Cheese and dairy products in general are one of my favorite things to eat. So when I learned via Querétaro’s robust tourism board of a nearby farm that combined cheese-making with a barnyard animal petting zoo, it seemed like a no-brainer. The fact that it was basically a simulated visit to the Midwest was just an added bonus. 
Finca Vai is located about half an hour east of the city of Querétaro (just past the airport), or about 2 hours north of Mexico City. We were a little concerned as to whether it would be easy to find in the Queretaran countryside, but I should have had more faith:
The large Q-U-E-S-O lettering was a sure sign that we were on the right track!! (Dirty photo courtesy our windshield)
Welcome to the land of cheeeeeese, Gromit!
I love me some well-organized tourism, so I was pleased to see that tours were indeed run as regularly as promised: each hour between 11AM – 3PM on weekends, and by appointment during the week ($35 pesos/head). Their website even offers an agenda! We started off learning about the cheese making process– this part was a little slow for us adults, but I think the kids in the group were entertained. The tour guide demonstrated the old-timey method, stirring a massive vat of murky-looking “milk”. In a move that would make a semi-professional magician proud, the guide drew our attention to something on the opposite wall while her assistant popped out from behind a door and dumped a bunch of yellow sponges into the vat. Turn back around kids!! Cheese curds have already formed!!
Cheese-making barrel photo courtesy the Finca Vai website, as I was apparently too riveted to take out my camera during this portion of the tour.
After we learned about how wet yellow sponges instantaneously turned into plastic-wrapped cheese, we moved on to the cheese maturation zone!
Here's the cellar where cheese might have been stored to give it time to mature, in the days before better refrigeration options existed...
Finally it seemed that we had learned enough to be allowed to EAT THE CHEESE. They sat us down in a cute little roofed area with hay bales for chairs– a nice farm-y touch.
John prepares himself for a degustacion de quesos...
We got to sample 4 kinds of cheese on little branded Finca VAI plates:
I believe these were reblochon, ranchera, a panela with chipotle, and maybe a manchego?
I recall being a fan of the reblochon, as well as of the smoked provolone that they sold in the gift shop. After the tasting, we were off to discover the source of these cheeses: barnyard animals!!
First stop: the cattle! They were very willing to be petted.
Plenty of sheep were lurking around ready to offer their services.
The baby animals had their own little pens & were awaiting our arrival:
I was impressed that this girl was able to get a grip on the lamb.
John had no similar problems commandeering the same lamb.
This calf was in search of anything to suck on within a 10 foot radius.
I don't think this rabbit played an integral role in the cheese production process, but he was cute nonetheless.
And with that, our cheesery tour was over. We had the opportunity to spend more money in their store, so we snapped up some smoked provolone for the road:
All the cheese your little heart desires, available for purchase at the Finca VAI gift shop
Would I recommend the Finca VAI tour to others? If you have kiddos, I think this would be a great spot to bring the kids for an afternoon. The tour is very child-friendly, lots of opportunities to participate/answer questions/etc. (well, particularly if your child speaks Spanish). And what kid doesn’t love petting farm animals!
For adults, the tour can be a little slow, but we were still entertained by the visit to the countryside + supporting a local business. That said, if you’re interested in sampling some cheese but aren’t a fan of sheep and cows, there’s a great alternative in nearby Tequisquiapan at the Museo del Queso y Vino. The word “museum” might be a slight overstatement, but it does deliver on Finca VAI cheeses!
The Museo del Queso y Vino offers lots of good photo opps with faux-cheese
As well as its own tasty treats!
Check out the Museo just off the square in downtown Tequisquiapan at Salvador Michaus 3 in the centro.
And as for Finca VAI, there’s a vague map on their website, but I’ve also tried to map its general location on Google + directions from Mexico City. Enjoy your visit & México’s nascent cheese tourism industry thanks you for your patronage. 
Disclosure: I am being compensated for my work in creating content as a Contributor for the México Today Program. All stories, opinions and passion for all things México shared in my blog are completely my own.
on Aug 15th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Wow, a combination of cheese making and a barnyard animal petting zoo…that sounds like heaven! I’m so jealous! Thanks for writing about it. I will have to make plans to visit.
on Aug 15th, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Wow, the joy in Emily’s eyes at holding even a fake cheese are something only a fellow Wisconsinite can truly appreciate! Nice to see you guys in Mexico – if I squint, I can almost believe it’s real…
on Aug 15th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Yep, great cheese and a pastoral petting zoo! Doesn’t get much better than that…particularly when Queretaro, Tequisquiapan, and vinyards are close at hand!
on Aug 29th, 2011 at 9:38 am
Glad to find another cheese fanatic! Interesting post- can’t wait to get my hands on some Finca VAI cheese… Have you ever been to the Feria de Quesos in Cholula? I think it was about 2 weeks ago, heard it’s a queso-lovers paradise. Haven’t been, but it is on my list!
on Aug 29th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
[...] certainly did not fall on deaf ears during my time in México. Even before we made our trip to Finca Vai for some cheese tasting, we drove from Mexico City to the same area in Querétaro to check out our nearby winery options. [...]
on Oct 17th, 2011 at 9:19 am
[...] Take a drive out to the Queretaran countryside with Julie from Midwesterner in Mexico and sample some of the region’s freshly made cheeses during a visit to Finca Vai. [...]