This Week's Tasting: March 13, 2017

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:

The folks at Sweet Grass Dairy believe great cheese comes from fresh grass and happy cows. On their sustainable farm in Thomasville, Georgia they pasture feed their Jersey cows to get the milk which makes Green Hill, this incomparably smooth brie-style cheese. The rind is thin and the paste is creamy and rich. Arguably America's best Camembert.

Coupole is a decadent, frest goat's milk cheese made by the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company. It looks like a small, snow-covered dome, hence its name. Beneath the wrinkly exterior, the paste has a dense texture and fresh, goat milk-y flavor.

Toma is a unique farmstead table cheese from the Pt. Reyes cheese company in California. It has a natural rind and a smooth, semi-firm, cow's milk paste. The flavor is buttery with a hint of grass and tang to the finish. Toma is perfect for snacking or melting into your favorite dish.  

From the Mozzarella Company in Dallas, Texas, Queso Chihuahua with Pimentos was originally made in Northern Mexico by Mennonite farmers. It is mild and buttery, a great table cheese and melting cheese as well. 

Husband and wife, Juan Carlos and Maria Carmen make Quesuco Ahumado de Leibana, a smoked cow’s milk cheese, in the Picos de Europa in Cantabria, a famous cheesemaking region of Spain. The small wheels of Quesuco are smoked for 24-36 hours on juniper wood,which gives  a wonderfully subtle smoky flavor to the buttery, smooth cheese. 

Cashel Blue is a natural-rinded, cow's milk farmstead cheese from the Grubb Family Farm in Tipperary County, Ireland. Full of character, but not overly strong. Cashel Blue impresses with its rich, creamy texture and tangy blue flavor. 

Our wine of the week is a Sangiovese from McPherson Cellars in Lubbock, Texas . It is a rich red with notes of licorice, cola, and delicate oak.

Our pairing this week is Mesquite Honey from Big Creek Farms in Texas.