monteillet fromagerie - day course

This is a great stop along the way to/from Dayton. The Monteillets are gracious hosts willing to talk all about their cheese. It's fun to watch the herd gather and hear them bleat and carry on. The outside kitchen is beautiful and makes one dream of having something similar in their own backyard. Not a fan of goat cheese, visitors should anticipate the pungent smells of cheesemaking in the tasting room. This is also a host site of Outstanding-in-the-Fields Tour.

A must stop for great artisan cheeses. Wonderful owners who really care about their product and create tasty cheeses. You'll want to come back.

Have a French cheese experience, meet the owners, see the goats. If you can't get there, they often sample and sell their cheeses at the Walla Walla Farmers Market, and at the jimgermanbar in Waitsburg, and many local Walla Walla and Dayton restaurants serve their artisan handcrafted cheeses. Their cheeses are also sometimes available in Portland and Seattle - visit their website to learn more. http://www.monteilletcheese.com/

Wet inside trailer. No toilet. I politely declined and drove away. Hope you have a flashlight in the middle of the night to use a toilet somewhere? Charged me $100.00 on credit card anyway.

This time of year, the ride from Walla Walla to the Fromagerie is a breath-taking trip through the golden foothills of the Blue Mountains. Cattle dot the landscape; wheat fields are in all stages of green and golden; and farmhouses are tucked in shaded canyons as well as in plain sight along the curving highway. It’s a lovely drive.I was introduced to the Monteillet Fromagerie at the Saturday Portland Farmers’ Market years ago. That’s where I met cheesemaker Pierre-Louis Monteillet and had the chance, week after week, to taste a variety of his fresh, hand-ladled goat- and sheep-milk cheeses. Monteillet is a friendly, generous man who is eager to share his knowledge and his cheeses. For someone new to the world of artisanal chevres (goat) and brebis (sheep) cheeses, his lessons are delectable. (Trust me, you won’t be able to resist the subtle, nutty flavor of his Larzac, a soft ripened goat cheese that’s divided in half by a line of grapeleaf ash.) From his Web site (www.monteilletcheese.com), I learned that besides the spotless cheese-making building, quaint tasting room and menagerie of free-range chickens, goats, sheep, pigs and six, white Great Pyrenees dogs, who guard and live alongside the dairy flocks, there is even lodging on the 31-acre farmstead. It’s a three-bedroom house with a fully equipped kitchen, including fresh milk and farmstead eggs (Sign me up!).PS: AND THIS IS IMPORTANT. DON'T BE AFRAID TO DRIVE HERE, EVEN IF YOU THINK THE TASTING ROOM IS CLOSED. JOAN IS ALWAYS THERE, MAKING CHEESE AND WELCOMES YOU WITH OPEN ARMS!!!

You must make a stop at the Monteillet Fromagerie if you are on a quest to know where your food comes from and need a break from the non-stop wine tasting (although you can have some here too). The cheese is outstanding and Joan is obviously passionate about her cheese, animals and place. I am so excited to have met her and find such a wonderful clean source of goat/sheep cheese which I can eat. We had such a terrific conversation about clean food and she was so accommodating even though she had lots of work left to do. We bought several cheeses, lamb chops, and spare ribs. I might have to come back and stay in one of their cottages next time.

On our wine tour of Eastern Washington it wasn't just the wine that rose to the top.... it was the cheese! The effervescent Joan and her handsome frenchie Pierre-Louis are a most phenomenal couple. Looking for a place to stay on our tour to the Walla Walla wine Country we stumbled onto the offering of a La Maison..... an adorable cottage in Walla Walla just a walk away from down town. We discovered that the owners are cheese makers extrodinaire and drove to Dayton for the cheese tasting experience. What Fun, and what a palate delight! Next time we will plan to stay at The Gite for a farm stay and the 2 day cheese making class!

Have heard nothing but good things about this place and was definitely not disappointed! I moved to walla walla about 9 months ago and finally made it out to Monteillet when my sister and friend came out to visit for the first time. My sister LOVES cheese but is lactose intolerant and cannot consume cow cheeses. Luckily, she can eat sheep and goats milk cheeses, so she was ecstatic to come here and actually be able to taste each and every cheese served! We showed up just after opening, probably around 12:20 (opening is at noon), and Joan was just coming in and setting up. She's a very eclectic woman with a fun personality and very positive energy, though she was slightly discombobulated. Probably just from running a little behind. We sat at the tasting bar, inside the rather small tasting room, and happily waited for her to get ready. There were the 3 of us girls and another couple who came in about the same time that we did. The 5 of us fit at the tasting bar perfectly. There is another area of seating along the wall, but it is separate from where we were sitting and noticed a very different experience to those who came in later and could not sit up at the bar we were at, being directly in front of Joan. We got taken through the tasting, cheese by cheese, with explanation of how each are made, freshly sliced delicious apples, and a variety of herbs to sprinkle on our first cheese (to compare with or without bc it is a very mild cheese). Progressively, the cheeses do get stronger. We were invited to taste as much as we wanted of any of the cheeses. We also had wine with our tasting and she was generous with our pours. The tasting is $10 and $5 addt for each glass of wine. The people sitting at the bar opposite of us, simply got plates with each cheese on them and the plate handed to them. Not the same explanation and experience I felt we received sitting with Joan. Something I will definitely remember when bringing other people there in the future. We bought cheese to take home, and no, the tasting fee is not refunded with purchase, but I didn't expect it to be. My mother in law is coming into town in a coupe of weeks to visit, and I will definitely be taking her to Monteillet!

My husband and I traveled from Sequim to Prosser for a weeks stay in Washington Wine Country. For months I have talked about going to Monteillet Fromagerie in Dayton to see the farm and experience the wine and cheese. Joan was away for the afternoon but Pierre-Louis graciously showed us the farm, the day-to-day operation and then joined us in a wonderful conversation while serving us wine and cheese. Joan and Pierre-Louis work hard to earn a living doing what they love and it shows. Artisan cheese is expensive and you get what you pay for. The cheese was outstanding; every one of them. Next time we'll stay in their rental. This was a fabulous experience.

My family loves goat cheese and really looked forward to including this stop in our vacation plans. I called 3 weeks ahead to arrange our visit and was told to call a week before, which I did and set a time with Joan. I called Joan again 1/2 hour ahead of our arrivial but, when we drove in no one was there. We waited outside for 45 minutes before calling again. A man explained that he did not know we were coming, his wife was in town and that they were very busy people! He rushed to open his store but he would not even offer us a paid tasting. My grandchildren did not get to see the goats or the sheep and he seemed thouroughly bothered by our coming! We wasted a half day of our precious vacation time on this trap.

We tried to book a few nights at the Gite but it was already reserved. So we stopped by just to say "Hi" since our kids love the farm so much. Joan and Pierre-Louis graciously allowed us to look around and showed us what was going on at the farm. The baby goats were being weaned as they were almost 3 months old, and the baby sheep were also fun to watch. Inside their farmhouse they were beginning to make cheese as they were pressing the whey out of the curds.We definitely intend to come again for a few nights at the Gite. Joan and Pierre-Louis practice a simpler way of life than most of us are used to, and they run their farm sustainably and clearly with a love of what they do!

My husband and I had the $10.00 per person cheese tasting. It was a bit on the pricey side. However, the cheese is all hand crafted from their own goats and sheep milk. The taste is INCREDIBLE! And the tastes will linger in your mouth for a good while. Even with that said, I thought the portions were a bit on the small side. If you are a person who values big portions over big taste; this place isn’t for you!

My wife and I Just returned from a two day farm stay at the Gite, the guest house on the property, and the two-day cheese making class. This was one of the more unique and enjoyable experiences we have had. People talk about the joys of un-plugging from daily life but this experience is about plugging-in to a completely different lifestyle and experience for most people and feeling the rhythm of life on a farm.To start, they make fantastic cheeses and on our arrival Joan prepared a tasting plate of their cheeses, armed us with a bottle of wine and we headed out to the table in their new outdoor kitchen where we were immediately welcomed in by Joan, Pierre-Louis and some of their friends who were testing out the new wood-fired pizza oven. The immediate feeling is that you are not just guests, you become part of the family while you are there.The Gite was great and the fridge was stocked with eggs from the farm, the most amazing bacon from the pigs they raise, hand-churned butter, and old-style glass milk and cream bottles with fresh Goat/Sheeps milk (never tried it before and the freshness and faint hint of straw was amazing) and cream.The cheese making class was a fascinating way to really understand what it takes to produce "real" cheeses and an appreciation for the hand-crafting and art involved. We opted both days for the farm-lunch which is really a mid-day farm dinner made by Joan and served family style at the table in their home, accompanied by a glass or two of wine, before heading back to complete the afternoon cheese-making.And all of this accompanied by the welcoming graciousness and engaging conversations of Joan and Pierre-Louis.Highly recommend this if you are looking for a unique experience.

2 gal friends & I spent 2 days at the farmhouse "gite" (french vacation rental) at the Fromagerie. That was an awesome experience! Pierre-Louis & Joan Monteillet are a delightful couple. She is an artist with boundless engery. He is a true jack of all trades with a wonderful French accent. The gite is stocked with lovely cheese & local eggs and meat. We picked fresh veggies from the CSA garden. Bathroom is large with a claw foot bathtub. There are 3 bedrooms, 2 queens and 1 double. The "liilte girls" (lambs & kid goats) were in the pasture off the deck, so they were very interested in us as we sipped our morning coffee. Dayton is a sweet little town with cute shops & old buildings. We took the one day "tomme cheese class. It was a great experience.