Specialties
"Two of my passions in life are food and agriculture," says Walter Nicolau III, a Stanislaus County agricultural entrepreneur who's cooking up a tasty recipe for success. "We turn grass into milk into cheese into happiness," says the artisanal cheese maker who produces a tasty variety of specialty goat and blended milk cheeses at his family farm just south of Modesto. "We make about a dozen cheeses. Different processes. Different ages. Different molds. During our peak season, we produce around 4,000 pounds of cheese per month."
If you're looking for farm fresh flavor, you won't be disappointed. "Freshness plays a role in quality. The milk's processed on a daily basis. My focus is 100-percent on quality from start to finish."
Some key ingredinets? State-of-the-art sanitation, imagination, determination, and tradition. "Success in this business is creating a pleasurable experience for the customer, seeing people savor and enjoy our product, and go goo-goo-gah-gah over a beautiful cheese board." (Printed in Stanislaus Magazine 2014, see here.)
Always having a passion for good food and traditional agriculture, Walter Nicolau III was able to pair these together with a rich family history and culture to create Nicolau Farms. Walter and his wife Elizabeth have been tending to their top quality livestock and creating delectable hand-crafted artisan cheeses since 2000. At Nicolau Farms, quality is always top priority.
History
Established in 2005.
The Nicolau Family has been dairy farming in Stanislaus County since the early 1900's when Jose Nicolau left the small island of Flores in the Azores to seek a better life. With him he brought a passion for Family, Farming, and Food, as did all Portugese immigrants. Eventually he would establish his dairy farm in the Wesport District just outside the town of Modesto, California; in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley.
Over a century later Walter Nicolau III, is still committed to the same values which his Great Grandfather brought to this great nation, with Nicolau Farms continuing to focus on our Family, tending to our land and livestock, and handcrafting high quality Artisan Cheese for families, friends, and followers presently and for generations to come...
Meet the Business Owner: Walter N.
"Two of my passions in life are food and agriculture," says Walter Nicolau III, a Stanislaus County agricultural entrepreneur who's cooking up a tasty recipe for success.
"We turn grass into milk into cheese into happiness," says the artisanal cheese maker who produces a tasty variety of specialty goat and blended milk cheeses at his family farm just south of Modesto. "We make about a dozen cheeses. Different processes. Different ages. Different molds. During our peak season, we produce around 4,000 pounds of cheese per month."