Featured Cheese - July 2022

This Spanish selection, first imported to the United States in 2004, has a unique story and inspiration: the Guirra breed of sheep. Valencian cheesemaker, Enrique, created this cheese to preserve this breed, which had become nearly extinct by 1990. With his cheesemaking, he has grown the herd to 500 sheep. The cheese’s preparation and presentation are distinctive: it is wrapped in cheesecloth, then the curds are drained by tying together the ends of the cloth, which causes the cheese to resemble a servilleta (napkin) when unwrapped.

Swiss cheesemaker, Reto Güntensperger, is a third-generation cheesemaker from the Saint Gallen Canton in Switzerland. The home in which he grew up was adjacent to the family’s historic Bodmen Dairy. In fact, his bedroom was only a few steps away from the cheesemaking room where the first two generations of cheesemakers, his grandfather and father, handcrafted Appenzeller cheese in a 1,500-liter vat. In 1999, Güntensperger’s father and two brothers purchased and rebuilt an empty, unused dairy in the village of Bütschwil, to expand and modernize their cheese production and ready the company for future family generations. Twenty years later, Kaserei Bütschwil maintains a balance of cheesemaking tradition and efficacy.

Ubriaco del Piave is a semi-firm, Italian-style, latteria cheese from farmers in the Piave region of Veneto, Italy. It is made from pasteurized cow’s milk – from two milkings. The most striking initial aspect of this cheese is, of course, the deep and vibrant violet color of the rind and its remnants of grape leaves and seeds. Cheesemaker Sergio Moro bathes the Ubriaco del Piave for 40 hours in a proprietary mix of red wines and grape must, including the Veneto’s traditional Refosco wine, as well as other seasonal varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Clinton, then ages the cheese for four to six months.