NORTH BAY ? Rising demand for artisan products is floating all boats among North Bay cheese makers, with local producers reporting double-digit growth in sales and many building larger facilities.
The surge of new artisan cheeses and yogurts coming from the area is acting as a counterweight to dwindling herds, as a smaller volume of milk is being used to make higher-value products.
?The trend in the industry is toward small-scale, European-style production,? said Liam Callahan, owner of Bellwether Farms near Bolinas.
?Consumers are discovering that cheese and yogurt crafted by hand tastes better than the mass-produced stuff. Oddly, Europeans producers are going in the opposite direction.?
His cow?s and sheep?s mild cheeses and sheep?s mild yogurt saw a 35 percent jump in sales this year.
Cowgirl Creamery, a leader in the local artisan cheese movement, is building a new 12,000-square-foot creamery in Petaluma and intends, over time, to double production of its aged and fresh cheeses, all made with organic milk from the Strauss Family Dairy.
Co-owner Sue Conley attributes the creamery?s steady 30 percent growth a year for the last five years to consumers? desire to eat locally. Like Bellwether Farms, Cowgirl sells most of its products within a 200-mile radius of its facility in Point Reyes.
?Our outlet in the Ferry Building, where we sell our own and other local cheeses, has been a great showcase for the North Bay industry,? she said. ?It?s really encouraging to see the local producers gaining momentum.?
Even without the new Cowgirl facility near Foundry Wharf, Petaluma is emerging as artisan cheese central.
Marin French Cheese has been operating there for 143 years. The oldest cheese maker in the U.S. is also in expansion mode, according to technical operations manager Alex Borgo.
?We?ve applied for permits to build a new curing room. We?d like to double or even triple production during the next year,? he said.
Although the company?s Rouge et Noir brie and camembert cheeses are sold widely throughout the nation and beyond, 20-employee Marin French is still a small operation, and the cheeses will continue to be handcrafted.
Another historic creamery in Petaluma may be making a comeback. The 150,000-square-foot creamery on Western Avenue, built as a dairyman?s cooperative in 1913 and closed by Clover Stornetta, was purchased three years ago by Larry Peter, owner of Springhill Jersey Cheese.
After a rough start trying to save the longtime cheese-making operation, Mr. Peter now has the financing in place to begin production of his Jersey milk cheeses there.
?I got in over my head at first, but I?m a determined kind of guy. I want to make specialty, value-added cheeses in that facility and grow my staff to about 100 eventually.?
Mr. Peter currently raises his Jersey cows and makes a line of organic, raw-milk Farmstead jack and cheddar cheese near Two Rock.
Last year the Petaluma Sheraton was the site of the first Artisan Cheese Festival. Coordinated by dairy industry leader Lynne Devereaux, the festival drew attendees from as far away as Toronto and was a runaway success. Another is planned for March of 2008.
?We slanted the program toward consumers, not producers, and people flocked to taste products and learn about the industry and production. Consumer education is key to developing the artisan cheese industry,? said Ms. Devereaux.
Jennifer Bice, owner of Redwood Hill Farms in Sebas-topol, agrees that education is driving growth.
?There are lots of books coming out on artisan cheese, and fine restaurants are featuring them. People taste an artisan cheese at Chez Panisse, and then they want to buy it.?
She sells her line of goat cheeses and yogurt, made from her certified humanely raised herd, primarily on the West Coast, but she?s seeing demand growing in New York, Chicago and Atlanta.
?We?re expanding to meet it. When we began production in the 1960s, we felt like missionaries.?
Another goat cheese missionary, Cypress Grove Chevre in Humboldt County, has seen demand explode. Its signature product, Humboldt Fog, is synonymous with artisan goat cheese across the country.
?We?re launching a new one: Truffle Tremor,? said Sales and Marketing Manager Bob McCall. Cypress Grove has seen double-digit growth over the last five years, he said.
?Our nine cheeses are in every state, in supermarkets, specialty food shops, restaurants.?
The 50-employee operation, on a 20-acre parcel in Arcata, is getting cramped but has plenty of room to expand.
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese has already outgrown its space. The 25-employee, family-run dairy and creamery is building a new production facility.
According to Managing Partner Karen Giocomini Howard, both the family?s herd of cows and lines of cheeses are growing.
?Since we started cheese production in 2000, it?s taken off. We?re really excited about the new building. We hope to add a commercial kitchen and eventually give cooking classes.?
Can an industry that touts small-batch production expand successfully?
?That?s the challenge,? said Ms. Devereaux. ?We?re at a critical turning point. We must maintain artisan quality while increasing quantity to meet demand.?
Perhaps the answer lies in more small producers. Ms. Bice of Redwood Hill Farms recently gave a presentation for the Marin Farm Bureau membership.
?There were 60 or 70 people there who wanted to get into artisan cheese making,? she said.
