I love aged sheep cheeses so much that even a mediocre one will tempt me. But a sublime Manchego like the one pictured here makes me greedy. I don’t want to share it; I want to hoard it. You have the Brie, honey. The Manchego’s all mine. Of course, I also want every cheese lover to know about it, and buy it, so that we keep the shipments coming. Manchego is Spain’s top-selling cheese by a mile, with 61 different producers. But if you want to taste the gold standard, in my view it’s this one.
Read moreBasque-ing in Glory
If you were limited to eating cheese from only one region (perish the thought), where would you choose? I’m going with the Pyrenees, preferably the French side. The cheeses we get from the Basque Country and neighboring Béarn are so consistently appealing that I don’t even think I would feel that deprived. Two new imports from the region make the choice even easier.
Read moreWhat Tradition Tastes Like
It’s possible today to make commercial cheese that hands never touch. Milk is trucked to the plant and goes in one end of the production line and packaged cheese comes out the other. How dreary is that?
The cheeses I write about aren’t made like that, but they aren’t often made by old-time methods either—on a farm, from the raw milk of the family’s flock, with hands cutting the curd and flipping the wheels and humans making decisions at every step. The exceptional new Spanish cheese pictured above is an example of the distinction a cheese can achieve when made the hands-on, purist way.
Read moreSuperstar New Cheeses from Europe
“How many cheeses do you have to eat to become a cheese expert?” someone asked me recently. As if there’s a checklist. I’m not counting, but I did add several remarkable new cheeses to my life list last week. I led a tasting of “New Arrivals from Europe,” including the beauty pictured above, and I was blown away by these newcomers.
Read moreNew Kid on the Block
Does the world need another truffled cheese? Well, maybe this one. It’s Spanish, from goat’s milk, and new on the scene—just in time to add some love to your Valentine’s cheese board. Try it shaved—it feels like a silk handkerchief. Grate it for fondue, happy hour panini or asparagus risotto. A truffled cheese omelet speaks to me, needless to say. Truffles, bubbles and cheese—that’s my love language.
Read moreNew Year, New Ewe Cheese
Fresh sheep cheese wasn’t even a thing a decade ago. Now we have options, including this newcomer from Spain. Like a buttery cream cheese, it’s all ready to schmear on your morning bagel. Or marinate with extra virgin olive oil and garlic confit for wine o’clock. To savor this cheese at its most seductive, warm it until it quivers.
Read moreSpain’s Best Goat Cheese?
If Manchego isn’t Spain’s top-selling cheese by a large margin, I’d be surprised. We all know Manchego. It’s a dependable—and often exceptional—aged sheep cheese. But Spain has a much bigger story to tell. Its goat cheeses, fresh and aged, can stand up to Europe’s best, but they don’t get much shelf space in American cheese shops. One of my favorite Spanish goat cheeses, I was pleased to learn, is also the favorite of Spanish cheese authority Enric Canut ,who told me years ago in an interview that he thought it was his country’s finest.
Read moreValue Proposition
We’ve all read about the soaring cost of shipping, both by sea and by air. Brace yourself for the inevitable price hikes on imported cheese. One retailer complained to me that he can barely keep up with the constant alterations he needs to make to his signage. Given these times, I was jubilant to find a favorite Spanish cheese recently at just over $20 a pound. Ironically, a few days later, I received a sample of a new American cheese retailing for $70 a pound. What can possibly explain such a price spread?
Read moreSpanish Aristocrat
This stunning Spanish sheep cheese is worth the hunt, even without knowing its cinematic back story. I’d certainly place it among the most captivating cheeses I’ve tasted in many months, with aromas and flavors all its own. It tastes nothing like Manchego or any of the Basque sheep cheeses. Made on an estate where sheep have grazed since the 13th century, the cheese owes its origin, in part, to an American fashion model who spied for the OSS in World War II and married a Spanish count. As the importer says, you couldn’t make this stuff up.
Read moreYour Rosé Cheese Tray
Rosé sales are soaring, and I certainly have something to do with that. On warm summer nights, when the sun doesn’t set until we’re well into dinner, it’s the wine I want. U.S. sales volume for rosé climbed 1433% (you read that right) between 2010 and 2020, according to data from bw166, a market research firm. Some attribute this phenomenal spike to the rise of Instagram. What’s prettier than pink wine? Well, pink wine with a cheese board, if you ask me.
Read more