Abbaye De Belloc

Raw Sheep | Aged 6+ Months

Made By Benedictine monks in the Mountains of Aquitaine

One of our personal favorite Pyrenees mountain sheep's milk cheese. Creamy, buttery, nutty and fun.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Petit Agour, Etorki, Istara, Malvarosa, Pastore

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $22.00 per pound

Brebirousse de Argental

Pasteurized Sheep | Aged 30 Days.

Made in cooperatives in the South West of France.

Brebirousse is a rare soft sheep cheese. Don't let the red crust fool you this is not a washed rind, but the flavor is still full and funky. The first thought when this one hits your tongue is cream cheese. It has a thick, gummy texture and a rich backbone balanced by lactic tang. Wait one second and the flavor will devolop into an hearty animaly punch.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Brebiou, Nevat

Pairings: Local Reds and Whites (Bergerac sec anyone?) Champagne, Pilsners

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $20.00 per pound

Fiore Sardo

Raw Sheep | Aged 8-12 Months

Made by Pinna Fromaggi, Sardinia

The Pinna family represents a number of small farmers in Sardinia. They insist on traditional lamb's rennet, which helps contribute to the funky flavor. The cheeses are selected at 4 months, and brought to the central facility for further curing and smoking. It's smoked over slow burning heather for almost a month. The smoke flavor is subtle and integrated into the flavor well. The cheese has almost a powdery texture, and a funky spicy quality with spare notes of herbs, and of course, the smoke.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Other Pecorinos, Idiazabal

Pairings: Pale Ale, Bourbon, Sardinian Reds

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $16.00 per pound

Hudson Valley Camembert

Pasteurized Cow and East Friesian Sheep | Aged 30 days.

Made by Old Chatham Sheephearding Co. in Old Chatham, NY. Owners Tom and Nancy Clark.

Playing fast and loose with the names of great French cheese will get you everywhere in America. In this case it helped Tom and Nancy grow from a flock of 115 sheep to well over a thousand. The only thing this cheese has in common with its namesake is a bloomy rind, but it is delicious all the same. The small square shape insures quick ripening, so the paste is always soft. The flavor is salty and lactic, with a long sweet finish that alternates between lush cream and rich sheep, and carries an overtone of mold.

Rennet: Vegitarian

Related Cheese: Brebirousse de Argental, Kunik

Pairings: Champagne or hard cider.

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $8.50 per pound

Idiazabal

Raw Sheep | Aged 4-12 months

Made ay Izar-Gatza in Navarre, Spain

Idiazabal deviates from Roncal (the mother of all Spanish sheep cheese.) somewhere in the mist shrouded shoals of time. When the sheepherds were in the high pasturage they made cheese, but couldn’t bring it back to their caves at home. Instead they'd be forced to store it in their cramped huts, where their cooking fires would smoke the cheese. Now they make Idiazabal year round in larger facilities. Our brand is smoked over hickory and cherry wood. The smoke flavor is pleasant, and definately not overwhelmig. The sheepy, lanolin notes still shine through. By the way, it's pronounced id-ee-ah-zah-ball or id-ee-atha-ball, depending in how Spanish/pretencious you are.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Roncal, Zamorano, Fiore Sardo, Manchego

Pairings: Dark Lagers, Southwestern French Reds, Zynfandel, Bandol.

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $18.00 per pound

La Serena

Raw Sheep's Milk | Aged 3-4 Months

Made in Extramadura, Spain

The best of the Spanish thistle rennet cheeses. In the wilds on the border of Spain and Portugal, rennet wasn't always available. Fortunately the only natural vegetable rennet in the world grows there in abundance, the cardoon thistle. The thistle leaves a strong imprint on the cheeses: a soft almost liquid texture and a strange bitter/sour note. In the case of La Serena, the texture is definately melt in your mouth and the flavor is salty with slightly citric bitterness, almost like lime leaves.

Rennet: Vegetarian (thistle)

Related Cheese: Torta Del Casar, Sierra de La Estrella

Pairings: Cava, Saison, Madiera, Gin

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $20.00 per pound

Lamb Chopper

Pasteurized Sheep | Aged 1 Year

Made in Holland

Lamb Chopper is a joint project between Cypress Grove Chevre, and a small dutch dairy. Cypress brings the marketing power, and the Dutch bring the sheepy goodness. Lamb Chopper is a no fail crowd pleasin' cheese. It's a rare non-cow cooked curd, which combines the rich undertones of sheep's milk with a faint piquancy, and tight texture.

Rennet: Vegitarian

Related Cheese: Midnight Moon, Marieke Gouda, Wilde Wide

Pairings: Beer of any sort, Alsatian and German wines both red and white. Gin.

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $20.00 per pound

Manchego

Raw Sheep's Milk | Aged 1 year

Produced for Mitica, in Central Spain.

Manchego is the most well known and popular of the Iberican cheeses. Because of high demand and production, much of the Manchego out there is of inferior quality. That’s a shame, because Manchego can be a fantastic cheese, given proper aging, and quality production. Our Manchego is extra aged, with a dry paste and is salty, slightly sharp, and has a nice grassy/floral note.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Pecorinos, Zamorano, Petit Agour

Pairings: Red wine of any sort, Dark Lager, Gin and Vodka

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $17.00 per pound

Pastore

Pasteurized Sheep's Milk | Aged 3 months and up

Produced by the Fulvi family 20 miles North of Rome

Pastore is the table cheese made by our fine Pecorino Romano producer. Pastore is relatively young and mild, but don't let the moist paste fool you. If you let it linger on your tongue, the magic of sheep's milk will fill your mouth with a clean, enchanting richness. It is also excellent melting cheese, try it in all kinds of dishes.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Other Pecorinos, Malvarosa, Abbaye Du Bellocq

Pairings: Red wine of any sort, Dark Lager, Gin and Vodka

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $13.00 per pound

Pecorino Foglia di Noce

Pasteurized Sheep's Milk | Aged 3 months and up

Produced in Ravenna, Italy

Another take on simple sheep cheese, this one is wrapped in walnut leaves during aging. On the pecorino scale, this one is more full flavored. It's slightly peppery, tangy, and robust. The paste is drier and crumblier with small, irregular holes. It's excellent with honey.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Other Pecorinos, Roncal, Petit Agour

Pairings: Red wine of any sort, Dark Lager, Gin and Vodka

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $25.00 per pound

Pecorino Fresco

Pasteurized Sheep's Milk | Aged 14-45 days

Produced by the Putzulu Brothers in Pienza in Tuscany, Italy.

In the old days, Sheep were only milked for a short time in the spring and summer. After their long dormancy, the first spring cheeses, sometimes called Marzolino became a springtime treat. Made with the same recipie as a longer aged pecorino, but aged for a shorter time. The cheese is milky fresh and resplendent with the long, mellow, mouthfilling pleasure of sheep's milk. The texture is classic block cheese, similar to a wet jack, or something of the like.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Other Pecorinos, Malvarosa, Abbaye Du Bellocq

Pairings: Red wine of any sort, Dark Lager, Gin and Vodka

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $18.00 per pound

Pecorino Romano

Pasteurized Sheep's Milk | Aged 1 year plus

Produced By Sini Fulvi 20 miles North of Rome, Italy

This is the last Pecorino Romano actually made on the boot. The rest are made in Sardinia. Most Romano available is almost flavorless; it is simply a dried out salty husk. The Fulvi family's Romano is a burst of awsome saltyness, but it also has a big sheepy note. It adds that rustic, gamey flavor to anything it's grated on, and it makes a great antipasto cheese.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Other Pecorinos, Long Aged Manchego

Pairings: Southern Italian Whites, Dark Lager.

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $12.00 per pound

Robiola A Due Latte

Pasteurized Cow and Sheep |

Made on the border of Lombardy and Piedmont in the Alta Langa, We buy from two producers: Casificio del Alta Langa (Robiola Bosina) and Guffanti.

Italy's answer to Brie. The Due Latte Robiolas have everything Brie's got and then some. The paste is always perfectly ripe, hovering between bulging and runny, with a slightly sour note that gives way to a hearty richness, that's the sheeps milk at work. You'll also note flavors of mushroom and garlic, and a slight funky quality that knocks it up a notch.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Paglia, other Robiola della Alta Langa

Pairings: Barbera, Nebbiolo, Prosecco

$15.00 per piece

Robiola A Tre Latte

Pasteurized Cow, Sheep, and Goat |

Made on the border of Lombardy and Piedmont in the Alta Langa, We buy from two producers, Casificio del Alta Langa (La Tur) and Guffanti

Another variant on the small mountain cheeses of Northern Italy. This behaves almost like a pure goats milk cheese. Under the thin crust there is a racy line of runny, salty, zippy cheese, and a thick, chalky, slightly sour core. The goat's milk adds flavors of barnyard and lemony notes. The cow's milk provides the body and the sour cream note. The sheep's milk shows up in the long lingering finish.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Other Robiola della Alta Langa, St Marcellin, St. Felicien

Pairings: Piedmont, Provencal, and Rhone Whites.

$16.00 per piece

Roncal

Raw Sheep's Milk | Aged 6 months and up

Produced by Punta del Esca, in Navarre, Spain

The ur sheep cheese, this guy has been made the same way, by the same 13 villages, for the last 3000 years. It's a prime example of what sheeps milk is all about with an aroma like buttered popcorn and a nutty, meaty flavor that lingers in the mouth, with only a faint hint of sheep.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Pecorinos, Zamorano, Petit Agour

Pairings: Red wine of any sort, Dark Lager, Gin and Vodka

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $20.00 per pound

Roquefort

Raw Sheep's Milk | Aged 3 months and up.

Made by the concern of Gabriel Coulet, in Rouergue/ Les Causses, France.

Coulet's Roquefort production began in "la petit cave", a small wine celler he dug under his house in 1872. In it, he discovered a fleurine, one of the keys to the caves that make roquefort famous. Coulet is one of a handful of producers that make Roquefort, and one of the three best. Roquefort is easily one of the best cheeses in the world. Its paste is salty, sticky and crumbly; It is both sharp and sweet, with a long sheeps milk finsh and a biting blue mold. You'ld be hard pressed to find stronger cheese or a better finish to a meal.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Point Reyes, Great Hill Blue, Oregon Blue Vein

Pairings: Sauternes or Eisbok

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $29.00 per pound

Zamorano

Raw Churra and Castellana Sheep |

In and around Zamora, Spain.

The only real difference between this guy and his better known cousin Manchego is the place of origin, as both cheeses follow an identical recipie common to the central Spanish plains. However, the predominance of the Churra breed, which gives particularly good milk, and smaller production insure that the quality of Zamorano is generally better than its more commercialized cousins. Look for all of the usual tells of sheep's milk. Nutty and buttery, with a lactic tang, and a long lingering finish with a slight whisp of wool.

Rennet: Animal

Related Cheese: Manchego, Roncal, Castellano, Malvarosa , Ombra

Pairings: Any and All reds, particularly the rustic styles of Southwest France, and Spain. Also Excellent with Sherry.

1/4 LB 1/3 LB 1/2 LB 2/3 LB 3/4 LB 1 LB 2 LB 3 LB 4 LB 5 LB $16.00 per pound