Smile, You're in Big Cheese Country

There's a new growth industry in Marin and Sonoma counties: creating artisan cheese.

To date, 27 companies are crafting 100 varieties of cheese from the milk of cows, goats, sheep — even water buffalo. A mozzarella di bufala from Tomales is in the works and set to debut in spring 2012.

Several of the cheesemakers have been producing their product for generations. The North Bay, after all, is dairy and ranch country. Joining them is a new generation of boutique cheesemakers, who create specialty cheeses in small batches.

Whether they've been around for a while or just starting out, these cheesemakers are definitely on to something. Six months after it was first published, the "Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail," a guide designed specifically to celebrate this new local epicurean delight, is going into a second printing. A run-away hit, all 50,000 guides from the initial print run have been given away.

The guide recommends two separate driving tours, of about 50 miles each. Here, we look at the Marin leg of the cheese trail.

Cheese in Marin: Rouge et Noir

The Marin tour starts at the granddaddy of local cheeses, the Marin French Cheese Company, maker of the Rouge et Noir brand of soft-ripened cheeses, Brie and Camembert primarily, and sold throughout Marin County.

The company, which has been operating from the same (and still) pastoral spot for 146 years, was acquired last May by Rians, the family-owned French cheese company that purchased Laura Chenel’s Chèvre in Sonoma five years ago.

The Marin French Cheese Company is known for its large lawn and picnic grounds, with a pond and tall shade trees. A few barbecue areas are also available. You can even fish, if you want recreation along with cheese-tasting.

Says Manager Maxx Sherman, “I recently saw a local boy catch a 15-pound carp from that pond.”

Sherman says the company is bringing in new equipment and the Rouge et Noir's trademark red and black label will soon be modernized. “But all the flavor profiles of the cheese will stay the same,” he says. Sherman was part of the initial planning group for the Cheese Trail Map and says it is succeeding in bringing in business.

“Oh, yes, we’ve seen a huge bump, as well as more activity on the Yelp pages,” he says. “We also hand it [the map] out to visitors. And people in the tasting room do mention that they’re following the trail.

"Whatever the reasons, it’s been a great year for us, with business up 20 percent as of April.”

Nicasio Valley Cheese

The next stop on the Marin tour is the Nicasio Valley Cheese Company, which bills itself as “California's only certified organic farmstead cheesemakers.”

“Farmstead” means the cheese is made from milk produced on site, rather than brought in from another dairy. In this case, the organic milk comes directly from the 1,150-acre Lafranchi Ranch. The Lafranchis say, “We milk at 6:30 AM and the cheesemaking starts at 9:00 AM.” Now that’s fresh.