Thistle Hill Tarentaise

Alpine cheeses are often among the world’s wondrously complex. Well aged, well balanced, with a depth of flavor that in the best varieties is downright profound.

Think of the first time you tasted a really well made Gruyère, for example. That’s what I’m talking about – that swirly mass of concentrated dairy flavors, so rich and refined all at once.

In the United States, it’s been somewhat difficult for artisanal cheesemakers to emulate the great Alpine cheeses, because so much of what contributes to them is unique to their home regions. American cows just don’t eat the same as European cows, so their milks taste different. Alpine grass does not grow alongside the interstate, you know.

Against the odds, then, the folks Thistle Hill Farm, in rural Vermont, are demonstrating that world-class Alpine cheese can be made in the US of A. Of course, they go to great lengths to do so.

For starters, their equipment comes direct from Switzerland -- the only copper cheesemaking vats in Vermont. The cultures used to mature curds into cheese are off the boat from France. And every other step of the process is as traditional as possible, including the way their herd of Jersey cows just wander around eating mountain grass.

Oh sure, it's not the Savoie. But Thistle Hill's careful, traditional methods yield an incredible cheese called Tarentaise.

It's a Beaufort-style cheese. It's dense and smooth, not overly sharp but with a multi-layered flavor that ambles from nutty to caramel to cream. Like the great French mountain cheeses, it has a terroir all its own. And you owe it to yourself to try it.

Thistle Hill Farm web site: click here.