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Janet Fletcher

180 Stonecrest Dr
Napa, CA, 94558
(707) 265-0404
{ Janet Fletcher / Food Writer }

{ Janet Fletcher / Food Writer }

Janet Fletcher

  • Home
  • About
    • About Janet
    • Media
    • Client List
    • Contact
  • Planet Cheese
    • Planet Cheese Blog
    • Planet Cheese Signup
    • Cheese Library
  • Store
    • All Items
    • World Cheese Tour
    • Books
  • Classes
    • World Cheese Tour Classes
    • Other Classes & Events
    • Cooking Classes
    • Custom Class/Event Request
    • Cheese O'Clock Video Archive
  • Recipes
    • Spring
    • Summer
    • Autumn
    • Winter
    • Comfort

Masterful Makeover

July 15, 2025 janet@janetfletcher.com
Cheese counter at V. Statui Winery

Napa Valley’s V. Sattui Winery has long boasted a substantial cheese counter. Yet, despite living nearby, I almost never shopped there. Driving past it, I channeled Yogi Berra. (“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”) Sattui’s St. Helena tasting room is one of the most visited in the valley, its parking lot perpetually filled with tour buses and its grounds thronged with picnickers. Navigating that scene for a pound of cheese was something I rarely had the patience for. But boy, have I had an attitude adjustment. After an extensive remodel, the tasting room looks like a Ralph Lauren store and the vast cheese counter—now in the hands of one of the nation’s most experienced mongers—repays braving the hordes.

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Tags V. Sattui Winery, St. Helena, Napa Valley tasting room, Sequatchie Cove, Langres
15 Comments

Meet America’s Top Cheeses

July 24, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com
ACS winners

As usual, the winners’ circle at the recent American Cheese Society awards included several repeat victors who almost always land ribbons. They’re just that good. A few new creameries won blue ribbons, but the top honors—the Best of Show and four runners-up—went to long-established producers. These five winners, from five states, had at least one common feature. “What struck me, standing on stage, was that it was all independent cheesemakers,” said Andy Hatch of Wisconsin’s Uplands Cheese. In an industry that constantly grapples with the meaning of “artisan cheese,” it is indeed worth noting that the five winning wheels are all made by hand.

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In From: U.S. Tags American Cheese Society, American Cheese Society competition, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Sequatchie Cove, Green Dirt Farm, Pure Luck Dairy, Farm at Doe Run, Blakesville Creamery
4 Comments

Best New American Cheeses? Ask a Monger

May 3, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

Monger favorite: Alemar Cheese Apricity

After a long pandemic pause, American creameries are launching new cheeses again. Hooray! Optimism is trouncing uncertainty and yielding some exciting newcomers for our cheese boards. American Cheese Month—that would be May—is a great time to celebrate this creativity and encourage our cheesemakers to keep at it. I asked some of the nation’s leading retailers to name a new domestic cheese that they’re loving. Consider this your bucket list for the months ahead.

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Tags new American cheeses, American artisan cheese, American Cheese Month, Meadow Creek Dairy, Alemar Cheese, Mystic Cheese, Stony Pond Farm, Blakesville Creamery, Sartori, Sweet Grass Dairy, Sequatchie Cove, BellaVitano
12 Comments
 

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Welcome to my world: a fragrant, fascinating universe devoted to great cheese. In this and future Planet Cheese posts, you’ll find profiles of the world’s best cheeses plus insights into everything cheese: shops, recipes, interviews, pairing discoveries, classes, videos, travel. If you haven’t already done so, sign up here - it’s complimentary - and join me in learning something new about cheese every week.



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     Photographs: Douglas Fletcher, Ed Anderson, Megan Clouse, Faith Echtermeyer, Eva Kolenko,
Victoria Pearson, Sara Remington and Meg Smith
Design: Jennifer Barry Design | Props: Tangerine Prop Shop | © 2024 Janet Fletcher, All Rights Reserved