Winslade

Best known for the Camembert-style Tunworth, Hampshire Cheese Company developed a second cheese in 2013, which has gone on to be almost as popular as its older sibling. Named after a local hamlet, Winslade is a soft mould-ripened cheese, which is a cross between Camembert and Mont d’Or.

The cheese is made with pasteurised milk from a single herd of Montbeliarde, Swedish Red and Holstein-Freisian cows, based at Rotherfield Park close to the dairy in Herriard, Basingstoke. The milk is coagulated with vegetarian rennet and the curd is cut into small pieces, which are hand ladled into moulds where they drain overnight. The cheeses are demoulded and dry salted, before being wrapped in a spruce collar and aged for around eight weeks, during which time Penicillium candidum and Geotrichum candidum grows on the rind.

Winslade is milder than Tunworth with a soft and silky texture beneath the thin rind and an earthy and floral flavour, plus pine notes from the spruce band.

Like Tunworth, Winslade is great for baking. Cut small holes in the top, sprinkle with white wine and push twigs of rosemary inside. Then bake until runny and serve with new potatoes and cornichons for dipping. A buttery oaked Chardonnay is a good match or try Vin Jaune – a nutty oxidative wine from France’s Jura mountains, which is a traditional match for Mont d’Or.