Cheese Club 2023

Cheese Club 2023 - Wrap Up
From the Bottom of our hearts, thanks to every one of you for being part of Cheese Club in 2023. 
We feel like the quality of the cheeses this year has been amongst some of our best work and we’re proud to have presented 12 curated boxes of deliciousness in 2023. 
We look forward to seeing you in 2024 when cheese club kicks off again in February.
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decemBER

Old Witch
Origin: Oberli Creamery, Switzerland
Milk: Raw, Cow Milk
Style: Hard Cooked

Christian Oberli, current head cheesemaker at Oberli Creamery, collected milk from 28 local dairies to make this raw milk delight. An experiment at first, the cheese and its younger cousin, Red Witch, are made alongside traditional Swiss Raclette. Old Witch is aged for 9 months at the dairy, washed in a proprietary blend of herbs in the dairy’s unique brine. The cheese has a powerful rind and a dense yellow paste underneath, the cheese is floral, complex with clean milky flavours, herbaciousness and rich savoury notes.

Condiment Match: Tony’s Chocolonely Caramel
Tony’s chocolate has seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the last few years, it’s hard to turn a corner without bumping into a new shop that is selling their latest creation. For December we went with a textural and chocolate delight, the crunchy caramel pieces remind me of the tyrosine crystals typically found in matured Swiss cheese. This month is all about texture and contrast.

Fromage de Meaux
Origin: France
Milk: Cow
Style: Soft, Externally Ripened

The Rouzaire company has been making traditional, single cream brie to decades. The cheeses are soft, delicate with straw yellow appearance in the paste and a thin rind. Hints of mushroom and delicate bone broth. Fun fact, this is the first brie I ever presented at my first cheese and wine matching in 2008.

Double Devon
Origin: Quicke’s Cheese, UK
Milk: Cow
Style: Hard Crumbly

In the words of head cheese maker, Mary Quicke, Double Devon is elegantly mellow with a buttery, long lasting taste. She’s not wrong, the cheese lingers, sweet, creamy with butteryness and hints, so slightly in the background of scalded curds.

Booze Match: Hanging Rock Macedon Pinot Noir

One of two varieties Hanging Rock was founded on. Typically reserved for their Macedon sparkling, winemaker Rob Ellis diverts some production to making a cool climate Pinot. Rob is a third generation wine maker and the custodian of Hanging Rock Estate’s wine portfolio, taking over from his Father John and winning award after award for the winery. The Macedon is clean, dry and a little fruity, it has clearly seen some older oak. We like the combination of a clean Pinot and the dense fudgey textures of Old Witch. 

NOVEMBER

Bleu D’Auvergne - Mons
Origin: France
Milk: Cow
Style: Soft, Internally Ripened, Blue

A staple, a delight and something truly special when perfectly ripe. Generous lashings of blue throughout the pale white paste and a natural rind (edible). Similar in style to Roquefort but without the sharp edges. Deeply savoury notes balanced with a creamy whipped butter texture. The glutamates make this one of the most delectable cheeses of the year. A little coolness, buckets of heartiness in the mouth, infinitely spreadable (I like in on toast with avocado for lunch).

Condiment Match: Cornichons
Our condiment match this month are Cornichons. After all that intense flavour, these are a little palate cleanser. We love both the size and style of these cornichons. Just enough for one cheese board which maintains their fresh snap. The vinegary brine and mustard seeds round out a delightful pairing.

Mt Alexander Edam
Origin: South Australia
Milk: Cow
Style: Semi Firm

Mt Alexander returns with their Edam, the final cheese from their collection to be featured in cheese club this year and certainly one of their most surprising. A first in the 8 year history of cheeseclub that an Edam has made the cut. The cheese itself is elastic, semi firm, pliable and a lighter than you would expect from appearance. The flavour is clean, nutty, hazelnuts, a little beefy, with hints of caramel, and heavy fruitiness. On the tongue we get calcium, heartiness combined with harmoniously balanced taste.

Mimolette Extra Aged
Origin: France
Milk: Cow
Style: Hard, annatto coloured. 

Boulle de Lille, the orange one, a mitey cheese. What a delight, under the mercantile policies of John Baptiste Colbert the French looked inward with the insistance that everything be grown, made and produced in France. A slight hiccup, the Dauphin’s favourite cheese was Edam, Made in the Netherlands.. So French spies were dispatched to learn how to make the cheese. Their success, and a lot of cheese mites did the hard work to bring you this cheese. The cheese mites eat into the cheese, causing cracks and fissures during maturation improving texture and allowing the complex biology of the cheese to shine. A fascinating contrast the the fresher Edam produced locally. Fruity, nutty (cashew), sweet, perfumed with yeast notes. Heartiness and a little astringency abound as sensations. The taste leans toward salty with great fatty qualities. The cheese is brittle, we used a parmesan splitter to make the pieces. Surprisingly moist for a cheese of its age. A fun tasting exercise is to feed the cheese to someone with their eyes closed, having not seen the colour and asking them to describe it. Then asking them to taste the same cheese (without telling them), having seen the colour. Annatto has no discernable impact on the taste but it’s fascinating to see people’s reaction. Sometimes I will even suggest words like pumpkin, cinnamon, citrus even in the absence of the elements just to see people’s reactions. It’s interesting to observe how much our eyes play into our perception of taste. 

Booze Match: Bird in Hand Sparkling

Dry, crisp, fizzy and local, everything you want in a sparkling wine. Bird in Hand always make a reliable drop. If you ever find yourself in the region, drop into their magnificent cellar door with great food and great drinks served by a  knowledgeable and approachable team. Just make sure you check their website first, the magnificent setting is one of the most popular wedding destinations in the country. We love the pairing of crisp, dry and fizzy with rich blue cheeses. Blue can be a toughy, often, it will make the best wines taste of vinegar and aluminum. Blue cheese hides its saltiness in an extremely complex flavour profile and can overpower a number of reds and whites.

OCTOBER

El Gran Cardenal
With Black Garlic
Origin: Spain
Style: Hard Cooked, Infused
Milk: Ewe
I’ll admit, I’m late to the party on black garlic, it’s something that’s been on the periphery of the food world for a while now, embraced by chefs and home cooks enchanted by the maillard reaction in the fermentation process, releasing the molasses and aged balsamic vinegar notes. Some have also described a ‘cheesey’ flavour. So what better to blend into a delightful, full fat ewe milk cheese? It’s like a cheesier cheese with small tacky sticky bits of black garlic to provide an unusual texture as well as depth and complexity. We don’t typically like cheeses with additions, the cheese often plays second fiddle to the added ingredient, like Wensleydale and cranberries. In this case the cheese is fantastic and only heightened by the addition of Black Garlic. 

Condiment Match: Dried Orange Grapes
Firstly these are not Muscatels, there’s been a shortage of Muscatels so we discovered these by happy accident. We’re delighted with their flavour and prefer them. The sweet musky flavour of these dried orange grapes is phenomenal and complex. They remind me of the sweet aroma of Grappa made from Gewurztraminer grapes. We’ve matched them with the El Gran Cardenal infused with Black Garlic this month in an attempt to sweeten up a deeply savoury and complex cheese with something that has the sweet complexity to match it.

Vega Jardin Queso Romero
Origin: Spain
Milk: Goat
Style: Hard Cooked, Modified Rind

One of our takeaways from slow cheese was the importance of terroir and reflecting that in the cheesemaking. Flavours in these months' cheeses, when you really think about it, are a natural and logical match, especially in the case of Goat Cheese and Rosemary. The piquant goat cheese with its free fatty acids lends itself to the bouquet of flavours rosemary delivers. The rind on this cheese is completely edible, I prefer not to, the textural clash doesn’t work for me but the flavour does. If you’re like me then make a toasty with the cheese, grating the rind into the mix. A splash of paprika, some good sourdough, into the jaffle maker and boom, goaty, rosemary, buttery and crunchy, everything that is good and great in the world.

Mahon Extra Curado
Origin: Spain
Milk: Cow
Style: Firm, Modified Rind

Mahon is amongst my favourite cheeses and to be offered an extra curado cheese, extra aged, is something very special indeed. Cheeses are assessed at an early age for quality to see if they will go the distance and improve with extra maturation and care. There is no specific age we are looking for, aside from beyond 12 months. The cheese is ready when it dries a little, has taken on smoky notes of paprika from multiple washings and turnings and develops tyrosine crystals signifying the perfect point for eating.  This month's cheeses will really benefit from being stored in a separate container in the fridge, their drier nature leads them to absorb fridge smells more readily.

Booze Match: Sopra Blood Orange Hard Seltzer

It’s no secret we’ve worked closely with Sopra to develop their Lemon Seltzer, the limoncello from Cow with a Crown (our distillery) features in the mix. The blood orange draws it’s flavour more from freshly squeezed juice as opposed to the boost of concentrated liquor. A fresh, clean and crisp Seltzer, perfect for the warmer days ahead. The pairing comes from a motivation to have clean, fruit flavours to complement the rich sheep milk cheese.

AUGUST & SEPTEMBER

AUGUST

Primavera di Caravaggio
Origin: Defendi Cheese, Bergamo, Italy
Milk: Cow
Style: Semi Firm, Washed rind

We loved this cheese so much on the first taste we bought every available wheel in Australia! Delicious! The recipe has been handed down through the Defendi family since the 1950's, a truly bespoke and unique innovation in Italian cheese. 

Under the orangy pink rind lies a white cheese with uneven, open eyes and a texture that yields and melts into a creamy clean, mildly sour cheese with hints of brioche and milking parlor. The rind is salty, holding up the some sweetness in the accompanying pickles and leaning into the crunch and texture variation between the two. 

Condiment Match: Cornichon
On the side Cornichon. A little crunch, a little acid paired with a salty cheese makes for a refreshing and delightful combo.

Coulommiers
Origin: Rouzaire Cheese, Seine et Marne, France
Milk: Cow
Style: Soft, Externally Ripened. 

It looks like brie, but it isn’t brie, Coulommiers is brie’s older, nuttier cousin. The cheese has a depth and richness, a density from rich cows milk that defies expectation. A short lactic ferment and careful aging for 4-6 weeks leads to a delight of a cheese. The layer right under the rind will become runny like a goats cheese and the center will stay a little firm and fudgey. The Rouzaire family of affineurs purchase cheeses from several cheesemakers aiming for a consistent product that reflects seasonal changes to the milk supply.

Monte Rosso
Section 28 Cheese, Adelaide Hills
Milk: Cow
Style: Soft, Externally ripened

Master Cheesemaker Kim Masters’ love letter to Taleggio, the final wheels before Section 28 cheese moves into its new state of the art cheesemaking digs and some of the last cheeses matured at the current facility. Why Taleggio? Kim and family spent time living and learning in Italy as part of the transition into cheesemaking. He fell in love with Italian cheese and when he came home, sourcing fresh milk to make Monte Rosso was a priority. The cheese is savoury, salty, the paste is creamy, sticky, becoming rich and creamy as it melts in your mouth. 

Booze Match: Nero D’Avola - Surya Wines

Plum, pepper, sunshine, Sicily! Considered the most important grape variety in Sicily, Nero D’Avola can be likened to a Syrah but with a more tannic backbone for the juicy fruit flavours to hang off. A black grape that loves heat and sunshine to bring out its best. Our pairing motivation? The creamy mid palate of the cheese lends itself to a little restrained sweetness, even more toward the promise of sweetness on the nose. 

SEPTEMBER

Onkaparinga Truffled Triple Cream Brie
Source: Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Milk: Cow
Style: Soft, truffled, externally ripened. 

Late season truffles are my favorites, they’ve fully formed their aroma and are more than willing to impart it into the right fatty medium. Triple cream brie being an ideal candidate. The rind is smooth white, the past mottled yellow from rich grass fed milk and truffle infusion. The scent is overwhelmingly truffle and as with all triple cream brie the texture is a highlight, fluffy, pillowy and ready for your next bite. The cheese and truffle flavours will only improve given a little time and eaten as close as possible to the best before date. 

Condiment Match: Dried Green Australian Apples. 
If you’ve been in Cheese Club for a while you know how much we love dried fruit.

  1. The texture, that leathery, slightly chewy texture is a sensory delight

  2. Concentrated flavours. You get all the delicious apple flavour turned up to 11!

With the intensity of truffle flavours and aroma especially in a vehicle like triple cream brie it’s important to have a palate cleanser. 

Tomme Chevre Brebis
Source: Agour, Basque
Milk: Ewe, Goat Blend
Style: Semi Firm, Washed Rind

Beneath the mottled reddish brown rind is a gorgeous bone coloured cheese. Lightly scalded curds offer some sweetness and careful maturation adds depth. 

Cantal 
Origin: Auvergne, France
Milk: Cow
Style: Hard Crumbly

Cantal is France’s answer to Cheddar, and Wensleydale and the best mashed potatoes you will ever eat. If you’re ever in the Auvergne make sure you find a restaurant that makes Aligot, an indulgent mix of cantal cheese and creamy mash whipped into stringy perfection.

Sorry, I got distracted! Cantal, a French Cheddar Style Cheese, a little waxy, a little sour and a lot savoury and delightful. Bright yellow from beta carotene in the fresh grass the animals graze on with a brown mottled clothbound rind. 

Booze Match: Organic Rose - Primanero

It’s like Spring and Rose were made for each other, especially this IGP Organic Rose from Primanero. Rich berry fruit, strawberry and red currants but presented here without the sweetness from careful fermentation. A little skin contact has given the wine its bluch pink hue. We think it’s the perfect paring with triple cream brie and late season truffles to round the experience with heady aromas and bright acidity. 

JULY

Charles Arnaud Comte
Style: Hard Cooked, Raw Milk
Milk: Cow
Origin: Jura Mountains, France
Matt’s desert island cheese, Comte never fails to delight with its evolving complexity, deep and lingering flavours and delightful texture. Made from the milk of animals grazing high in the Jura, the milk is fresh, clean, raw and filled with delightful character only enhanced through careful maturation. Comte is made in 40kg wheels and was traditionally a summer cheese, made from grass fed cows milk, held in storage at the mountain tops and brought back down at the end of the season for further affinage and maturation. These romantic stories are wonderful but the reality is more streamlined. Cheeses are purchased young, at 3 months, transported to Arnaud’s state of the art maturation facility, turned, samples, washed and cared for in perfect humidity and temperature controlled rooms until it reaches it’s peak, or in our case a little bit earlier. Comte is surface freighted, after making its way to Rungis Market outside Paris, the cheese is put into a container for the 60 day trip to Australia before being sent to us. The cheeses are intentionally send a little under ripe to account for the trip. 

Read a fantastic article about music’s affect on cheese maturing in this month’s blog!

Condiment Match: Hazelnut Butter
First, give this nut butter a stir before use. You’ve read enough of my notes at this point to know that I overuse the word nutty. This month is a compare and contrast, have a little bit of cheese, have a teaspoon of nut butter and you’ll see why this is a match made in heaven, the nuttiness of both products leans into each other highlighting texture and flavour. Make some sourdough toast, smear on a little nut butter and some finely sliced Comte.

L’Etivaz Extra Noir
Style: Hard Cooked, Raw Milk
Milk: Cow
Origin: L’Etivaz, Switzerland

L’Etivaz is like a concentrated, distilled version of Gruyere made over open flame in copper vats. The proprietary mixture of herbs in the wash used to encourage rind growth contribute floral and lemon character to an intensely flavoured cheese. A direct descendant of Gruyere, L’Etivaz was granted its one PGI status in 1926 when the two cheeses parted ways Gruyere becoming the more consumer friendly, approachable mountain cheese, L’Etivaz with it’s complex intensity for the true connoisseur.

Wynngaard
Style: Hard Cooked, Raw Milk Gouda
Milk: Goat
Origin: The Netherlands

This Dutch delight is matured in open cellars over the canals of Holland with affineurs controlling louvers to create the perfect natural setting for cheese maturation. Wyngaard is a delight of a cheese, still springy and slightly elastic with sweet hints from gently scalded curds at the make stage. Clean milky flavours are backed up with slightly lactic, almost lemon curd notes.

Booze Match: Cow with a Crown Distillery BALLA Limoncello

Some of you might be aware that Gab and I started a distillery two years ago and here’s one of our most popular products, BALLA; our take on Limoncello. When I set out to make a lemon-based drink I wanted it fruit forward, sour, not too sweet with good alcohol complementing the heat from the lemon rinds. This sweet, heat, sour match is the perfect contrast to the hard cheeses this month. Please make sure to pop the BALLA into the freezer at least 24 hours before you try it. The product is designed to be consumed ice cold and will be excessively sweet at room temperature. You can also place it over ice, straight out of the fridge, or in a Limoncello spritz (find your fave recipe online!).

JUNE

Arrigoni Gorgonzola Dolce
Style: Internally Ripened Soft Cheese
Milk: Cow
Origin: Italy
This is the best example of Gorgonzola Dolce we have tasted here at the cave, the most authentic, magnificently made, clean Gorgonzola we have experienced. Family owned since 1920 Arrigoni is a behemoth of cheesemaking, providing private label to dozens of other cheesemakers while still reserving their best for their own label. A soft, luxurious, silky mouthfeel with little gentle veins of blue in a mildly lactic ferment cheese, you could almost scoop it. 

Read more about the history and flavour profile development of Gruyere in this month’s blog!

Condiment Match: Officer’s Mess Orange and Thyme Jelly
The inevitability of Thyme! Made in Daylesford this is the perfect sweet contrast to the savoury cheeses. Candied orange flavours combine with the sharp but balanced thyme leaving you asking, what is that, but also being deeply satisfied. 

Arrigoni Taleggio
Style: Externally Ripened Soft Cheese
Milk: Cow
Origin: Italy

It was the Monday of the King’s Birthday Weekend before I had the chance to taste the Taleggio. Again, I was blown away. It’s so clean, so milky, so deep and savoury but also yeasty and with hints of brioche, the perfect expression of Taleggio. 

Arrigoni Gorgonzola Picante
Style: Externally Ripened Soft Cheese
Milk: Cow
Origin: Italy

Ok Matt, we get it, you’re super into this new cheese producer. Yeah, I am, again, one of the best Gorgonzola Cheeses I’ve ever tasted. It’s rich, intense, texturally a contrast to the dolce and at the same time clearly from the same family of expert cheesemakers.

Booze Match: Round Theory Sauvignon Blanc Piquette

Made from the refermented pressings of Sauvignon Blanc. Piquettes are lower in alcohol than traditional wines, pack juicy bright flavours and balanced acid in an alternative expression of the grape. Piquettes were traditionally made by vineyard workers as a ready to drink wine from what would typically be seen as waste. Juicy kiwi fruit flavors, jasmine and a tannic backbone from the grape seeds and skins rounding the wine to a crisp and refreshing pairing for the rich and creamy cheeses this month. We love to balance sweet and savoury, rich and refreshing and this month we’ve achieved a perfect harmony. Enjoy chilled.

MAY

  1. Mons 18 Month Gruyere
    Style: Hard-Cooked, Raw Milk
    Milk: Cow
    Origin: Fribourg, Switzerland
    When we were offered this Gruyere there was no option but to acquire it for Cheese Club. Mons is a powerhouse affineur from France and they only take a few select wheels of Gruyere from Switzerland to undergo their signature maturation process. Complex, rich, slightly chalky with a depth of savoury flavour that lingers long. Mons takes already outstanding wheels of Swiss Grotto Aged Gruyere and writes a love letter to the cheese, bringing out a complexity rarely seen.

    Read more about the history and flavour profile development of Gruyere in this month’s blog!

    Condiment Match: Chestnuts

    The nutty, smoky flavors of roasted chestnuts perfectly complement the rich, creamy notes of Gruyère. The cheese's subtle sweetness harmonizes with the earthy sweetness of the chestnuts, creating a delightful balance of flavours. Autumn seems like the perfect time to have some warm chestnuts and decadent cheese.

    How to Cook

    Pierce the chestnut shell by cutting a cross into the top of the shell (two strokes), lay flat side down on a roasting dish and bake at 180 c for approx 30 minutes. If you have a charcoal BBQ, this will add a desirable smokey element to the nuts.

  2. Stone and Crow ‘The Curfew’
    Style: Hard Cooked
    Milk: Goat
    Origin: Yarra Valley, Victoria

    A cheese that we previewed a while ago and have been excited to share with our members. Jack Homan of Stone and Crowe really met the brief on this one, the cheese is 6 months of age, mature, rich and creamy with a delightful sour note. Completely different fresh cut from the wheel where we have typically seen this cheese in the past, it’s dry, a little chalky and complex.

  3. Fourme D’Ambert 
    Style: Internally Ripened Soft Cheese
    Milk: Cow
    Origin: France

    Fourme D’Ambert in this condition with this complexity and flavour is getting harder to find as more industrial suppliers make a version for supermarkets. The duality of approachability and intrigue makes this the perfect cheese for the connoisseur or the person looking to introduce themselves to blue cheese. The paste goes from waxy and firm in places to ripe and sticky in others, a blue cheese of merit and contrast.

  4. Menabrea, Italy

    Menabrea reminds me of autumn, roasting chestnuts outdoors, crisp sunny days, early sunsets and rich cheeses. In this case we’re including a rich barely forward, low hopped flavour to really boost the indulgence factor here. The beer cleanses the pallet leaving almost subtle salami or sourdough notes to ready you for the creamy chestnuts and cheese.

April

  1. Oro Nero With Truffles
    Origin: Caseificio Gennari, Parma, Italy
    Style: Grana, with Truffle
    Milk: Raw, Cow
    Made from a whole milk recipe, Oro Nero is made using technique honed by Paolo Gennari. A richer grana-style cheese, they remain creamy, carrying more of the truffle flavour through the cheese. A little lactic ferment and a soft creamy complex finish mean that this cheese makes for the perfect Autumn Sundowner.

    Condiment Match: Organic Medjool Dates

    Rich, sweet, creamy? That’s the cheese. Rich, sweet, creamy, that’s these dates. It’s a harmonious relationship forged in the fires of deliciousness. I was delighted to taste the complimentary nature of these two. 10 stars.

  2. DOP Defendi Taleggio di Grotto
    Origin: Defendi Cheese, Bergamo, Italy
    Style: Externally Ripened, Soft, Washed
    Milk: Cow

    Founded in 1865 and one of the oldest houses still in existence making Taleggio. The cheese itself can be traced back over 1000 years. Silky, creamy and packed with flavour, slightly sweet with hints of savoury, like sourdough brioche.

  3. Belletoile Garlic and Herb Cheese Spread
    Origin: France
    Style: Soft, Spreadable, with herbs
    Milk: Cow

    Nostalgia is a powerful thing and this soft, creamy, rich and flavour-packed spread takes me to days spent backpacking through France, astounded at the quality of produce available from the corner store. Smeared on a sourdough baguette, with a few fresh bitter leaves like radicchio or rocket, scooped straight from the tub and onto a savoy. A real cheese spread without all the modifiers, just great cheese.

  4. Booze Matching: Evans and Tate Smooth Operator Margaret River Cabernet Merlot

    It appears the theme for this month is smooth, we wanted a non confrontational wine that didn’t upset the balance here. Evans and Tate has achieved this, a rich, full bodied wine that is just delicious and quaffable. The fattiness of the cheese gives some of the more bright elements something to grip onto.

Dont’ forget to read this month’s blog - it’s all about Appellation Control and what that means for cheese. We discuss the Oro Nero cheese further, as well as the big three - AOC, DOP and PGI.

march

  1. Dom Villas Extra Curado
    Origin: Portugal
    Style: Hard Cooked, Paprika and Olive Oil washed
    Milk: Cow
    A Portuguese cheese made from raw cow's milk and aged for over 12 months. It has a complex, bold flavor with hints of nuts and caramel, and a firm, slightly crumbly texture. The cheese dates back to the Middle Ages, where it was commonly used as currency.The rind is slightly wet, red with paprika wash and a slightly peppery olive oil flavour (eat the rind).

    Condiment Match: Dried Apricots

    Why? Because the sweetness can overcome some of the spiciness of the cheese and it’s wash, provides a fascinating texture match and they’re just bloody delicious with cheese.

  2. Wookie Hole Cave Aged Cheddar
    Origin: Somerset, UK (imported by us!)
    Style: Cheddar
    Milk: Cow

    Wookie Hole Cave Aged Cheddar is a traditional British cheese made with pasteurised cow's milk and aged for up to 12 months in the natural caves of Somerset. It has a distinctive nutty, tangy flavor with a creamy texture and a crumbly finish. The cheese is named after the famous Wookie Hole caves, which have been a popular tourist attraction in the area for centuries. These small truckles ripen quickly, promoting deeper flavour.

  3. Brie de Normandie
    Origin: Normandie, France
    Style: Soft, externally ripened. 
    Milk: Cow

    The much lesser known of the cheeses of Normandie, Brie de Normandie is decadent, sticky and a little lighter on the brassicus notes, leaning more into mushroom notes than its cousin, Camembert. A snow white rind, delicate, thin with a dust of geotrichum giving a dusty straw character. The paste elastic, runny at room temperature and butter yellow.

  4. Booze Matching: Porta 6 Lisboa

    A Portuguese medium bodied, dry, dry red made from a blend of Tempranillo, Castelao and Touriga Nacional. Refined, smooth and every day drinking the balance of acid and tannin gives the fruit flavours a backbone to hang from. We love how the wine opens up the cheese, creating a complex, heady mix.

FEBRUARY

  1. Vully Rouge

    Style: Hard Cooked, Mountain Cheese, Swiss
    Milk: Raw Cow Milk
    Maker: Ewald Schafer, Fromagerie Schafer
    Fromagerie Schafer, founded in 1991 in the village of Cressier, near Fribourg houses not only a multi award winning, artisan dairy but also plays home to the Schafer Family in their apartment right upstairs. Vully Rouge cheese is typically aged for several months, during which time it develops a complex flavour profile. The cheese has a creamy texture and a rich, nutty taste that is balanced by a slightly acidic tang. The orange rind adds an additional layer of flavour and texture, providing a slightly salty, savory taste that complements the cheese's creaminess. Yes, you can eat the rind on this cheese!

    Condiment Match: Tamarind Almonds

    This month is something we’ve been dying to use for years! Tamarind Almonds. They’re crunchy, salty, sweet, sour and have a depth of flavour that’s an absolute delight. Why? Because they are everything Vully Rouge is, in nut form, it’s sheer joy as a combination!

  2. Beaufort Alpage
    Style: Hard Cooked, Mountain Cheese, French
    Milk: Raw Cow Milk
    Maker: Various, Affinaged

    This is the mowhaked, punk rock version of mountain cheese. Bold, hefty with its own unique take on what it means to be an icon of cheese. Beaufort Alpage is made in the mountains by dairy farmers whose herds are moved high into the mountains in summer to graze on ridiculously delicious lush green grass, wildflowers and herbs. The result is a creamy, nutty, complex and deeply delicious nutty flavour bomb with an elastic texture that melts in your mouth. A WOW WOW WOW cheese.

  3. Ossau Iraty

    Style: Hard Cooked, Basque
    Milk: Raw Ewe Milk
    Maker: Various, Affinaged

    Wait, this month just keeps getting better! Ossau Iraty is a favourite here at the Cheese Cave. We always know when the Ossau has arrived, the aroma of the rind is strong, it hints at an ancient sea port, the smell of salty air, ageing pier timbers and low tide. Why? I have absolutely no idea, the cheese isn’t made anywhere near an ocean, it’s simply where my taste memory takes me. The cheese itself though, creamy beige, tanned with a grey, natural rind. The cheese is complex, salty, condensed with a texture closer to Gouda without the waxiness. Hints of tomato leaf, umami runs deep here. An absolute delight.

  4. Booze Matching: Krondorf Chardonnay

    Our classic pairing for February is Krondorf Chardonnay from Eden Valley, South Australia. A full bodied, bright chardonnay with a solid tannic backbone. The creaminess of the cheese is mellowed somewhat while the mild sourness of the cheese is counterbalanced by the bright acidity of the wine. 

Janaury

  1. Keens Cheddar

    Style: Hard Crumbly
    Milk: Cow
    Maker: James Keen
    Keens Cows graze on 500 acres of lush Somerset Grass, the milk is phenomenal, raw and transported 40 meters from the milking sheds to the dairy, real farmhouse cheesemaking. James Keen, 5th Generation Cheesemaker has skill and knowledge of his forebears running through his veins. Their proprietary hot water bath and gentle care makes Keens one of the most deeply satisfying, crumbly cheddars on the market. Sweet, strong, nutty and buttery all at the same time, the cheese is a reflection of quality throughout the whole production chain. Wheels selected exclusively for, and imported by, Cornelius Cheesemongers.

    Condiment Match: Truffle Hunter Black Truffle Chips

    We’re leaning into the earthy flavours in the the Keen’s cheddar with truffles! Truffle Hunter makes decadent accessible delights from real truffle. Simply opening the can is a delight. You will be greeted with the heady, intense aroma of truffle. The crunch of the chips making an outstanding counterpoint to the creaminess of the cheese.

  2. Colston Bassett - Shropshire Blue
    Style: Hard Crumbly, Internally Ripened
    Milk: Cow
    Maker: Billy Kevan
    A mellow alternative to Stilton, a hint of smokeyness, and a delightful nutty character.
    Shropshire Blue is recognisable due to its distinctive orange body, again with blue veins spread throughout. The natural rind is a deep orange brown shade. The cheese is slightly milder in flavour than Stilton and delicately sweet. Like Stilton, the cheese has a creamy taste and smooth texture with no bitterness or sharpness. The maturation time is slightly less. Imported by us, direct from the maker to you.

  3. Six Farms Brie

    Style: Soft, externally ripened
    Milk: Cow
    Origin: Adelaide Hills, SA

    What a project! Gathering this delicious, high quality milk from six farmers in the Adelaide hills and commissioning a cheesemaker to add value to their milk! A lactic ferment creating a little sourness starts the journey into this delight of a cheese. The texture is dense, fudgey, an absolute delight of a cheese, and very popular at our Cellar Door this summer.

  4. Booze Matching: Old Speckled Hen

    A high proportion of crystal malt in Old Speckled Hen provides the key toffee/caramel flavour. The yeast used to ferment the beer provides the other key character - estery or banana/pear drop. This estery note provides the fruity and refreshing balance that lends itself to cheddar so well. The hops used add a palate cleansing herbal note and very slight orange citrus. A very malty, full bodied ale.