A wine-country map may now lead travelers somewhere beyond the vineyards. California and Oregon promote official cheese trails, while New York’s Finger Lakes tourism organizations encourage visitors to explore local creameries alongside the region’s wineries, and a new Route 66 trail carries the idea across eight states. Ahead of National Wine and Cheese Day on July 25, the familiar pairing now comes with an itinerary.
Wine and cheese tourism already overlap in several major agricultural regions. Sonoma County, the Finger Lakes and Oregon all promote creameries within areas better known for vineyards, giving travelers another set of farm stops to add to a wine-country trip. The routes are not always formally joined, but tourism organizations increasingly present them as parts of the same regional experience.
One sign of the trend came in early July, when the Route 66 Cheese Trail launched, spanning Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Developed by Cheese Trail in partnership with the New Mexico Cheese Guild, organizers call it the country’s first national cheese trail. The organization began in California about 15 years ago and now operates a nationwide directory and interactive map.
Sonoma already has a cheese trail
The California Cheese Trail runs through Sonoma County, connecting close to 30 farms and creameries across roughly 100 miles of wine country. Some stops offer tastings, tours or cheesemaking classes, while others operate primarily as working farms or retail shops. For a region already built around agritourism, a formal cheese route gives visitors a second reason to leave the tasting room, one that runs on the same rural roads.
The Finger Lakes pairs creameries with its wineries
New York’s Finger Lakes takes a less formal approach. Regional tourism organizations encourage visitors to explore local creameries alongside the area’s established wine routes, and travel guides regularly suggest pairing local cheeses with Finger Lakes wines. The result works like a trail in practice, giving visitors another way to explore the region’s farms between winery visits.
Oregon’s cheese trail spans the state
Oregon promotes a statewide Oregon Cheese Trail, run by the Oregon Cheese Guild and connecting creameries, shops and other producers across the state. Oregon cheesemakers produce more than 250 artisan cheeses.
The guild also holds two major annual tasting events: the Oregon Cheese Festival, set for April 25 and 26, 2026, in Central Point, and The Wedge, set for Sept. 26, 2026, in Portland, Oregon. The statewide route includes stops in several Oregon wine regions, allowing travelers to combine winery and creamery visits, though it does not follow a single vineyard corridor.
Cheese trails also have a practical purpose for the small producers listed on them. The American Cheese Society held an agritourism webinar this year focused on how tours, tastings, classes and other on-farm experiences can bring customers directly to small cheesemaking operations. For small producers, an organized trail can serve as a sales tool, bringing visitors directly to farms and creameries that might otherwise receive little passing traffic.
The Route 66 launch gives cheese tourism its first route spanning eight states, arriving during the highway’s centennial year. Sonoma, the Finger Lakes and Oregon show how easily creamery visits can fit into destinations already known for wine. This National Wine and Cheese Day, the pairing no longer has to stay on the tasting board. It can fill the entire day.
Jennifer Allen is a retired professional chef and long-time writer. Her work appears in dozens of publications, including MSN, Yahoo, The Washington Post and The Seattle Times. These days, she’s busy in the kitchen developing recipes and traveling the world, and you can find all her best creations at Cook What You Love.