cheeseunderground english cheddar, Jamie Montgomery, manor farm, Montgomery cheddar, neal's year dairy, north cadbury

On Location: Tasting Montgomery Cheddar with Neal’s Yard Dairy

Neal’s Yard Dairy Cheese Buyer Bronwen Percival and Cheesemaker Jamie
Montgomery compare notes during the dairy’s monthly cheese tasting
to select wheels for retail, wholesale and export.

Just when you begin to believe you might know something about cheese after eating, breathing and writing about it for 10 years, the buyers from Neal’s Yard Dairy turn up, promptly taste 30 cheeses in 60 minutes, pick out their favorites for retail, wholesale and export to the United States, and readily demonstrate that you actually know very little about your life’s pursuit.

Such was my morning spent today at Manor Farm in North Cadbury, England, home to Montgomery Cheddar and the delightful, humble and generous Jamie Montgomery, owner and head cheesemaker of arguably the most famous Cheddar in the world. I traveled with the inaugural tour of Cheese Journeys, a handful of American cheesemongers led by the venerable Anna Juhl and Neal’s Yard Dairy alum Chris George on an 8-day cheese tour of England. We have been privileged to spend the past two days with Jamie Montgomery, eating dinner in his 21-bedroom historic family manor, walking his 1,200-acre farm, viewing two cheese makes, and staying in the family house at North Cadbury Court, which his grandfather, Sir Archibald Langman, bought in 1911.

Brie Hurd, cheese buyer for the Concord Cheese
Shop in Massachusetts, signs the  wheel she’ll be
purchasing in September when it’s ripe.

This morning, however, was a once-in-a-lifetime treat to join Neal’s Yard Dairy cheese buyers Bronwen Percival, Jason Hinds and Owen Baily, as we and the cheddar king himself – Jamie Montgomery – tasted about 30 different wheels of Montgomery Cheddar. Using terms such as “corky, juicy, velvety and elegant,” only about 2 sample wheels from 30 different batches scored less than 4 out of 5 stars with the Neal’s Yard crew. In short order, they selected two batches for the Neal’s Yard retail shop, another six for wholesale, and four more for export to the United States. Between 15 and 20 of the 52-pound cheeses are in every batch, and each batch carries a distinct flavor profile for a specific audience.

As there were five American retailers in the room, we got a bit of say in which batches were exported to the United States. In fact, by about two-thirds of the way through the tasting – which by the way was probably the most educational cheese event I’ve ever been lucky enough to walk into – several of us could tell which batches would be selected for export. They were the wheels used with a starter culture that carried a distinctive sweet, juicy and brothy note, and Bronwen, an American herself – quickly confirmed those cheeses better suited an American palate. We agreed.

The expansive aging rooms for Montgomery Cheddar are housed on Manor Farm in North Cadbury in Somerset, England. The cheese is made seven days a week by a team of three cheesemakers – Tim, Wayne and Steve – and is one of only seven Cheddars still made in Somerset County, which like Wisconsin, was home to more than 400 cheese factories a century ago.

Cheesemaker Steve hooping Montgomery
Cheddar.

Less than 20 wheels of Montgomery Cheddar are made each day in a 1,000 gallon open air vat. The cheese is cut, cheddared, milled, hooped and pressed all by hand, and once bandaged and larded, is put into the farm’s aging rooms where it is lovingly cared for by two additional employees, who quite frankly, spend most of their time “hoovering” the cheeses with vacuums to control cheese mites, commonly associated with bandaged cheddars.

Jamie Montgomery oversees both cheese production and the family’s two dairy farms. The milk from his 180-cow Friesian herd (the milking parlor is on the opposite wall of the cheesrie) is used exclusively for Montgomery Cheddar. The milk from his second 180-cow Jersey herd is used to make Ogleshield, a washed-rind Raclette-style cheese not yet available in the United States, or actually, in much of England. “You know, there are cheesemakers who can pump out a new cheese every 10 weeks,” Jamie told us. “Here, it takes us a good 10 years.”

Ogleshield started out as a bandage-wrapped cheese called Jersey Shield (named for both the cows who produce the milk, and for a historical bronze shield found by archaeologists on the farm’s Camelot Hill), and turned into a washed-rind beauty once former Neal’s Yard Dairy affineur William Oglethorpe got a hold of it. Today, Montgomery’s crew is both producing and aging the “new” cheese in a brand new state-of-the-art humidity and temperature controlled aging rooms, and Ogleshield is expected to be picked up by Neal’s Yard Dairy in the next 30 days. That means it may hit the U.S. market before the end of the year, and believe me, American cheese peeps, this cheese is worth waiting for. Better than Raclette, it is a perfect melting and cheese board standout. It’s so good that I scarfed down the last remaining wedge, eating it like a slice of watermelon with my hands, in front of Jamie Montgomery last night before dinner. Because yes, it’s that good.

The same herdsman has managed the Montgomery Jersey
herd for 30 years. These are some of the happiest, quietest
cows you’ll ever meet.

Another new cheese being crafted these days at Manor Farm is Camelot, a Comte-style cheese made from full-fat Jersey milk. We tasted wheels at 17-months and it was incredible. The good news is that if you live in Devon, England, you can buy it at Bailey & Sage cheese shop. The bad news is that if you live anywhere else in the world, you can only buy it on the Montgomery website. Such is life.

When they’re not busy making cheese or overseeing dairy herds, the Montgomery brothers – Archie and Jamie – actually farm their land. Of the 1,200 acres they own, about 150 acres are put into potatoes, 500 into wheat, 200 into barley, 150 into corn and another 150 into oilseed rape, which was in full yellow flower bloom during our visit. The rest of the land is pastures, of which the cows will be turned out upon next week, but until then, will continue to be fed a total mixed ration of corn, potato, wheat, distiller’s grain and molasses silage to ensure a fairly consistent milk supply for cheesemaking.

One new exciting development at Manor Farm is the purchase of Ayrshire semen, of which Montgomery plans to cross with his Friesians in order to improve milk quality. “Twenty years ago, our cows were half Ayrshire, half Friesian, and the milk was different. I’m trying to get replicate that milk,” he says. “I think we’ll be seeing the dividends of that decision within the next three years.”

No matter the breed of milk being used to craft Montgomery’s Cheddar, the cheese remains, and has been, absolutely stellar since 1911, when Jamie’s grandfather decided to continue the traditional cheesemaking that had taken place on the farm, even while so many others were giving it up during the World Wars. At age 53, with children aged 12 and 5, Jamie and his wife has no plans to retire anytime soon. “We’re still coming up with new stuff,” he says with a grin.

Montgomery Cheddar Owner Jamie Montgomery and the Cheese Geek
on Camelot Hill on Manor Farm in Somerset, England.

cheeseunderground center for dairy research, portugal cheese, spain cheese, Wisconsin cheese

Workshop: Goat and Sheep Milk Cheeses of Spain and Portugal

This just in from the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research: a few spots are still open for the April 15 Goat and Sheep Milk Cheeses of Spain and Portugal class in Madison.

The short course features a special guest coming from Portugal: Mariana Marques D’Almeida, an industry consultant, technical judge and small ruminant expert from Lisbon. Attendees will learn from both lectures and a focus on hands-on learning with a 3-hour cheesemaking lab with recipes from Spain and Portugal included. The staff at CDR are super excited about the class, and encourage artisan cheesemakers to enroll.

Bénédicte Coudé, Assistant Coordinator – Cheese Industry and Applications Group at CDR, says attendees will discover the science behind sheep, goat and mixed milk composition, coagulants, manufacturing protocols and much more.

Fee is only $150 for the entire day. Learn more and register online by clicking here.

cheeseunderground Andy Hatch, pleasant ridge reserve, rush creek reserve, scott mericka, uplands cheese, Wisconsin cheese

A New Day at Uplands Cheese

Uplands Cheese, home to the much-awarded Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese, is officially under new ownership. Cheesemaker Andy Hatch and Herdsman Scott Mericka, both of whom began as apprentices years ago at Uplands, announced today they have purchased the dairy farm and cheese company from its founders, Mike Gingrich and Dan Patenaude.

Most industry folks know that Hatch and Mericka have been managing the farm since 2010, leading to a gradual transition to the new management. Andy says the official papers were signed in February, and Uplands Cheese now officially belongs to a new generation.

Mike and Carol Gingrich are pleased with the transfer. “This has been a long time in the works and we couldn’t be more pleased to see the farm, the cows and the cheese pass into such capable hands,” Mike says.

Uplands Cheese was founded in 2000, when Gingrich and Patenaude began crafting Pleasant Ridge Reserve with the grass-fed milk of their cows. In 2001, the cheese vaulted to fame after winning the coveted Best of Show award at the annual American Cheese Society competition. It repeated the honor in 2005 and again in 2010, while also being named U.S. Champion Cheese in 2003. To date, Pleasant Ridge Reserve is the only cheese to have won ACS Best of Show three times, and is the only cheese to have won both of the major, national competitions.

Hatch, who has overseen cheese production since 2007, believes the Pleasant Ridge Reserve crafted today is better than ever. “We’ve continued to improve our pastures and our herd, and every year we refine our work in the ripening rooms, to the point where almost every batch is as good as the standout batches of several years ago,” he said.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve is made only in the summer months, while the farm’s cows are on pasture. In 2010, Hatch added a second cheese to the Uplands repertoire. Rush Creek Reserve is a soft-ripened cheese wrapped in a strip of spruce bark and made with the hay-fed milk of autumn months. Rush Creek Reserve cheese quickly attainted cult status in the cheese world, and continues to sell out quickly each November and December, when it’s sold across the country.

Congratulations to Uplands Cheese! We can’t wait to see what you do next.

cheeseunderground monona terrace, Wisconsin cheese

Taste 50 Cheeses at March 19 World Champion Cheese Charity Event

Hey cheese peeps: the world’s largest cheese competition is coming to Madison, and with it, an exclusive opportunity for you to taste 50 of the world’s most rare cheeses and witness judges from six continents execute the final round of judging to determine the 2014 World Champion Cheese.

On Wednesday, March 19, the World Championship Cheese Contest and Wisconsin Cheese Originals welcome the public to Exhibition Hall at Monona Terrace for the Champion Cheese Charity Event – A Benefit for Second Harvest Foodbank. Tickets are $35 and will be sold only in advance at www.cheesecontest.com.  The event hosts guarantee at least $10,000 from ticket proceeds will be donated to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. Attendance is capped at 600 persons, and this event WILL sell out.

Cheeses for the evening will be selected by my cheese sister, Sara Hill, and myself, from 2,615 entrants into the 30th biennial World Championship Cheese Contest, arriving from not only across the United States and great European cheesemaking nations, but also from Australia, Canada, Croatia, Japan, Norway, Romania and South Africa.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with the Championship Round of Judging to start at 7 p.m.  Attendees will be on hand for the final round of cheese judging, as 50 expert judges from 20 countries determine and name the Best of Show. At least 50 of the world’s best and most rare cheeses will be sampled until 9 p.m. Complimentary appetizers will be served and a cash bar available.

A BIG thank you to our event sponsors for their support: Belgioioso Cheese, Brennan’s Market, Holland’s Family Cheese, Larry’s Market, Metcalfe’s Market, and Sartori.

I’m looking forward to seeing you there!

cheeseunderground crave brothers farmstead cheese, Wisconsin cheese

Welcome Back, Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese

More than 7 months after suffering a voluntary recall of their Les Freres, Petit Frere and Petit Frere with Truffle cheeses, Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese in Waterloo, Wisconsin is back in business this week, resulting in a collective cheer of “whoo-hoo!” from mozzarella lovers everywhere.

Crave Brothers Farmstead Rope, Fresh Mozzarella Logs, Fresh Mozzarella Balls, and their many fresh mozzarella balls in brine – including my favorite, Marinated Ciliegine – are back in stores. As I stocked the shelves at Metcalfe’s Market Hilldale this afternoon (where I work as the specialty cheese manager), customers stopped and put packages of the cheese in their carts before I could even get them onto the shelf. I’m thinking I’m going to have to re-order before the weekend.

While the family has remained understandably quiet since the plant shut down in July, the industry has rallied around the Craves with virtual hugs, supportive emails and note cards, wishing them a full recovery and healthy road to get back on their feet. This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted on their website that “this outbreak appears to be over” and the Craves posted a simple “We’re making Cheese!” on their website.

So here’s a hearty welcome back to Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese (insert giant hug here). We sure missed you guys.

cheeseunderground bletsoe's cheese, brian gunning, cheese crisp, cracker, decatur dairy, wausome wafers, Wisconsin cheese

Say This 10 Times Fast: Awesome Wausome Wafers From Wausau

You know that feeling when you discover a new food you never knew existed but after consuming twice the number of recommended servings in one sitting, promptly decide you can no longer live without it? Yeah, that happened to me this week with cheese crisps, courtesy of a man named Brian Gunning from Wausau, Wisconsin.

In between working more than a decade as a graphic designer, marketing consulting and mobile computing inventor (he holds a patent for a Batman-belt-like inventory device), Brian has been secretly cooking cheese into perfect circles of pure crispy bliss for years. He started in 2000, as a bachelor in downtown Madison, who for fun would fry cheese in a skillet until it turned crispy.

“I remember being really excited and taking my first batch of cheese to work one day, and the people I worked with were absolutely revolted that I would do such a thing. So needless to say, I gave up on it for awhile,” he said. Luckily for us, he perservered. Fast forward a few years, now married with children, Brian started packing his kids’ lunch and including the ever popular Goldfish crackers. “Have you ever looked at the nutritional value of Goldfish? They’re terrible for you,” he said. “So instead, I put some cheese on the griddle, and the kids liked it. So I started packing cheese crisps in their lunches instead.”

Today, Brian is still cooking cheese, and as it turns out, he’s gotten incredbily good at it. After setting up an 800-foot commercial kitchen near Wausau using stainless steel equipment he scored from a bankrupt Krispy Creme (thank you failed donuts!), he’s unveiled his new Wausome Wafers (Wholesome + Awesome = Wausome) to a select number of specialty food stores in Wisconsin, where they’re taking off like an out of control grease fire. Well, maybe that’s not be best way to put it, but you know what I mean.

So what exactly are Wausome Wafers? Pure and simple, they are fried cheese (well, actually baked, but they seem fried – I got sort of lost in Brian’s scientific cooking explanation – there’s a reason I’m an English major). No gluten, no carbs, and sugar free. Think Parmesan crisps, only better, using different kinds of cheese made only in Wisconsin.

The first two Wausome Wafer flavors to hit the market are Clever Cheddar and Hug & Kiss Colby/Swiss. The Clever Cheddar is made entirely from cheddar crafted at Bletsoe’s Honey Bee Cheese Factory near Wausau. It’s a straight-forward cheese crisp that’s surprisingly addictive, containing the perfect amount of cheddary goodness. Then there’s the Hug & Kiss Colby/Swiss. The cheese is made by Decatur Dairy (Colby Swiss was invented by Master Cheesemaker Steve Stettler) and it’s sweet, with a bite of swiss, “right in the kisser.” It comes out lacey but marbled, smooth but sharp, a true Wisconsin original.

Brian has four more flavors in development, including Soupa Gouda, Party Havarti, Such Bliss Swiss, and Forever Cheddar (an aged cheddar crisp). When I asked about his recipe development process, he said his market research is simple.

“I take them to church and put them out at the potluck and stand in the background. Then I watch the expressions of people who eat them. Typically, if they turn out well, the little old ladies devour them. They gather them up in a napkin and run off to someone else and say, ‘You have to eat this!’ Then I know I’ve got a winner,” he said.

Each crisp is 1-1/2 inches in diameter and packaged in just about the cutest, best-ever designed packaging you’ve ever seen. Because the crisps are fragile, the boxes are triangular, with each lid acting as a spring cushion. And in a novel marketing concept, each box tells the story of the cheese and the cheesemaker, not the story of the product creator.

“I wanted to tell the stories and celebrate the cheeses and cheesemakers, because without them, this product would not exist,” Brian says.

And what about the name? Turns out it’s a combination of factors. The first was the City of Wausau’s attempt to rebrand itself with the ever-creative tagline of: “It’s Wausome.” Shockingly, the slogan failed, but a local high school kid did adopt “wausome” as his Twitter handle and made a few t-shirts. It was Brian’s mother-in-law who suggested Brian adopt “Wausome Wafers” as the product name, and it was a mentor at the county entrepreneurial center who gave him the tagline: “Wholesome + Awesome = Wausome.”

“So basically, I stole the name from a high school kid, my mother-in-law and a teacher. I’m surrounded by creative people. It’s a good thing,” he said. “I added my skills of knowing how to brand something to make it personable and effective, then added my background in supply chain and an obsession with eating fried cheese late at night.”

Wausome Wafers are shelf-stable with a 6-month shelf life. Brian encourages consumers to not only enjoy the wafers, but to then visit the cheesemakers’ websites and also purchase the cheese from which it was fried to a crisp. “I’m just helping cheese realize it’s true potential,” he says. And I would argue he’s accomplished that goal.

To get your very own box of Wausome Wafers, visit Vino Latte, Lil Ole Winemakers Shoppe, and Downtown Grocery in Wausau. They’ll also be available in Madison at Metcalfe’s Market-Hilldale starting Saturday, and at Fromagination early next week. Once you have your very own box, you’ll be saying it with me: Wausome Wafers are awesome!

cheeseunderground LaClare Farms, Landmark Creamery, Rose boero, Wisconsin cheese, wisconsin cheese originals

Want To Be A Wisconsin Cheesemaker?

Good news aspiring cheesemakers! Wisconsin Cheese Originals announced today applications for its 2014 Beginning Cheesemaker Scholarship are available. The $2,500 award will help one aspiring cheesemaker earn his or her Wisconsin cheesemaking license and make new artisan, farmstead or specialty cheeses.

As you know, Wisconsin is the only state in the nation to require cheesemakers to be licensed, a lengthy process that can take as long as 18 months, requires the attendance at five cheesemaking courses, and 240 hours of apprenticeship with an existing licensed Wisconsin cheesemaker.

Applications for the 2014 Wisconsin Cheese Originals Beginning Cheesemaker Scholarship are available for download at www.WisconsinCheeseOriginals.com. Applications are due March 20. The recipient will be chosen by a review committee and notified by April 7.

Wisconsin Cheese Originals has awarded $10,000 in scholarship monies to beginning cheesemakers since 2010. Past program scholarship recipients include:

2013: Jennifer Digman owns and runs Krayola Sky Dairy, a goat dairy in Cuba City. She successfully obtained her cheesemaker’s license in 2013 after earning the Wisconsin Cheese Originals scholarship. She works at both Uplands Cheese and Roelli Cheese as a professional affineur (cheese aging specialist). Digman has dreams of building her own on-farm creamery to craft fresh, hand-dipped chevre, aged mixed milk artisan cheeses, and hand-washed Alpine-styles. She hopes to pass the operation down to her two young daughters.

2012: Anna Landmark owns and runs a small-scale sustainable farm with her husband and children in Albany, Wis. In 2013, Anna successfully launched Landmark Creamery and began making seasonal sheep, cow and water buffalo cheeses, using the facilities at Cedar Grove Cheese in Plain, Wis. At the 2013 Wisconsin Cheese Originals Festival, her Bawdy Buffalo, a water buffalo Taleggio-style cheese, was named one of the best up-and-coming American Original cheeses in the nation.

2011: Rose Boero, a dairy goat breeder in Custer, Wis, successfully obtained her cheesemaker’s license after receiving the scholarship in 2011. Today, she makes a variety of goat’s milk cheeses at Willow Creek Cheese and teaches beginning cheesemaking classes in her home for amateur cheesemakers. She is developing plans to build her own cheese plant at her dairy goat farm, where she and her husband have raised Toggenburg dairy goats for 25 years.

2010: Katie Hedrich Furhmann, a goat’s milk cheesemaker, obtained her license after receiving the first Wisconsin Cheese Originals Scholarship. At the 2011 U.S. Champion Cheese Contest, she took Best in Show for her goat’s milk cheese, LaClare Farms Evalon, and was named the 2011 U.S. Champion Cheesemaker, the youngest cheesemaker to ever earn the title. In 2013, she and her family built a new farmstead cheese plant on their farm near Pipe, Wis. She launches new cheeses annually.

For those of you not in the know, Wisconsin Cheese Originals is an organization I started in 2009. Our motto is: Have Fun. Do Good. Eat Cheese. We are a membership organization sharing information about Wisconsin artisan cheeses through a variety of events, all in the spirit of celebrating Wisconsin cheesemakers. You can join for just $35 a year and be invited to tours, dinners, classes and super cool tasting events. More info on becoming a cheese geek here: Wisconsin Cheese Originals.

cheeseunderground artisan cheese, juustoleipa, Wisconsin cheese

Screw Velveeta, Eat Juustoleipa

Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board

As Kraft continues to perpetuate its “Velveeta Shortage = World is Ending” public relations campaign to drive sales for the Super Bowl — seriously, show me a store where the shelves are bare of processed cheese — I say it’s time to start a new trend here in Subarctica and eat warm cheese that does not consist of milk and whey protein concentrate. 

Yes, I made up the term Subarctica to represent where I live in Wisconsin, even though we appear to be on the tail end of an arctic polar vortex blitz featuring temps of minus 20 degrees F for the past week. So it seems to be a good time to talk about something warm. And what’s better than warm cheese?

People, I give you the best warm cheese outside fresh curds from a vat. Called Juustoleipa (pronounced oo-stah-lee-pah, with the first syllable rhyming with the word who), this cheese originates from Scandinavia, where the fine folks in northern Finland have been making it from reindeer, cow and goat milk for 200 years. 

In Wisconsin, you’ll sometimes see it labeled as Bread Cheese, because a) that’s how Juustoleipa translates in English, and b) the cheese is actually baked (like bread) during the cheesemaking process. Made without a starter culture – a process similar to making feta – Juustoleipa is merely fresh curds pressed into blocks. It it then briefly baked. The result is a squeaky cheese with a mild, buttery flavor. The best part is the splotchy brown crust, formed when heat from baking caramelizes the sugars on the outside of the cheese. The cheese is made to be grilled in a skillet or warmed in an oven (it doesn’t melt when heated) and eaten for breakfast with coffee and maple syrup or honey, or after a meal with jam or jelly.

Juustoleipa first came on the scene in Wisconsin back in 2002, when scientists at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research (CDR), via funding from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, worked to recreate the original Finnish recipe in an effort to preserve a traditional, ethnic cheese and develop a safe manufacturing method to share with small Wisconsin cheese factories and farmstead operations. Cheese Scientist Jim Path, now retired from CDR, traveled to northern Michigan, where he found an elderly couple producing it in tiny quantities, and then to a farmstead in Finland just 150 miles from the Arctic Circle where he studied the manufacturing technique.

In September of 2002, CDR hosted a seminar attended by 28 Wisconsin cheesemakers and 10 Wisconsin Master Cheesemakers that included a hands-on demonstration of making Juustoleipa. The idea was that the cheese would be ideal for a small factory or start-up.

Today, you’ll find six different Wisconsin cheese companies crafting it under a variety of names.

  • Carr Valley Cheese Bread Cheese (in Traditional, Garlic, Chipotle and Jalapeno flavors)
  • Babcock Hall Juustoleipa and Jalapeno Juustoleipa
  • Pasture Pride Cheese Juusto (in Traditional, Italiano, Jalapeno, Chipotle flavors, as well as with Nueske’s Bacon), Guusto (goat’s milk version) and Oven Baked Cheeses filled with 5yr cheddar, Parmesan, and aged goat cheese
  • Bass Lake Cheese Juustoleipa (Cheesemaker/Owner Scott Erickson is the only certified master cheesemaker in Juustoleipa)
  • Brunkow Cheese Brun-uusto Cheese
  • Noble View Creamery Juustoleipa (in Traditional, Jalapeno and Habanero flavors, and with bacon)

So while here in Wisconsin we enjoy all the taste of Juustoleipa, we haven’t yet adopted its cultural practices. Legend has it that in Finland, mothers of “eligible women” – I love that phrase – used to offer suitors a cup of coffee with the cheese and, if the man liked the cheese, he married the girl. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Who wouldn’t want to marry a man who didn’t like cheese?

As a side note, if you’re looking for a way to taste all of these Juustoleipas, I’ve created an “Juustopalooza” event in the specialty cheese department at Metcalfe’s Market-Hilldale in Madison on Saturday, Feb. 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. We’ll be frying up 3 different Juusto cheeses for you to sample with many more available for sale. See you then!

cheeseunderground carr valley, hook's cheese, LaClare Farms, Landmark Creamery, lavon brie, Roelli Cheese, sartori, uplands cheese, Wisconsin cheese

Top 10 Wisconsin Artisan Cheeses of 2013

So if you’re like the rest of us cheese geeks, you’re either likely throwing a cheese-themed New Year’s Eve party, or you’ve been invited to a year-end shindig and asked to bring the requisite cheese plate. Looking for a little inspiration? Here are my top 10 cheeses of 2013.

10. Grand Cru Surchoix by the cheesemakers at Emmi Roth USA in Monroe. Aged at least nine months, this American Gruyere often beats its Swiss counterparts at international contests, and there’s good reason: this is an amazingly good cheese. Put it in the center of your board. It deserves the spotlight.

9. Cave Aged Marisa by cheesemaker Sid Cook at Carr Valley Cheese in LaValle. What do you get when you combine the cheesemaking prowess of master Sid Cook and the affinage ability of Jennifer Brozak at Bear Valley Affinage? A beauty like no other: this award-winning cheese has only gotten better in the past year, sporting a beautiful natural cave rind and delightfully crystal, crumbly paste. If you haven’t had this cheese in a while, it’s time to try it again.

8. Extra Aged Asiago by cheesemaker Mike Matucheski at Sartori in Antigo. I’ve got to admit, I usually overlook Asiago in favor of Parmesan. But this extra-aged delight stands on its own against any extra-aged parm. Crumbly, crystally and wonderfully nutty, Sartori’s Asiago rivals the Italian original.

7. Ewe Calf to be Kidding by cheesemaker Tony Hook, Hook’s Cheese in Mineral Point. What’s believed to be the first blue in the nation using a mixture of cow, goat and sheep’s milk cheese, this creamy, tangy blue beauty is a future best in show winner. It’s got a cute label too: who can resist animals with googly eyes?

6. Marieke Black Mustard Gouda by cheesemaker Marieke Penterman, Holland’s Family Cheese in Thorp. This month, the current U.S. Champion Cheesemaker and her family are moving into their new farmstead creamery operation two miles down the road from the original homestead. While this particular gouda is by no means new, it’s an underrated flavor perfect to liven up a cheese board. It’s a cheese with both beauty and brains = win win.

5. Water Buffalo Taleggio by cheesemaker Anna Landmark, Landmark Creamery in Albany. What started out as an experimental cheese ended up being one of the best American Original cheeses released this year by an up-and-comer. Anna crafts her cheeses at Cedar Grove Cheese in Plain, using seasonal milks. Watch for her water buffalo Taleggio to appear on the market again in spring.

4. Martone by cheesemaker Katie Hedrich, LaClare Farm in Pipe, Wis. Not yet even 30 years old, Hedrich has created another game-changing Wisconsin artisan cheese with her mixed milk Martone, a surface-ripened buttery bloomy made in small discs. This was a big year for Katie: she got married and worked with her family to open their own farmstead creamery. One gets the feeling this cheesemaker will be making this list every year with a different, new cheese.

3. LaVon Goat Brie by cheesemaker Todd Jaskolski, Caprine Supreme in Black Creek. After reeling from from a shoulder injury that limited his ability to make hard cheeses, Jaskolski reinvented himself and created two farmhouse French-style bries, one with goat’s milk and the other with cow’s milk. We like the goat version better – the citrusy tang of the goat’s milk adds a little zing to this classic cheese.

2. Rush Creek Reserve by cheesemaker Andy Hatch, Uplands Cheese in Dodgeville. A perpetual favorite, even though this year marks the fourth year of its existence, this cheese is the perfect beginning or ending to a holiday meal. Cut away the top rind and then spoon into the creamy paste. Spread on a fresh-baked rustic baguette. Pure bliss.

1. Little Mountain by cheesemaker Chris Roelli, Roelli Cheese in Shullsburg. 2013 was definitely Chris’ year – with dual wins for his cheeses at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest and American Cheese Society, Chris finally received well-deserved accolades for his stellar cheesemaking ability. Little Mountain is one of the best alpine cheeses on the U.S. market, rivaling the great Swiss Gruyeres.

Happy cheesy New Year!

cheeseunderground grand cru surchoix, gruyere, roth cheese

Under the Tree: Grand Cru Surchoix

Celebrating an addition to the Emmi Roth Cheese factory
in Monroe back in 2006. Gosh, I wish I could yodel.

Five weeks ago, on what essentially became my first day of becoming the full-time specialty cheese buyer for Metcalfe’s Market-Hilldale in Madison, 10 full wheels of Grand Cru Surchoix suddenly showed up on a refrigerated truck. Booked as a pre-order by my predecessor, the 18-pound wheels of American Gruyere (although we can’t call it that because of European Union rules for naming cheeses), landed on my counter with a thud.

Mind you they each arrived beautifully wrapped in individual boxes, complete with a healthy supply of repack labels (the epitome of happiness for cheese retailers). The wheels were even shiny – someone at Emmi Roth USA in Monroe, Wisconsin, had gone through the trouble of making them all pretty like little shiny red apples in a produce display.

But still, 180 pounds of cheese. In one full swoop. It was enough to make me want to fire up the bat signal in retail cheese distress.

For those of you not in the know, Grand Cru Surchoix is one of Wisconsin cheese’s claims to fame. Emmi Roth describes it as a washed-rind Alpine-style cheese, but in reality, this baby rivals the big-wheel Swiss Gruyeres. Using copper vats, imported from Switzerland, and aged on wooden boards for at least nine months, only a few wheels of the company’s signature Grand Cru® (note the registered trademark) meet the stringent requirements of the company’s professional cheese tasters to even ever become Surchoix. The cheese is stinky, meaty, rich and deep. It’s a 10-note cheese and deserves to be the centerpiece of your cheeseboard.

Surchoix also carries significant award credentials, starting with winning the American Cheese Society Best in Show award back in 1999. It repeated at ACS in 2012 as a Best in Show runner-up, and it routinely not only places, but beats its Swiss competitiors in international competitions. Peeps, this cheese has got legs.

So overall, I’ve got to admit that if 10 wheels of a cheese that you never ordered were to show up on your doorstep, the best you could hope for would for it to be Grand Cru Surchoix. And the second best thing you can hope for is for your friends Kirsten and Kathy – the company’s marketing gurus – to come to your store after their own long day of work and personally sample and sell it for you (thanks, ladies!).

Turns out I worried for nothing. Five weeks after stacking them in my cheese cooler, the 10 wheels are gone. After sampling and talking it up during the month of December, customers scooped it up one piece at a time. Yesterday, we cut up the last two wheels and watched it rapidly go out the door, along with more than 1,000 other pieces of cheese that I’m sure were destined for gifts and cheese boards. I actually had to order more to fill a special we’re running on it for New Year’s Eve.

So as I sit on my sofa on Christmas Day, it’s kind of cool to think about all the people opening boxes today filled with pieces of Grand Cru Surchoix. Merry Christmas, folks. And may the power of good Wisconsin cheese be with you in 2014.