By Kathleen Hill
Vella Cheese Company just announced on social media that they are closing after 94 years in business.
As our daughter said, “That’s awful.” And I think lots of people will feel that way.
Most famous for their Dry Jack, the family said “Our business has never fully recovered from the challenges of COVID and the financial demands of operating a small, artisanal company in today’s fast-paced food industry have become more than we can sustain.”
Their historic stone building on Second Street East was built for a brewery in 1904. In 1931 Tom Vella, his wife, Zolita Clerici Vella, and Celso Viviani turned it into a cheese factory. After World War II Tom Vella moved cheese making to the Sonoma Mission Creamery building where Burgers & Vine is now located at the corner of First Street East and East Spain Street. Eventually the Viviani and Vella families split, and the Vivianis created the Sonoma Cheese Factory, which has not made cheese in years and is no longer owned by the Viviani family.
Vella’s, as we know it, has stopped making cheese and will continue to sell what they have already made at 315 Second Street East, Sonoma. (707) 938-3232.
We’ve been Vella customers for decades, as have our parents. The cheese is superb and award-winning. Our tradition has been to order from Vella at Christmas for cheese plates and in the summer for picnics, including at the award-winning wineries around Sonoma. (After all, wine and cheese belong together). We also enjoyed purchasing some cheese and eating lunch on the Plaza. Vella helped pave the way for Sonoma’s reputation as a food-and-wine mecca and attracted visitors from the San Francisco area, including to other wonderful merchants on the Plaza. Ig Vella was named the “Godfather of artisan cheese,” and the reputation is well deserved. We also enjoy reading the Press-Democrat online. Thanks for reporting this.
A sad day. To me, Vella was the real beginning of artisan cheese making in the area. I used to finely grate the Dry Jack (including the rind) and sprinkle it over my fettuccine. The black pepper (and I believe coffee and coco bean) in the rind gave it a great little kick. Hopefully I can make it by before they run out of inventory.
Sad news. Sonoma is losing yet another of it’s distinctive family businesses, one that in this case had global acclaim for the quality of it’s product. Mr. Vella was a true original, and it was a privilege to know him. Those of us fortunate enough to be raised in Sonoma during the last half of the 20th century can at least hang on to our memories of the people, places and businesses that made up a small town that was one one of the best kept secrets around before being inevitably “discovered.” A tip of the cap to the Vellas, Vivianis, and everyone who kept those institutions going for so long.
Iour Family is so sad at this news of your closing.
What a wonderful and top quality cheese you have produced for over 90 years. You are a diamond in the rough. Thank you for all the years we have enjoyed your products.
We wish you every success going forward.
The Barth Family
Burlingame