Whey Good
- Sophie Hauville
- Jan 30
- 3 min read
Monterey Weekly
January 30, 2025
by Dave Faries
The popular Carmel Valley Creamery tries to keep up with the demand for its cheeses.
One could say that Sophie Hauville has a problem.
When she opened Carmel Valley Creamery a line quickly formed. Customers welcomed Hauville’s shop by snapping up her entire stock of cheeses. Another time, anticipating a Christmas rush, she made more than enough to satisfy shoppers – or so she thought. Once again, the shop sold out.
“The hard cheeses in theory should age a year,” Hauville observes. “But we haven’t been able to not sell them after six months.”
Carmel Valley Creamery sells artisan goods, local honey, quality ice cream, cured meats, fine butter imported from France and the like. But Hauville’s true calling is to make cheese – tangy fromage blanc, classic chevre from goat’s milk, a camembert reminiscent of Norman farms, Alpine-style rounds and more. If customers time their visit right, they can even watch Hauville and her intern, Alexis Sabolsice, cutting the curd as it forms or shaping the cheese before aging.
They purchase milk from local dairy farms – “I wish,” Hauville says about tending her own cows – and work in small batches, up to 52 gallons at a time.
“We love to play,” she says. “It’s interesting how the same milk can make so many different products. The only cheese we can’t make is bleu.”
Hauville is a relative newcomer when it comes to cheesemaking, but a quick learner. Originally from Normandy, she studied marketing and took a position in the corporate world. Hauville came to Chicago to gain fluency in English and stayed, eventually landing in San Francisco.
Five years ago, she planned a three-month sabbatical in Big Sur. But when Covid trapped her in paradise, Hauville quit her job and began working on a farm.
Charlie Cascio, then part of Carmel Valley Ranch’s team of artisans, introduced Hauville to cheesemaking. When he retired, Cascio recommended that she take over his position at the resort.
“I learned a ton, but I wanted to do this myself,” Hauville says. “I got really lucky.”
As Hauville began mapping out Carmel Valley Creamery, the owners of Pazzo Marco Creamery in Gualala, California decided to retire. She not only acquired all of their equipment, but also located a historic structure in Carmel Valley Village, nestled away from the wine tasting room crowds.
The creamery occupies what began as a real estate office in 1927. Twelve years later, William Henry – better known as Rosie – bought the place, transforming it into Rosie’s Cracker Barrel, a neighborhood market with a backroom tavern that became a community hub until Henry died in 1982.
“It’s so cute – I love the history of it,” Hauville says. “I like being tucked away.”
That Rosie’s operated a bar for many decades is a bit ironic. Hauville applied for a license to sell beer and wine on a retail basis – for take-away – before opening in July of 2024 (on Bastille Day, no less). But one neighbor has lodged a protest with the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control department.
The holdup led to another of her good problems. At first uncertain what would happen with the license, Hauville added coffee to her lineup. “The coffee bar took off,” she says.
Rosie’s was a neighborhood hangout. Hauville wants the same role for Carmel Valley Creamery. The shop is welcoming. There is a cool wooden bar with stools where people can watch the cheesemaking process. A patio in the back allows customers to sip coffee and sample cheese under the shade of trees that have witnessed the decades.
“We’re making it a place for kids to buy ice cream, a place for locals to hang out,” she explains. “It’s a relaxing place. It’s so pleasant.”
That cheese from Carmel Valley Creamery gained instant popularity is a good problem to have. “Our primary focus right now is to make enough cheese for everybody,” Hauville adds.
Dairy farming was once a feature of Monterey County’s landscape. But apart from Carmel Valley Ranch, which prepares cheese primarily for its guests, only two creameries were in operation when Hauville opened, Schoch Family Farmstead and Garden Variety Cheese.
“We’re happy to be the third,” Hauville says.
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