The bite

Learning through taste, terroir and truth.

HERO CHEESE Golden Saye
James Grant James Grant

HERO CHEESE Golden Saye

WHAT’S IN A NAME? THE STORY BEHIND “GOLDEN SAYE”

The name Golden Saye holds the keys to its identity.

“Golden” reflects the cheese’s rich yellow paste, the natural result of Guernsey milk’s high beta-carotene content.

“Saye” honours Stratfield Saye, where the Duke of Wellington’s pedigree Guernsey herd grazed in the late 1980s. This is where Jake’s Mum and Village Maid founder Anne Wigmore, first experimented with Guernsey milk cheesemaking. Those early experiments eventually led to the creation of Golden Saye.

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Pen Paste & Plain Speaking: Patrick McGuigan On Cheese
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Pen Paste & Plain Speaking: Patrick McGuigan On Cheese

Patrick’s been writing about cheese for close to two decades. He’s a World Cheese Awards judge. He’s got that rare journalist’s gift: he can celebrate the joy of cheese without losing sight of the tension underneath it. And he’s just co-written a new book with Carlos Yescas, One Cheese to Rule Them All, a title that’s playful on the surface, but actually points straight to the big question at the heart of modern cheese.

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CORK & CURD Tavo Pinot Grigio
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CORK & CURD Tavo Pinot Grigio

This is not your average Pinot Grigio from the Veneto. It is a varietally true example of this often misunderstood grape. A member of the extended Pinot family of grape varieties, Pinot Gris (Grigio) is a pink-skinned mutation of Pinot Noir. The two grape varieties are indistinguishable in the vineyard right up until veraison.

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HERO CHEESE: Yoredale
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HERO CHEESE: Yoredale

From Finance to Farmhouse: The Curlew Dairy Story. This month we meet Ben Spence of Curlew Dairy, the maker reviving raw-milk Wensleydale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. His cheese, Yoredale, is lactic, buttery and bright, capturing the true flavour of place and the quiet craft of real farmhouse cheesemaking.

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HERO CHEESE: Doddington
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HERO CHEESE: Doddington

Few dairies capture the quiet integrity of British farmhouse cheesemaking quite like Doddington Dairy. Set in the rolling pastures of Northumberland, it stands as a model of how tradition and sustainability can coexist, a place where the rhythm of the land still shapes what ends up on the table.

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FLAVOUR SYNC: Pure & Hazel
James . James .

FLAVOUR SYNC: Pure & Hazel

The Real Cheese Project caught up with chocolatier Fritz Schwartz of Pure & Hazel between markets and mould-polishing to talk about his newest creation for our November Cheese Crowd - The Bite: an apple strudel–hearted chocolate designed to sit alongside Doddington, this month’s hero cheese.

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CORK & CURD: The Francophile
James . James .

CORK & CURD: The Francophile

The Francophile Syrah is grown and produced at De Morgenzon in Stellenbosch. De Morgenzon translates from Africaans as ‘The Morning Sun’. This was the name granted to the farm by Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel in 1699 because the altitude and the orientation means that this estate is the first property in Stellenboschkloof to benefit from the sun’s early morning rays. 

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INTERVIEW: Katherine Dart MW
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INTERVIEW: Katherine Dart MW

The Bite sits down with Master of Wine Katherine Dart to explore what happens when the right cheese meets the right wine. From Wensleydale to Pinot Grigio to Rosé and Stilton, this is a story of curiosity, craftmanship, and community.

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CHEESE CHAT Jake Goldstein
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CHEESE CHAT Jake Goldstein

If you’ve ever launched a food business at the “silly” end of the year, you’ll know the mix of adrenaline and mild chaos Jake is living on right now. Primrose Creamery is new, the make room still smells of fresh paint, and the recipes are moving from bench-top trials to proper batches. But inside that newness is an old-school idea: cheeses that change with the milk, with the weather, with the day. As Jake puts it, “a winemaker has a vintage every year; a cheesemaker has a vintage every day.” It’s the north star for Primrose, listen to the milk, make what the milk wants, and let the seasons be visible in the rind.

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INTRODUCING: Pencw Cheese - Jemima Blue
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INTRODUCING: Pencw Cheese - Jemima Blue

Penrhiw Organic Farm sits high above Fishguard, where sea air brushes the hedgerows and herbal leys ripple across soft Welsh hills. Alan and his partner are building a new kind of dairy: small, organic, and guided by low-stress, high-welfare principles. Their herd of Jerseys and Jersey-crosses is milked once a day, soon to be kept with calves at foot, a system designed for happier cows, healthier milk, and exceptional cheese.

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HERO CHEESE: Young Buck
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HERO CHEESE: Young Buck

A new generation of cheesemakers is reshaping Britain and Ireland’s cheese landscape blending heritage with bold innovation. Meet Mike Thomson, the “accidental cheesemaker” behind Young Buck, the raw milk blue that put Northern Ireland back on the cheese map.

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HERO CHEESE: Saval
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HERO CHEESE: Saval

Artisan cheese is living heritage, with traditions and techniques passed down and adapted through generations.

At Glynhynod Farm in West Wales, Robert Savage of Caws Teifi continues that story with Saval, the UK’s first semi-hard washed rind cheese.

A tale of legacy, adaptation and real cheese crafted from the soil up.

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CHEESE TRAVELS: Pick & Cheese, Berlin
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CHEESE TRAVELS: Pick & Cheese, Berlin

Having opened the world’s first cheese conveyor belt restaurant in 2019, when Pick & cheese London took its place at the heart of Seven Dials Market, cheese-centric restaurateur, Mathew Carver has now exported the concept to Germany.

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