Featured Cheese - February 2023

Selvatico is replete with herbal and rustic notes unique to its high-elevation terroir. Its long aging yields an intensely flavorful and dense cheese reminiscent of an aged gouda. It has a yellow, firm paste with a nutty, crunchy texture, but also possesses a distinct creaminess. This is a truly special cheese that is should be pulled out of the refrigerator for about 20 minutes and warmed to room temperature to bring out its best qualities...

Carr Valley Cheese has been making cheese in Wisconsin for over a century and they’ve become one of the finest specialty cheese manufacturers in the States. Mobay is their unique take on France's Morbier. A semi-firm cheese, Mobay is rustic yet mild, and comprised of two halves separated by a thin line of grape vine ash: a bright and tangy side of goat’s milk cheese, and a sweet and grassy side of sheep’s milk cheese which balances perfectly. Together they pair beautifully, offering an almost grape-like finish, but are also wonderful separate, which makes this cheese perfect for your cheese board due to the variety of flavor profiles.

This a raw milk cheese and the cows are entirely grass fed. São Jorge a slightly larger format cheese weighing in at 20-22 pounds per wheel, and the bright yellow paste is creamy with many little 'eyes'. The distinctive flavor profile is both tangy and vegetal/herbal. São Jorge is cheddary, with tangy, spicy undertones. It pairs very well with fruits and is a great snacking cheese. Milder in flavor, it will go nicely with lighter ales and lagers as well as dry red wines.

We’ve elected to showcase the creamery’s longest-aged profile of Alpha Tolman this month. Eight to twelve months of aging gives it a bolder flavor profile and a crumblier texture. Its paste is creamy and the flavors complex, offering notes of carmelized onions, and toasted, earthy and sweetgrass notes, along with slightly sweet fruit notes. Overall, it’s a savory, nutty, slightly salty profile with a thick, creamy texture and mouthfeel.

El Abuelo Ruperto is Llorema's small-production, farmstead cheese aged a minimum of six months. It is aptly named after her grandfather, Ruperto, who taught her about agriculture and sheep farming, and devoted his entire life to raising sheep and the improvement of breeding and feeding, including the farm growing its own organic feed.