Bruce Cole publishes Saute Wednesday in San Francisco


A Year of Cheese

By Bruce Cole - Published 01.15.04

Janet Fletcher - A year of cheese

The San Francisco Chronicle probably has the best wine coverage of any newspaper in the country. Of course, it's conveniently located smack dab in the middle of the biggest wine producing state, which doesn't hurt. And despite our contention that wine and cheese don't necessarily require each other for enjoyment, one of the best things about the Thursday Wine Section in the Chron., is food writer Janet Fletcher's series on cheeses. Weekly for the past year, she has profiled different cheeses from all over the country and the world. It's really quite an astonishing resource, now that we look at it - over 50 articles on over 50 different cheeses. Whew. Now we know our Garottxa from our Gorgonzola, but we've never heard of Abondance, or La Tur, or Roccolo, and there's not a brie or smoked cheddar in sight. No white zinfandel either. Smile, and say cheese...

A cheese board

Abbaye de Belloc

Abondance

Appleby Cheshire

Azeito

Beafort

Bellweather Ricotta

Bleu des Basques

Brescianella

California Crottin

Camembert

Capricious Goat Cheese

Cashel Blue

Chimay

Epoisses

Fleur Verte

Garrotxa

Gorgonzola

Grafton Village Cheddar

Hudson Valley Camembert

Il Forteto

Ladotiri

Lamb Chopper

La Tur

L'Etivaz

Mahon

Manouri

Matos' St. George

Mezzo Secco

Monte Enebro

Montgomery Cheddar

Mozzarella di bufala

Mt. Vikos

Ossau-Iraty

Pedrozo Dairy's Black Butte Reserve

Peluso Teleme

Piave

Pleasant Ridge Reserve

Raschera

Reblochon

Ricotta Salata

Roccolo

Roquefort

Rouelle Cendre

Saenkanter

Sainte-Maure

Sally Jackson's sheep's milk tomme

Sant'Andrea

Sottocenere

Spanish Urgelia

Surchoix Gruyere

Tumalo Tomme

Tuscan Pecorino

Vermont Shepherd Cheese

Windsor Blue

Janet's bio from the SF Chronicle: "Janet Fletcher is a staff writer for The Chronicle, where her reporting has twice won the James Beard Foundation award, as well as the 2000 Bert Greene Award. She writes frequently on food and wine topics for Bon Appetit, Metropolitan Home and other national magazines and has authored or co-authored 16 books on food and wine, including "The Cheese Course," (2000) "Fresh from the Farmers' Market," (1997) "Pasta Harvest," (1995) and the forthcoming "Four Seasons Pasta," She lives in the Napa Valley with her winemaker husband."