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 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 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 moreSix Cabernet All-Stars
I’m vaguely aware that my husband, Doug, maintains a list of cheeses that go well with Cabernet Sauvignon. You might imagine that I would be the one with that list, but no, he’s the go-to source. He’s the winemaker, after all.
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