Sonoma’s Chevoo wins North Bay Maker Award

Just nine months after launching ­CHEVOO in September 2015, with headquarters and marketing offices in downtown Sonoma, co-founders Gerard and Susan Tuck have leased a 10,000 square foot facility at 140 Grove Court in Healdsburg near Dry Creek Road — with a grand opening set for October — where they will produce their increasingly popular line of marinated goat cheeses.

The Tucks and their unique products were honored by the North Bay Business Journal recently in the 2016 North Bay Makers Awards, to celebrate people and business that make our lives better in diverse ways.

The name 'CHEVOO' is a combination of the French word for fresh goat cheese (Chévre) and the acronym for extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) indicative of the gourmet ingredient partnership that makes this combination all the rage in Australia. According to the Tucks, Down Under the marinated cheese category has grown to become a leader in the country's artisan cheese industry boasting some 80 varietals.

'My wife and I wanted to introduce this fresh taste sensation in the U.S. and decided to bring our three small children to Northern California's wine region, which is not only welcoming, but highly supportive of new food producers,' Gerard Tuck said. 'People here want to see makers doing things in a unique way.'

He worked in the cheese import and distribution sector in Melbourne before immigrating to the states. Susan is a teacher, and an avid cheese lover, who shared her husband's passion for starting a family-owned business. After arriving, Gerard took a year off to earn a masters degree at the Stanford Graduate School of Business before putting his and Susan's combined life savings 'all-in' to starting a new enterprise.

To make CHEVOO, a local goat curd is hand-blended with aromatic spices, herbs, pollens and chilis and then paired with an extra virgin olive oil blend that has been slowly infused with crushed botanicals for four to eight weeks.

The Tucks say this new Chévre style is ideal with crusty bread or crackers, for appetizers paired with fine local wines, crumbled over salads using the infused oil as a dressing, or as a zesty sauce ingredient to add new taste experiences to traditional and local California/Mediterranean fusion cuisine. It also adds a new dimension to pizza, burgers, sandwiches, pasta, on toast with smashed avocado, on a bagel with smoked salmon, or presented on a cheese board.

The Tucks source their goat curd from Cypress Grove Chévre in Arcata, near Eureka. The high quality extra virgin olive oil is processed at the California Olive Ranch in Chico, a mill that crushes Arbequina olives using mechanical methods that preserve the spicy, peppery qualities of this variety.

Together these primary ingredients are blended in small batches, to produce three unique varietals: Smoked Sea Salt & Rosemary, California Dill Pollen & Garlic, and their personal favorite Aleppo-Urfa Chili & Lemon. Three additional products are also in development.

All of these ingredients are hand-blended, packed in jars by hand with labels applied individually by CHEVOO's six current employees – a number predicted to double every six months up to a total of 20 production workers and 10 sales and administrative personnel when the new Healdsburg facility is operational. The goal is to hire 100% local Sonoma County residents.

Until March of 2016, CHEVOO was available only in Northern California. Now it can be found in Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago and in most big cities in Texas.

'Our vision moving forward is to develop this exciting new category of marinated specialty cheeses. We want to be a foundational member of the category and serve as educators to show people how to entertain and cook with it.'