No 1 Leckford – The Farm’s Sparkling English Wine Washed the Rind of this Soft Cream Cheese.

French cheese makers have an established tradition for making rind washed semi cream cheeses. Will Torrent, Waitrose supermarket’s Senior Brand Development Chef had the vision to have a similar cheese with the rind’s washed in their own Leckford Estate Brut, made with grapes grown on the Waitrose vineyard on their Leckford farm in Hampshire. Laurence Civil discovers how he worked for 2 years with their cheesemaker Rose Grimmond of Nettlebed Creamery in Henley-on-Thames.

The journey begins when Will and his team visited Rose for a review of cheeses she was making for them. During an impromptu big lunch, she served with a wide variety of cheese pairings conversion led to Will’s idea of creating a unique sparkling wine washed rind soft cream cheese exclusively for the supermarket.

So how do they make the cheese?

“We are an organic farm with a herd of 130 mixed bred Holstein Friesians, Swedish Red and Montbeliardes cows,” says Rose. “The morning milking arrives at the creamery around 7.30am. Its heated and the starters are added, making the milk into a gel of curds and whey. The animal rennet is then added, that’s why the cheese isn’t classified as vegetarian.

“We are an organic farm with a herd of 130 mixed bred Holstein Friesians, Swedish Red and Montbeliardes cows,” says Rose. “The morning milking arrives at the creamery around 7.30am. Its heated and the starters are added, making the milk into a gel of curds and whey. The animal rennet is then added, that’s why the cheese isn’t classified as vegetarian.”

Being a small creamery, the affinage – French word for cheese ageing, is done in house. Larger creamery normally outsources the function, but doing so loosens control of their brand product.  While it’s still curds and way its ladled into the moulds they bought specially from France. “

“Being a small creamery, the affinage – French word for cheese ageing, is done in house,” she says. “Larger creamery normally outsources the function, but doing so loosens control of their brand product.  While it’s still curds and way its ladled into the moulds they bought specially from France. “

“The curds and whey naturally develop into cheese,” she says. “Each of the 150 gramms cheese rounds are hand washed for a total of five times before being packed, labelled and boxed ready to be shipped to Waitrose.”

“A noticeable characteristic of the cheese at room temperature is its smell, “she adds. “Don’t let that put you off, what lingers on the nose isn’t in the taste.”

Bring the cheese out of the fridge a couple of hours before serving. Cutting into the round, the perfectly formed skin wrapped around the cheese is as thin as paper. The cheese segment sat neatly together on my plate. It has a soft and richly creamy tastes, perfectly paired with the chilled glass of Leckford Estate Brut.

It’s now time to enjoy the Leckford cheese and wine experience.