I’m continually amazed at how much Blue cheese we sell in our cheese market. Of course, paired with full, rich, red wines or a port, it’s a winner. No other cheese type has grown in numbers like Blue; it used to be one of the least-popular cheese styles and now it’s probably the most popular overall.
When I started the cheese market at Lavender Ridge Vineyard several years ago, we had only one Blue to sell. It was Point Reyes Original Blue, a farmstead, raw-milk Blue cheese from the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. in Marin County that’s aged six months. It was the only California artisan Blue cheese at that time. It achieved acceptance very quickly because it was so tasty and versatile. It was made in the style of Maytag Blue from Iowa, which had become the Blue cheese standard in the American cheese world until Point Reyes Original arrived. Yes, it was actually made by the Maytag appliance company, which started at a family farm in Newton, Iowa. One member of the family made a Blue cheese on the farm and called it Maytag Blue. It attracted lots of cheeselover attention, but was very hard to find and buy. Originally it was available only in whole wheels. Gourmet Magazine advertised it in the 1960s for mail order purchase. However, great cheeses “stand alone” and speak for themselves, and soon it was available in cheese shops for sale by the slice. I remember the thrill of getting it directly from the Maytag Farm.
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