This Week's Tasting: December 27, 2016

Every week at Dairymaids we select six cheeses to include in our free cheese tasting. Whenever we are open, we are tasting cheese. We stock over 150 cheeses, so if these 6 don’t please you, we will find you the cheeses that do.

This week's cheese are:

Kunik, from Nettel Meadows in New York, is a unique and indulgent triple crème cheese made from a blend of goat's milk and Jersey cow cream. The goat's milk gives this brie its piquant flavor while the Jersey cream creates a rich mouthfeel.

Willoughby is a washed-rind version of Moses Sleeper, a double-cream brie from Jasper Hill Cellars in Vermont. The washing gives the mild, creamy brie some subtle nutty and meaty notes.

Gruyère 1655, from Le Crêt in Switzerland, is a raw-milk alpine style cheese, aged at least one year. 1655's producers use a salt from a source that is 200 million years old. The cows graze on mountainside pastures, giving the cheese a unique earthy flavor. Its paste is the color of butterscotch, and its texture is firm, dense and slightly flaky. 

Based on the traditional recipe for Duckett's Caerphilly, Landaff is a subtle, buttery.  raw, cow's milk cheese with a natural rind. It is smooth and meltable, with bright lemony flavors. Made at the Landaff Creamery in New Hampshire, it ages in the Cellars at Jasper Hill in Vermont.

Caprino Royale, in Waco, Texas, uses their farmstead goat's milk to make San Isidro, a Garrotxa-style aged cheese. Thanks to its natural rind, San Isidro has a smooth texture and sweet, complex flavor. 

The innovative guys at the Rogue Creamery in Oregon wrap their Rogue River Blue with grape leaves from nearby Carpenter Hill Vineyards that have been soaked with Clear Creek Pear Brandy. The leaves keep the cheese moist and creamy, while imparting a flavor both sweet and woodsy. Rogue River Blue is seasonal. Look for it in the fall and winter.

This week's wine pairing is Ammonite, from Alexandre Monmousseau in France. It is a refreshing, dry, Rosé Brut with hints of strawberry. We are also sampling Bartlett Pear Preserves from American Spoon in Michigan.