How the Fiscalini Family Became Award Winning Cheesemakers
Editor’s note: Georgia Freedman and I met Brian Fiscalini at the Cheesemonger Invitational in San Francisco. Hearing the story of his family’s farmstead cheese, I knew we would want to feature it. So did Georgia. Check out her interview with Brian published in her terrific newsletter.
The Fiscalini family of Modesto, California, has been in the dairy business for generations, but their creamery didn’t begin making cheese until 2000 under the brand name Fiscalini Farmstead. When they did, the awards came quickly: In 2001, their signature San Joaquin Gold won a gold medal in the first competition they ever entered. In 2002, their bandaged-wrapped cheddar was named the Best Farmhouse Cheese in America. And in 2007, that same cheese won “Best Cheddar in the World” in London. We caught up with Brian Fiscalini, the creamery’s CEO, earlier this year and learned about the family’s history in the dairy industry, how they started making cheese, how they develop new styles, and how combining a dairy farm with a cheese operation helps them focus on sustainability.
A Family Tradition
The Fiscalinis first came to California from Switzerland in the late 1800s and opened a dairy in Cambria, on California’s Central Coast. Around 1910, John B. Fiscalini (Brian’s great-grandfather) learned that a series of dams and canals was being built for agricultural irrigation in the Central Valley. He decided to buy property in Modesto and open his own dairy. “He kind of broke off from the rest of the family,” says Brian. “He and his wife moved to Modesto, started their family, and started dairy farming on the same land that we still own today.”
For decades, the family sold their milk to other creameries and processors, including big names like Nestle and Safeway. But in 2000, Brian’s father, John Fiscalini, learned that their family had made cheese in Switzerland (before emigrating to the U.S.) and decided to follow that model again. While the move was primarily a financial decision—a way to have more control over the price they could sell their milk for—it was also a way of showcasing the milk’s quality. “I think my dad was passionate about creating our own branded product his entire life,” says Brian, noting that even as a kid, his father had wanted to know where the family’s milk went and how he could find it in the local grocery store. “But it wasn’t until 2000 that he really took it seriously.”
Taking a Creative Approach to Developing Cheeses
The first cheeses the Fiscalinis made were a bit of an experiment. When they hired their first cheesemaker, Tom Putler, no one on the team really had much experience. They started out trying to make a fontina, but when they entered this cheese in a competition, they judges told them it didn’t qualify in that category. “We followed the fontina recipes that we had access to, and we thought it was a pretty decent tasting cheese,” says Brian. “The judges came back to us and said, ‘We’ve got good news and bad news: The good news is, you’ve won a gold medal for this cheese that you entered into our competition. The bad news is, it’s not fontina, and it doesn’t fall into any other of our cheese categories, so you accidentally created a new cheese.” That cheese, which they renamed San Joaquin Gold, became one of their signature products.
Over time, their expertise grew, as did their team. And with every new cheesemaker, they added more styles to their repertoire. Their next cheesemaker, Mariano Gonzales (who came from a cheesemaking family in Paraguay), had trained at Shelburne Farms, which is known for cloth-bound cheddar, so he developed the Fiscalini’s Old World Aged Cheddar. Over the years, they’ve also become known for their flavored cheeses, like their new cranberry habanero cheddar. But their process for developing new products remains very informal.
“We don’t have a research and development team,” says Brian. “It is my father, my sister, myself, and our cheesemakers having a conversation around a table, usually with some wine open. We start talking about what flavors we think will do well and the cheeses that we like, and then we make them. If they’re any good, we share them with people, and if they like them, we take them to market.”
Their Purple Moon—a farmhouse cheddar soaked overnight in a petit syrah blend—was John’s idea, while the Craft Beer Cheddar (made by soaking the curds in an imperial stout) came from Gonzales, who liked drinking craft beer and finding unique beer flavors (editor’s note: we recently featured the Craft Beer Cheddar in a story about beer cheese). Their alpine-style Lionza cheese was developed as an homage to their Swiss heritage. “Our current cheesemaker is a gentleman named Alex Borgo, and we’re really excited about what Alex bring to the table,” says Brian. “I can guarantee that in the next few years, Alex is going to be bringing some new, exciting cheeses to the Fiscalini line.”
Focusing on Sustainability
With 500 acres of farmland (only a small fraction of which is used by the dairy), Fiscalini Farmstead grows 70 percent of the feed for their herd, including corn and wheat (for hay). The rest of the animals’ feed is made up of other grains and commodities that aren’t as sustainable to grow in California but are added to the cows’ diets to improve their health and the quality of the milk. “Our farming practices have been verified as sustainable by Nestle, who we sell [some of] our milk to. Our carbon sequestration score was very positive, and the carbon intensity score was a negative number,” says Brian. “We recycle our manure—we apply it to our fields—and we don’t use commercial fertilizers.”
The farm also operates methane digester tanks, which process all of the waste produced at the dairy and convert it into electricity. In total, the farm produces about three times more electricity than it uses. “We’re working through the process to be certified carbon neutral or negative. It’s something we’ve been working toward for a number of years, and I can feel that it’s going to be here pretty soon,” says Brian.