Monteillet Fromagerie

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Budget Travel magazine visits us on a Road Trip

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10 Coolest Small Towns, Wash.

A little bit hip and a little bit homey, these up-and-coming towns guarantee a fun detour on your next road trip. You’ll be browsing the local real estate pages before you know it.

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By Paul Gregutt
Published in the September 2007 issue

Waitsburg, Wash.
Population: 1,212
Nearest City: Walla Walla, 21 miles

Ross Stevenson and Leroy Cunningham settled in Waits­burg six years ago, in search of a quieter lifestyle. With two partners, they opened the Whoopemup Hollow Café in 2005. The Whoop, as it’s known, dishes up jambalaya and Coca-Cola cake to wheat farmers and wine snobs alike (120 Main St., 509/337-9000, jambalaya $19). Just across the street, Jim German recently opened Jimgermanbar, which specializes in classic cocktails and small plates (119 Main St., 509/337-6001). His wife, Claire Johnston-German, owns the AMO Art gallery next door (117 Main St., 509/876-1264, amo-art.com). Summers in Waitsburg can get hot, and the Laht Neppur Brewing Co. is the place to cool down (444 Preston Ave., 509/337-6261). After savoring a flight of eight mini pours, head over to the Monteillet Fromagerie, where the cheeses are made with milk from free-range goats and sheep (109 Ward Rd., 509/382-1917). Monteillet’s sheep’s-milk gelato is a revelation.

Mountain Living visits our fromagerie

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Weekend in Washington Wine Country

Mountain Living
Published in September, 2007

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In the sleepy southeastern corner of Washington state, the town of Walla Walla and the wine-growing region that surrounds it feels a lot like an undiscovered Napa Valley–it’s friendly, familiar and perfectly real–and when it comes to food and wine, the area is it’s poised to become the next big thing…

…Just be sure to save some room, because this afternoon you’ll be tasting some of the best cheeses around at Monteillet Fromagerie. Farmstead cheesemakers in the truest sense, Pierre-Louis and Joan Monteillet rise at 4 a.m. to milk their flock of 35 goats and 35 sheep. The rest of the day is spent producing their hand-made cheeses. There’s a Larzac (goat) and Mejean (sheep), two soft-ripened cheeses; a remarkable rosy Mejean Syrah that’s marinated in Syrah from Dunham Cellars’ Lewis Vineyard; two hard, aged cheeses, a Sauveterre (sheep) and Causse Noir (goat and sheep); and, in the fall, the smoky-hued Le Roi, an aged pure goat cheese that’s dusted with grape leaf ash from Leon, France, and crowned with gold dust. On weekend afternoons, you can tour the fromagerie, visit the goats and, best of all, step up to the small, beautiful counter for a cheese- and- wine tasting. You’ll want to bring the delicious Fcheeses home, but if you didn’t pack a cooler, you can always ask the Monteillets to ship some to you.

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We get a mention in Travel + Leisure magazine!

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Walla Walla, Washington’s Wineries

By Bruce Schoenfeld
Published: March 2005

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In the sleepy southeastern corner of Washington state, a quiet revolution is under way. Meet some of the passionate (even obsessed) vintners, chefs, and farmers who are making Walla Walla this country’s next great wine destination.

I won’t soon forget the first meal I ate in Walla Walla. It was six years ago, just as the local wine industry was beginning to boom. One of the area’s leading viticulturists, a man of some sophistication, took me to what he pointedly called “the best restaurant in town.” His quote marks hung in the air like smoke; before long, I understood why. The restaurant was a family steak house, on the model of a Sizzlerbut lacking the predictability of a chain. The room smelled like a school cafeteria, and the meat that arrived at our table tasted like something an office-supply store might sell.

Now I sit at a dining room table in Dayton, Washington, half an hour outside Walla Walla, reveling in the unmistakable, earthy scent of fresh truffles….

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