Tell us a bit about yourself?
Joining No2 back in May last year and having our Maturing room (Nick Cave as I call it) open the same time has driven my passion and interests in British Cheese and the science behind how to love and nurture each cheese that comes to our site. With the success of completing AOC Level 1 & 2, this has enabled me to offer the best possible advice to our customers at the shop.
Which cheeses have you chosen to mature?
Quicke’s Cheddar
Why did you enter the competition?
Coming back from this year’s finals James said “Jus – I have entered you for Affineur 2023”. I couldn’t think of a better competition to push myself as a cheesemonger, meet and learn from fellow competitors and to most importantly have FUN!
What is your relationship with affinage to date?
My experience is still very young as is our Cave back at No2. From last year’s comp, it has given us answers to questions we had, but also given us many new questions we want to look into.
How are you approaching the maturation and why have you chosen this approach?
I really wanted to create a story for “Luna” of whom I have named, by using our ethos here at Wendover. Using some very interesting biodynamic wine traits in the astrological world combined with the help of some fantastic British territorial cheese’s I hope to age something very unique and very memorable to the team and me.
What are your expectations for the matured cheeses?
With this year’s cheese being much smaller, I would like to think we can encourage some interesting activity on the rind. Quicke’s cheddar has famously been known for its creamy, buttery, grassy tone and my goal would be to build on this foundation creating something unique.
