WINNIMERE
MILK TYPE: Raw Cow Milk
STYLE: Bark-Wrapped Washed Rind
MILK SOURCE: Jasper Hill Farm’s Andersonville Herd
FORMAT: 13 oz Wheel
AFFINAGE: 60 Days
TYPICAL PROFILE: Sweet Cream, Bacon, Custard, and Spruce
THE STORY
WINNIMERE is a take on Jura Mountain classics like Vacherin Mont d’Or or Försterkäse. In keeping with tradition, this decadent cheese is made only during winter months when Jasper Hill’s Ayrshire cows are giving rich, hay-fed raw milk. Winnimere is named for the corner of Caspian Lake where the Kehlers’ grandfather had an ice fishing shack.
SENSORY
Young cheeses are wrapped in strips of spruce cambium, the tree’s flexible inner bark layer, harvested from Jasper Hill Farm’s woodlands. During aging, the cheese is washed in a cultured salt brine to help even rind development. At 60 days, this cheese is spoonably soft and tastes of bacon, sweet cream, and spruce.
PAIRING AND SERVICE — Winnimere is best enjoyed by peeling a way a bit of the top rind and diving in with spoon and some friends. If portioning for retail, an effort should be made to sell the remainder of the wheel before day’s end. Pair with a smoky, meaty red wine or porter-style beer alongside some Vermont whey-fed bacon.
Winner of American Cheese Society's 'Best in Show' Award, 2013
