Released just once a year, this award-winning organic blue cheese has a dense, creamy texture with a rich blue mould flavour and subtle hints of brandy, fruit and autumn pastures.
Oregon’s Rogue Creamery is recognised as one of the most innovative artisan dairies in North America. B Corp and USDA organic certified, sustainability is a key part of the process at the farm.
Reserve Blue is hand-made on the farm for only a few weeks each year during the autumn equinox. At this time of year, the creamery’s single herd of Brown Swiss and Holstein cows are at the end of their natural lactation cycle, and the rich concentrated milk is infused with the esters of native grasses, hops, clover, blackberries and wild herbs that grow in the lush grazing pastures beside the Rogue River.
During the long maturation period, the rind is washed which encourages the development of a diverse flora on the rind. After 4 months, each cheese is hand wrapped in local Syrah vine leaves which have been macerated in pear brandy, and left to ripen for a further 6 months. The vine leaves are sourced from the nearby organic Troon Vineyard and hand picked by the dairy team each summer. This intensely laborious process results in a cheese with a complex flavour profile whose arrival is eagerly anticipated each year.