Vintage Year for UK Cheddar

Farmhouse Cheddar from Mary Quicke's Dairy in Devon

The Times reports that 2005 was a vintage year for dairying in the West Country of England, in Somerset, Devon, Dorset and Cornwall. The West Country is renowned for its farmhouse cheddars, and last spring saw perfect weather conditions in that area. The air was warm and humid, and the pastures green and lush. The youngest cheddars are aged for 9 months, so we should start seeing these cheeses soon.

UPDATE: I submitted a customer service inquiry at Artisanal to see if they have any of these 2005 cheddars, and here is their response:

At this moment, we are carrying Keen's cheddar of the late winter and
Montgomery's cheddar of the mid spring (feb and may respectively). Both
are from sommerset and the finest examples available, here or in
England. However, seasonality is not as dominating a factor as you may
think with this type of cheese. I find English cheddars and these two
especially, fine to enjoy all year long but certain others, like Reed's
cheddar (from Scotland's Isle Of Mull) better suited to my tastes in the
winter or Lincolnshire poacher (of Lincolnshire along the eastern edge
of England) lovely in the spring.

Spread the curd.

Alex Garcia
Cave Manager