Who better to ask about the year’s best cheeses than the country’s top mongers? I eat a lot of cheese, but they eat more. They’re the gatekeepers. They select the best—or what they believe they can sell—from their suppliers, and they delight in introducing customers to the next life-changing wedge. So let’s hear from a few of these expert palates on the cheeses that rocked their world this year.

Gordon Edgar

Rainbow Grocery
San Francisco

“I have two—one you already wrote about. Primo Pascolo is a great table cheese and great melter. It is somehow bigger and more satisfying than expected and it's affordable.

I bought Ebenezer from Sequatchie Cove untasted, which is not usual for me, but I decided to take a chance because I always love Sequatchie cheeses. High fat, bark wrapped and seasonal, it's pasteurized so not a direct comparison to (raw-milk) Rush Creek Reserve or Winnimere. Ebenezer has the complexity you'd expect from a bark-wrapped cheese—not as mustardy as Harbison, but richer and super easy to eat.”

Rich Rogers

Scardello
Dallas

Colonial-style Cheddar: Arethusa’s Tapping Reeve

“My favorite cheese this year has been Tapping Reeve from Arethusa Farm in Litchfield, CT. It is a natural-rind Cheddar that is not clothbound. I think it’s impressive that they researched a Colonial-era recipe. The cheese has a savory/sweet balance and perfect texture. When you hand a sample to a guest, their eyes light up. We sell wedge upon wedge after featuring it in a class.”

Morgen Schroeder

Martha’s Vineyard Cheesery
Vineyard Haven, MA

“I had some really great bites during my cheese tour of Wisconsin. Ewe Calf to be Kidding from Hook’s Cheese is a triple-milk blue, rich and tangy. It disappeared shockingly fast from my family’s cheeseboard. And Bleu Mont Cheddar, a cow’s milk clothbound Cheddar from Willi Lehner, is complex, puckery and crushable.”

James Ayers

V. Sattui Winery
St. Helena, CA

Raclette stand-in: Stony Pond’s Black Capped Cache

“Primo Pascolo is a great value for such a special cheese and it’s raw milk. It’s like Brie and Taleggio had a baby. We made tuna melts with it last week. Brie Paysan (top image) from Fromagerie du Presbytère in Quebec is the closest you can get to raw-milk Brie but it’s pasteurized. I love it with Champagne and a sweet baguette. And Black Capped Cache from Stony Pond Farm in Vermont is my go-to for raclette when I can get it. It’s from raw Jersey cow’s milk.”

Katie Mullahy

Mullahy’s Artisan Cheese
Hudson, MA

“I am over the moon for Cato Corner’s Eclipse. Cato is a farmstead producer with a Jersey herd in Colchester, CT. My customers love their cheeses. Eclipse is relatively new, an ash-rubbed sibling of Celeste, their lactic-set bloomy rind. It is on the delicate side, with a golden paste, dense in the center. The cream line was tangy and the beautiful ash rind was amazing. I could have eaten the whole cheese in one sitting.

Jenny Eastwood

Smallgoods
San Diego

“This was the year I got reacquainted with River’s Edge Chèvre in Oregon. I met them about 10 years ago when my husband and I were driving around the state looking for unique makers. In the refrigerator on the farm’s front porch I found the most amazing award-winning goat cheeses. Up In Smoke, wrapped in smoked maple leaves, is their best known. My personal fave is Beltane, fudgy textured and finished with a farm-grown fern.”