Headed up by Perry Wakeman multi-award winning affineur, international judge and Garde de jure (Protector of the cheese) whilst at the French Embassy. He and his team have put together a varied option of cheese to grace any Christmas table.
Rachel
Rachel is a modern, British, washed-rind goats' milk cheese, made in Somerset by Whitelake. A pilant texture with an astonishing mouthfeel, chewy bite, but high moisture content allowing a mineral flavour to develop with a mellifluous nutty sweetness.
Baron Bigod
Baron Bigod is the cheese I reach for when someone asks whether Britain can stand toe-to-toe with Brie de Meaux. Made by Jonny Crickmore and his team at Fen Farm Dairy in Bungay, Suffolk, from the pasteurised morning milk of their Montbéliarde cows, it won Silver at the World Cheese Awards and is one of the finest soft cheeses these isles produce.
The recipe came from a French cheesemaker and the method still follows it closely. Warm milk is gravity-fed into small vats just metres from the milking parlour, set with traditional rennet, and the young cheeses are matured for up to eight weeks in a cave-like room. What you get is a golden, silky paste that breaks down from the rind inwards over a fresh, citrusy core.
Expect rich cream butter and earthy button mushrooms up front, with a caramelised note of pan-roasted parsnip on the finish.
Driftwood
Driftwood’s texture is dense and satisfyingly gummy when young, tasting freshly citrus with the aroma of warmed milk. As it ages, under its Geotrichum coat - reminiscent of spent charcoal, the texture becomes more mousse-like and silky, wielding more subtle complex flavours of rice wine vinegar, pepper, and rye.
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
The story of Sparkenhoe Red Leicester starts with its maker, David Clarke, who had been bemoaning the lack of quality Red Leicester cheeses. His friends challenge him to use his own milk to make one, and the result is a flaky yet silky cheese with a strong savoury cauldron of nutty, smooth and rich flavours.
Aged for 22-24 months to develop a powerful vintage profile and deep russet red appearance, Sparkenhoe Red Leicester has the distinction of being the only unpasteurised Red Leicester cheese in existence. Having it untreated is what gives it an entirely new level of moreish-ness, and its full-flavoured profile is made all the more satisfying with an open texture that settles between chewy and moist. Small wonder this cheese won ‘Best Territorial Cheese’ at the British Artisan Cheese Awards in 2023.
Westcombe Cheddar
Westcombe Cheddar has a deep complex flavour with a mellow lactic tang and long notes of citrus, hazelnut and caramel. The texture is structured and firm, with a smooth breakdown that keeps the flavours lingering on your palate. Westcombe Cheddar is often called a 'five-mile Cheddar', as you're still tasting it five miles down the road!
Cropwell Bishop Stilton
Cropwell Bishop’s Stilton is an award-winning Stilton and one of the finest classic blue cheeses in the world. It is still handmade by three generations of the Skailes family in the beautiful Vale of Belvoir. If you want the essence of British blue stilton at its peak, Cropwell Bishop Stilton embodies this wholly.
Crowned Supreme Champion at the 2016 British Cheese Awards, Cropwell Bishop Stilton’s appearance is an immediate dazzler, with a creamy ivory interior and blue tributaries flowing out to the rind like cracked porcelain. Melting in the mouth with a velvety-soft creamy texture, this stilton dances on the palate with an exquisitely spicy tang and a long-lasting finish you’ll be glad sticks around.
