attention (featuring tons of recommendations and heart-of-service attitude), B&B abilities (prepped in the on-campus kitchen) and bespoke details (the Serta Platinum Suite X mattresses, so soft I had to ask about them, are the truth) prove crucial to their brand of hospitality.
Those elements find greater meaning when situated in both singular towns and cities across 20 some locations—like Santa Cruz, Santa Monica and Napa—and in strategic positions at rarified historic and/or stylish buildings therein.
Location proves a huge bonus with Inn at Sonoma, about a block and a half from the crux of the hamlet, walking distance from several dozen worthy restaurants, museums, galleries, tasting rooms and more.
Still photos can stop you cold.
I was walking along Sonoma’s square when a large format photo kidnapped every ounce of my attention.
The colors challenged possibility. The composition breathed majesty. The vivacity thundered without moving.
The Lisa Kristine Gallery overwhelms with her truly unique alchemy of technique, perspective and (most importantly) partnership with the people she honors.
I’m not sure of much in this life, but I am sure you won’t regret looking at her landscapes, portraits and activism, and hopefully learn more.
Put differently, I haven’t purchased a coffee table book in more than a decade. I was so moved by her work I left with two.
Wine-friendly, dog-friendly, and nature-friendly is…all-friendly.
Bartholomew Winery, just outside downtown Sonoma proper, stokes visitors on wine tastings and special events, but also dog-friendly, public-access picnic areas and trails that climb to views of the valley below.
Inn at Sonoma staff also spotlight Sonoma Overlook Trail and Jack London State Park, though they’re less amendable to wine-sipping and dog-walking.
The many enthusiastic epicureans suggestions from the Inn at Sonoma team—all near the plaza—include restaurants like Eldorado Kitchen, The Girl & The Fig, Della Santina; great adult beverage hangs like Sigh and The Beacon; and tasting rooms a la Caddis, Pangloss Cellars and Sojourn Cellars.
Volunteering (still) rules.
As I’ve documented here, I loved me some Big Sur Food & Wine since its inception, and (almost) never took media-pass access for granted.
Then I started volunteering, and now I can’t quit the rollicking ride that is logistics.
The incentives to work a food event include but aren’t limited to: a peek behind the curtain at the inner workings; a built-in way to connect with like-minded and hard-working food-obessessed souls; an opportunity to check out events without the price points.
At the Artisan Cheese Festival, I distributed pounds of gourmet Sierra Nevada Cheese Company cheese, by the nibble, across a brisk three hour Cheese Crawl tasting; schlepped and served some Peroni Italian birra; greeted guests at the Tasting & Marketplace with branded goblets; and, most importantly, made friends and swapped tips with hospitality lifers and cheese royalty who prefer to remain anonymous.
Those riches surface top of mind with Pebble Beach Food & Wine on the horizon next weekend, April 10-13.
Tap into the PBFW volunteer application to sign up now.
The right kind of cluster uplifts everyone.
To review, the Barlow District in Sebastopol hosted the Cheese Crawl.
Barlow uses a similar layout and curated roster of breweries, tasting rooms, foodie favorites and boutiques as Tin City in Paso Robles and The Funk Zone in Santa Barbara.
Westside Santa Cruz hopes to achieve a similar non-downtown destination reputation for multifaceted flavor with the introduction of a branded area name, though progress has been bogged down by an absence of agreement.
Let’s get it did.
California is going fuller cheese queen than ever.
The Golden State picks up at least of little of its luminous hue from cheese.
CA cheese already has a tasty resume, with 99 percent of its dairy farms family-owned, #2 production nationwide behind only Wisconsin, more Latino-style cheese than any other state, #1 mozzarella output, 200+ years of history and (sí) birthplace cred for the best cheese on the planet (if you have to ask, it rhymes with Jonterey Mack).
This summer Sacramento hosts the national American Cheese Society 2025 Annual Conference taking place July 23-26.
Per its own preview:
This year, we’re reimagining the “City of Trees” as the City of Cheese—a place where our favorite people come together to create unforgettable experiences, learn and celebrate all things cheese! With more trees per capita than almost any other city in the world, Sacramento offers a stunning urban canopy that’s especially beautiful in the summertime.
What’s better together than cheese…and trees?!
(An answer or two beckons below.)
A few months later, the 10th Annual SF Cheese Fest returns to San Francisco Ferry Building September 13, 2025.
Monterey Bay is now on the map.
A brand new version of The Cheese Trail debuted at the Artisan Cheese Festival.
I immediately flipped to the region between SFO and SLO.
Lo and behold, a glorious update: EMB favorite Carmel Valley Creamery.
The overall document is helpful and hunger-activating.
And now serves a point of regional pride.
Teamwork makes cheese work.
Like humans, cheeses are social creatures.
They like company, which helps illuminate why 69 various non-cheese vendors wanted in on the Sunday Marketplace alone.
One of several surprises therein: Family-owned Nuts + Nuts landed as one of the most memorable cheese complements.
The most nuts things about them might be the Good Food Award for their rosemary-maple-sea salt cashews—in the broad and hyper competitive category of “snacks”—isn’t their best family recipe.
That would be the chili-lime leaf, which flows through a Willy Wonka sequence of sweet, citric tannins and Indonesian-chili pepper heat. Incredible.
Memorable Sonoma Coast small-batch Pinot Noirs like Kokomo, Black Kite and Montagne Russe also shined.
Basket cases are just my type.
With levitation-level cheeses spread across several acres of pavilion, selecting a Best in Show at the festival Marketplace would be a little obnoxious.
But it was held at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, home to many a livestock best-in-showdown.
And Bellwether Farms basket-style ricotta was that good.
This doesn’t come as a surprise.
Their creme fraiche won Best in Class—nationally—for cow-milk creams, and made me a rural cult hero at a Thanksgiving party for bringing it along.
I acquired a round of its mild, pillowy and buttery glory and immediately deployed it in deviled eggs, on toast with chili-pepper jam, with granola and fruit, and by the spoonful solo.
Their most popular in-house recipe is the next California artisan cheese mission for me: ricotta pancakes with a soufflé texture.
Cheese adjourned.
Here’s that story, “Found Treasure: California Artisan Cheese Guild (Also Cheese),” with the recipe at the bottom.
More at the nonprofit California Cheese Guild’s website.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
