The first Farmstead Cheeses and Wines opened in 2003 in the Alameda Marketplace.

Since that time, we've become a destination for Bay Area foodies and have been named Best Cheese Store and Best Wine Store by several East Bay publications.

We opened our second shop in Montclair Village in 2008. 

Relax. It's just food is more than just our motto - it's how we approach the often intimidating process of selecting great cheeses and wines with and for our customers.

We dislike food and wine snobs as much as you do, but that won't stop us from finding under the radar and hard-to-find wines and perfectly presented handcrafted and artisan cheeses.

We're consistently lauded on in the know sites like Yelp, Facebook, and Chowhound, and have been featured in  the SF Chronicle, the New York Times, Oakland Magazine and Alameda Magazine.

We conduct fun and educational wine tastings at both shops every week;  organize and host winemaker dinners at top area restaurants;  and always have a good supply of artisan oils and vinegars on hand on hand.

Farmstead's owners and operators Carol Huntington and Jeff Diamond bring a passion and knowledge of food and wine that is deep, pervasive, engaging, and fun.

Jeff brings more than twenty years of marketing and public relations experience to Farmstead, and a lifelong passion for great wine and food, while Carol teaches in a public school in Berkeley.  Both have traveled extensively in Europe and domestically, always stopping to sample and discover local wines and cheeses.

Recent wine trips trips have taken them to South Africa, Argentina, the major wine regions of Italy, Paso Robles, Willamette Valley, Provence, the Loire Valley, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon, Columbia Valley, the Santa Rita Hills, the major wine regions of Spain, Santa Ynez, Yakima, Walla Walla, Santa Lucia Highlands, the Anderson Valley, and of course, Napa and Sonoma counties.

Our past and present employees are chefs, restaurateurs, wine makers, firemen, museum curators, chaplains, musicians, marketing gurus, artists, ex-cops, Kung Fu masters, classical conductors, wine retail specialists, and psychologists - foodies who eschew snobbery and attitude as much as you do, and who live to help you find the right selection for your dinner party, wedding, picnic, or snack.

We produce and present exciting Wine Dinners at top Bay Area restaurants, and administer a multitude of Wine Clubs that explore fine winemaking around the world.

We're proud to carry wines from great, hard to find, top scoring producers, distributors and importers, like:  Pahlmeyer, Copain, Kistler, Shafer, DRC (Romanée Conti), Raul Perez, Mordorée, Lafon, Gaja, Pisoni, Kistler, Guigal (La Turque, Landonne), Montille, Clos Erasmus, Lewis, Vieux Telegraphe, Eric Solomon, Jorge Ordoñez, Fran Kysela, Kermit Lynch  etc.

• We have two locations to serve you:  our first shop in the vibrant Alameda Marketplace (alongside nine other fine food purveyors and eateries), and in the quaint hillside Montclair Village shopping district of Oakland.
  
  
• We have the largest selection of cheeses and wines in Alameda and Montclair Village with well over 1o0 artisan cheeses and hundreds of  hand selected wines, as well as artisan oils, vinegars, and gift items.
  
  
• We were awarded Best Cheese Store of 2005, Best Wine Store of 2007 by the editors of the East Bay Express.
  
  
• We were named Best Wine Purveyor of 2007 through 2010 by the readers of Alameda Magazine
  
  
• We were named Best Wine Store in the East Bay of 2008 through 2010 by the readers of Oakland Magazine
  
  
• We have an active email/newsletter program, sending out a fun newsletter filled with recipes, news, and info about new wines and cheeses.  To subscribe, click here.
  
  
• We operate several wine clubs,  each tailored made for your wine interests:  Bargain, Classic, French, Italian, Spanish, Red Wine, Sparkling, White Wine or Pinot Noir. For more info, click here.
  
  
• To find out more, write us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , or better yet, just stop by and visit one of our family owned and locally operated shops!