State Fair honors Estero Gold as best
Like several of her cheese-making neighbors in West Marin, Karen Bianchi-Moreda traces her roots to the Italianspeaking canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Her family has operated a dairy farm in western Sonoma County for close to a century, but in recent years, selling fluid milk has become an enterprise with an unpromising future. Bianchi-Moreda, a physical education teacher, wanted to return to the farm and began to wonder if cheese making might provide a role for her.
She ordered her first home cheese-making kit in 2008 and has taught herself, through trial and error with the family’s Jersey cow milk, how to make an aged wheel similar to the mystery cheese her immigrant grandparents ate, the one that was always under a glass dome by the wine decanter. Even better, she sent her son, Joe, to Cal Poly to study dairy science, and
he has taken over the cheese making since graduating.
When Bianchi-Moreda goes to Switzerland next year to visit her relatives for the first time, she will take with her a Best of Show ribbon for Estero Gold from the 2012 California State Fair. She and her son are making fewer than 100 wheels, weighing 8 to 10 pounds, every week, with raw milk from the family farm. The cheeses are released at about seven months, although the winning wheel was twice that old.
The Estero Gold wheels that I’ve sampled recently have a uniformly golden interior, with a thin natural rind. The gold color extended right up to the rind, with no darkening, which makes me think that Joe has fine-tuned the temperature and humidity in his aging room.
The paste is firm and brittle, a bit waxy and not as dry as Parmigiano Reggiano but with some of the crunchy protein crystals that develop in aged Parmesan.
The aroma isn’t huge, but it is inviting, hinting of pineapple and brown butter. The salt is correct and the finish persistent, leaving a tart and piquant impression.
Look for Valley Ford Estero Gold at Good Life Grocery and Cowgirl Creamery in San Francisco; Berkeley Bowl, Star Grocery, Pasta Shop and Country Cheese Coffee Market in Berkeley; Woodlands Market in Kentfield; Paradise Foods in Corte Madera; Oakville Grocery and Dry Creek General Store in Healdsburg; and several Bay Area Whole Foods.
The cheese has enough flavor intensity to call for red wine, preferably one with some heft and tannin. ADry Creek Zinfandel would be a good choice. Next up: Vermont Butter & Cheese crottin, a fresh goat cheese.