In their latest issue which has just hit the stores, Seattle Met magazine confirms what we’ve known for a long time…”The best harvest in town isn’t made of grapes.” Writer David Laskin takes you to our fromagerie and gives you a little tour. Next time you visit Walla Walla wine country, come and visit us. Better yet, book a farm stay The Gite, our guest house, and spend some time with us.
Walla Walla Beyond Wine
The best harvest in town isn’t made of grapes.
By David Laskin
Seattle Met Magazine
July 2013
“Terroir—the taste of the land—factors into cheese as well as wine,,” says Joan Monteillet of Monteillet Fromagerie. “Pairing food and wine is much more interesting than just wine tasting—and you’re much more sober afterwards.”
“…The drive from Walla Walla to Monteillet Fromagerie takes you through quintessential Palouse landscape—25 miles of billowing wheat planted on pillows of loess. Joan Monteillet’s family grew wheat on these hills for three generations, but 13 years ago she and her French-born husband Pierre-Louis traded agro-biz monoculture for diversified niche farming. They bought 32 bucolic acres on the Touchet River near the tiny town of Dayton and pastured small herds of French Alpine goats and Lacaune sheep. They started making limited batches of gourmet cheeses. Then they added an organic vegetable garden and sold the produce on the farm and at farmers markets around the region. They opened a cheese tasting room and began offering cheesemaking workshops and cooking demonstrations. Today Monteillet Fromagerie is a pilgrimage stop on the agro-tourism circuit.”
