Their milky way

Healdsburg, Calif. — RACKS of goat's milk cheese are lined up in a tiny aging room: little rounds of a tangy young cheese called Petit Marcel; log-shaped \o7buches\f7 that in another week or so will have bloomy crusts surrounding their mild, luxurious interiors; and rows of \o7paves\f7\o7,\f7 rather majestic blocks of cheese with slightly rumpled rinds and swathed traceries of white bloom -- four-sided truncated pyramids that look like a classic Valencay from the Loire Valley.

But these aren't cheeses from Sainte-Maure or Berry in France -- they're distinctly Californian. And unfettered by tradition, the latest wave of California cheese makers are creating exactly what they want how they want, to bold and great effect -- whether mold-ripened goat cheeses with surprisingly complex character or mixed-milk cheeses custom-made for chefs that are much like works of art.

The benchmark for California cheese is higher than ever in a market that finally has caught up with a few pioneers who were way ahead of the curve. Both the flavors and types of cheeses are constantly evolving. From the highest end (an elegant triple creme made with cow's milk creme fraiche stirred into fresh goat's milk curds) to the more accessible (a creamy farmhouse sheep's milk cheese drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt and cracked black pepper or a buttery, rich, handmade cheddar) -- cheese-wise, probably no other state has as much to offer. California now has the most artisan cheese producers in the country, according to the recently published "Atlas of American Cheese."

And though European cheese may be the standard by which all else is measured, innovation is one of the hallmarks of California cheese makers.

Not three full seasons into cheese-making and the handmade small-batch goat's milk cheeses of Pugs Leap Farm in Sonoma County -- the Petit Marcel, \o7buche \f7and \o7pave\f7 -- already have made their way onto a number of impressive menus. "It's remarkable what they've accomplished in a relatively little amount of time," says Nick Peyton, maitre d' and partner at Cyrus, the Michelin-rated two-star restaurant in Healdsburg.

Two cerulean blue doors lead to the small cheese-making quarters at Pugs Leap, squeaky clean and filled with the lactic perfume of fresh goat's milk. Cheese maker Pascal Destandau might have a bit of mad scientist in him. "He has endless envelopes of cultures," says his partner, Eric Smith, referring to the lactic bacteria, yeasts and molds that are added to the curds to promote ripening, or aging.