Anthony. Martha. Pete. Patrick. Casey. Aimee. Within hours of beginning my research, I knew two things for sure. One: the Brandywine Valley/southeastern PA is home to more cheese artisans and aficionados (addicts?) than I’d imagined. Two: they’re all on a first-name basis.

  This wasn’t always so. In early 2000, Anthony Vietri, owner of Va La Vineyards in Avondale, set out to find local cheese he could pair with his wines: “I would literally act like a private eye — going to towns where I heard someone was making good cheese and asking around. All I found was a farmer-style cheese with no personal touch.” Eight months later at Highland Farm, Martha and Jerry Pisano got word of Vietri’s detective work, so they winged over to Va La and bestowed their bundle of 15 types of cheese on a grateful Anthony.

The Cheese Network

  Since then, a network of cheese artisans and local epicures has emerged. They dine at each other’s tables and swap ideas. An entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for high-quality “slow” food bind them to one another.

  They also share a reverence for farm life, which many trace back to their youth. Pete Demchur, owner of Shellbark Hollow Farm in West Chester, began by helping his sister with her goat herd in the 1970s. Martha Pisano’s parents owned a farm in Coatesville. When she married her husband Jerry, who shared her love of county life, they literally bought the farm.

  Growing up in Monmouth County, NJ, Patrick Feury, co-owner and executive chef of Maia Restaurant and Market in Villanova, participated in 4-H and raised sheep. Training with European chefs, he observed their relentless pursuit of the finest ingredients, a search that frequently landed them at local farms.

  These early experiences translated into a respect for animals and nature’s rhythms. Pete Demchur’s small herd of Nubian goats sups on protein-rich Western alfalfa and grass in his pastures. Cow farmers that Casey Spacht manages at Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative reject tail-docking (removal of the tail so it doesn’t interfere with milking). Also, because the cows graze on grass to which their bodies are naturally suited, they are healthier than their grain-fed counterparts, as readers of the locavore’s bible Omnivore’s Dilemma know well.

  I learned so much about the people I interviewed because the same slow food sensibility behind their cheese making and cooking informs their conversations. While I was prepared to ask my questions quickly and leave them to their rennet-adding or flavor-adjusting, they were in no rush. We whiled away the hours chatting and enjoying their handiwork.

Terroir of Local Cheese

  When I asked Casey Spacht of Lancaster Farm Fresh how a local cheddar compares to one from another region, he couldn’t answer: “I don’t know. I don’t eat cheese from other places.” He likes supporting the local economy and knowing the source of his food. Besides, foraging close to home yields delicious results.

  Local cheese embodies an area’s unique terroir. “Terroir,” French for “a sense of place,” is the subtle tastes imparted to milk, wine, etc. by the soil from which they were created. Equally compelling, a cheese’s flavor loses intensity when it travels.

  Pete Demchur’s chèvre moves fast (only days from milk to distribution), but it does not travel far. Demand for Shellbark Hollow milk products is so great locally — by restaurants, wineries, and markets — that Demchur sleeps only a few hours each night. His chèvre biscuits (12-ounce rounds), sharp chèvre and spreads in flavors such as Peppercorn Melange, elicit high praise. Aimee Olexy, co-owner of Talula’s Table in Kennett Square, treasures the chèvre’s “bright, citrusy notes.”

  The tale of Demchur’s cheese begins with a few Nubian goats and unfolds to include scores of friends sporting adventurous palates. For five years, Demchur handed his buddies samples of his cheese along with a questionnaire. The deal: trade in the completed questionnaire for more cheese. Finally, in 2002, while keeping his day job, he began to produce. Never one to rest for long, Demchur is tinkering with some new cheeses. (Stay tuned to find out the latest.) A true artisan, he doesn’t want Shellbark Hollow to become a large company. His simple desire: to make cheese full time.

  At Highland Farm in Gum Tree outside Coatesville, Martha and Jerry Pisano milk their East Friesland sheep from spring through fall to create an astounding array of cheese. “Astounding” not only because the quality is so fine but because the Pisanos work full time — she runs a commercial cleaning company, and he an excavating business. Their creamy, French-style feta sells well as do their pecorino-romano, Basque-style manchego, camembert and brebis (similar to chèvre but made with sheep’s milk). The couple plans to add other types of cheese, including blue, to their repertoire.

  With the hum of the pasteurizer in the background, Martha tutors me in the benefits of sheep’s milk cheese. Not only does sheep milk contain twice the proteins and minerals of cow and goat milk, but those who suffer from lactose intolerance may digest it easily.

Best in Taste

  Making appearances all over our region is PA Noble Cheddar, a not-too-sharp cow’s milk cheddar formerly produced by Green Valley Dairy and now produced by Wakefield Dairy. Maia’s Patrick Feury considers PA Noble as fine as any Irish cheddar. He should know: his uncle runs the family dairy farm back in Limerick. At Maia, Feury features PA Noble on the four cheese pizza as well as the cheese plate.

  Sue Miller and her family at Birchrun Hills Farm in Birchrunville turn out Birchrun Blue, a raw milk, creamy blue, whose earthy, nutty flavor puts Talula’s Aimee Olexy in mind of an old-style Burgundy blue. Miller also creates Highland Alpine, a gruyere-style cheese. Olexy attributes the lovely balance of Birchrun cheeses to the careful thought Miller put into building her herd of Holstein cows.

  Ayrshire cows and an artisan’s touch are the reasons Hendricks Farms’ award-winning cheeses disappear so quickly. In Telford, Trent Hendricks and a small crew create between a dozen and two types of cheese depending on the season. From the semi-soft Telford Tomme Reserve with hints of caramelized onion and mushroom (say “terroir”!) to the whimsically named Dirty Laundry (a semi-soft cheese with a strong blue flavor), Hendricks offers a cheese for every palate. “We take our mission seriously, but not ourselves, so come on in!” says their website, and the invitation is genuine. After you shop, inquire about a tour of the facility.

  There are many sources for finding artisanal cheese. To discover other local cheeses, check pacheese.org.

From Farm to Table

  Unlike Hendricks, most farms do not have stores attached. However, wineries such as Va La in Avondale and Kreutz Creek Vineyards in West Grove sell the cheeses they serve with their wines. Of course, farmers markets and cooperatives as well as restaurants are other great sources.

  Two restaurants, Talula’s Table and Maia, offer something for cheese lovers at every stage of commitment. In Talula’s market section, nibblers can request a cheese plate (ask for Demchur’s and Pisanos’ cheeses), sample “cheese babies,” or drop in for a cheese and wine happy hour one Sunday each month from 4-6 pm. (Call first.) Fromage devotees revel in the cheese plate served with every tasting menu. At Maia, Feury serves a cheese plate with PA Noble cheddar and Shellbark Hollow chèvre, and eager diners find reasonably priced local cheese at the Maia Market.

  At times, cheese artisans and connoisseurs collaborate with delectable results. Feury uses Pete Demchur’s goat milk to make his own mozzarella. When Va La’s Anthony Vietri wanted a softer, younger pecorino, he asked Martha Pisano to make the change. She did, and his Barbera has been singing ever since. Likewise, Bryan Sikora, Talula’s chef and Olexy’s husband, tweaked some of Pisano’s manchego. He smokes it in his smoker, she ages it, and everyone’s happy.

  “Goats don’t take holidays,” quips Pete Demchur as we lean against a fence watching his baby Nubians cavort. No, there’s nothing easy about the life of an artisan cheese maker, yet Demchur and his comrades exude contentment as if long hours and demanding work energize rather than deplete them. Driving away from Shellbark Hollow, my bag of flavored chèvres at my side, I wonder at their commitment to this life. As if in explanation, the words of the late Katharine Graham come to mind: “To do what you love and feel that it matters — how could anything be more fun?”
-CL-

Local Cheese & Local Wine Pairings

We asked local vintners to recommend a wine to pair with local cheese. Here are their top picks. We suggest you try them all!

PA Noble Cheddar .... Paradocx Vineyard’s Sangiovese 2005

Highland Farm Manchego .... Kreutz Creek Vineyards’ Chardonnay

Highland Farm French-style feta .... Penns Woods Winery’s White Merlot 2006

Shellbark Hollow Sharp Chèvre .... Va La Vineyards’ Zafferano

Birchrunville Blue .... Chadds Ford Winery’s Due Rossi

Hendricks Telford Tomme Reserve .... Black Walnut Winery’s Pinot Grigio

Shellbark Hollow Peppercorn Melange Chèvre Spread .... Twin Brook Winery's Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Hendricks Farms Dirty Laundry .... J. Maki Winery's Viognier 2006