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California Artisan Cheese Festival Celebrates 17th Anniversary

California Artisan Cheese Festival Celebrates 17th Anniversary


SANTA ROSA, CA
Thursday, February 16th, 2023

Celebrating 17 years is a monumental occasion, and the California Artisan Cheese Festival knows just how to take that celebration to new heights! This premier cheese event, which is held March 24–26, 2023, will take place in and around Sonoma County, and at various local farms, restaurants, creameries, and tasting rooms of artisan producers all over Northern California.

With tickets now on sale, let’s dig into what’s on the docket!

Friday’s Farm and Producer Tours

These tours take you all around Northern California to explore local farms, creameries, and artisan purveyors. You’ll learn how cheeses, beer, and other ag products are made, and also get a chance to meet the people making these delicious products! This year’s Festival is offering ten tours on Friday, March 24, with seven of them including round-trip transportation, three going beyond the immediate Bay Area, one self-driven tour, and two walking tours around Sebastopol.

The California Artisan Cheese Festival is celebrating its 17th anniversary of the premier cheese event, which will take place in and around Sonoma County, and at various local farms, restaurants, creameries and tasting rooms of artisan producers all over Northern California

The tours are selling out quickly, but tours that still have tickets available include “The Barlow” in Sebastopol; “Goat Yoga & More” in Escalon; “Past, Present, and Future” in Willows; and “Taste of the Anderson Valley” in Mendocino County.

Specific details for each tour can be found here.

Saturday Seminars and Pairing Demonstrations

This brings attendees face-to-face with the experts who work with and create some of America’s best artisan cheeses and the wines that pair with them, a press release explained.

They are as follows:

  • Seminar 1: A Cheese and Wine Pairing with Tracey Shepos Cenami at The Kendall-Jackson Wine Center
  • Seminar 2: Cheese and Wine Pairing with Laura Werlin at Bricoleur Vineyards
  • Seminar 3: Cheese + Charcuterie Cone Building Workshop with Alyssa Gilbert
  • Seminar 4: Cheese + Chocolate at Sugarloaf Wine Co. with chocolatiers Jeff and Susan Mall

More information regarding the seminars can be found here.

Some of the tours with tickets still available include “The Barlow” in Sebastopol; “Goat Yoga & More” in Escalon; “Past, Present, and Future” in Willows; and “Taste of the Anderson Valley” in Mendocino County

Other events taking place during the 2023 California Artisan Cheese Festival include:

California Artisan Cheese Week

Cheese aficionados can expect to find special cheese-focused dishes and menus at some of their favorite local restaurants, tasting rooms, and businesses around the state for the third annual California Artisan Cheese Week. These businesses will be showing support for their favorite cheesemakers and guests will have the opportunity to enjoy their favorite standbys and discover new artisan cheeses in creative dishes, impressive cheese plates, special discounts, unique pairings, and more.

Cheese Crawl at the Barlow

Cheesemakers, restaurants, and breweries and distilleries will come together for this light-hearted yet energetic night of discovery featuring California artisan cheese at different businesses throughout The Barlow. Each stop will host a cheesemaker offering samples to be paired with their partner food or beverage purveyor including regional artisan wine, cider, and spirits and beer.

Artisan Cheese Tasting & Marketplace

The grand finale of the festival, the Marketplace brings together more than 100 artisan producers of the best California cheese, wine, beer, ciders, and other specialty foods.


Now this is one event that will be hard to pass up!

California Artisan Cheese Festival
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