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I know some people; let’s call them wine people.
When they travel, it’s to Napa Valley, not California, and it’s to Burgundy and Alsace, not just France. They visit wineries, winemakers, and wine bars. They visit stores with row upon row of lovely gleaming bottles with familiar labels that they covet. They buy, taste, and enjoy all the interesting wines their travel destinations have to offer.
We all might be guilty of having hobbies that take over our travel and vacation destinations. I’m pretty sure I do because, as a cheese lover, travelling means new cheese discoveries. A trip south to Washington State and Oregon offers something for cheese and wine lovers, beginning with Seattle.
I love Seattle in general. It's a great city with great food, nice people and great architecture. The nice thing about some of the more touristy sights is that they actually offer some great cheese visits. Pike Place Market has two good stops. DeLaurenti is at the north end of the market. They specialize in Italian food, wine and coffee, and they have an excellently curated selection of cheese. The counter is well organized, with nice choices from all over the U.S. and Europe. The staff members are knowledgeable, and you can then buy a wine to match in the store. Amazing, I know. The cheese counter has various farm-made cheeses from all over the States. We’re hard-pressed to get those cheeses in Canada, so I recommend trying some you’ve never had before. Pick any one; it’s hard to lose.
The other fun stop at Pike Place Market is Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. This is an all-in-one shop and cheese-making facility. You can stand outside and watch people making cheddar. Kids and adults alike seem to get a big kick out of watching the huge vats of milk, stirred with large paddles, magically transforming into cheese. Once you've finished watching, you can buy cheese from some Washington state cheese makers or pick up a mac and cheese to go.
If you’re driving around Washington, there are creameries you can visit or take in the farmers' markets, and you can hit a few, all in one stop. Here is a link to the state cheesemakers guild www.washingtoncheesemakers.org.. You can always call the creameries directly and see if they have a farm shop or if they welcome visitors. On another trip, we visited Gothberg Farms in the Skagit Valley just an hour or so over the border from B.C. They have great goat cheeses and the most adorable herd of La Mancha goats.
Some of those same tips apply to Oregon. In the spring /summer season, Portland has a great farmers market right downtown near the university. I’ve been a couple of times over the years and have always been really impressed by the cheesemakers and their wares. There is always other good food from other farmers and food trucks at the market if you don’t want to stick to the cheese-only diet!
We usually recommend Steve’s Cheese Bar in downtown Portland, but it was another victim of the pandemic. You can still find its namesake, master cheesemonger Steve Jones, at the Portland Beer & Cheese Festival each June, where he employs his excellent palate to pair beer and cider with beautiful cheeses.
Oregon also has a website for its cheese guild, http://oregoncheeseguild.org, which is a great place to find out about other cheese festivals and a wonderful thing called the cheese trail. Oregon speaks my language.
It’s a big state, and there are many places to visit, but when I drive to Sacramento for the American Cheese Society Conference, we visit Rogue Creamery in South Oregon. They make a whole battery of terrific blues: blue cheese wrapped in brandy-macerated grape leaves, creamy blues, crumbly blues, and smoked blue. If you love blue, these cheeses are worth the trip.
Another good spot to sample local cheeses can be restaurants. Perhaps you don’t have time to visit a farm. Of course, it is fun but not always possible, but I’m sure you might still have time for dinner. A cheese plate after dinner is a good chance to brush up on local products. I know chefs worldwide want to show off their local producers, so if the restaurant you have chosen has cheese, ask for some local ones to finish off that glass of Oregon Pinot noir or Washington Chardonnay.
