The State Of Its Cheeses And Wines Gets Finer

Scarborough, ME — The moment I taste a wedge of Deb Hahn’s Noble Hill Reserve at the waterfront farmer’s market in Bath, I am smitten. It’s nutty, smooth, caramel-y, with a slight graininess at the finish. Is it something in the local cows’ milk, the salty air, or the maker’s finesse that makes this cheese so outstanding? It’s time to research some local cheeses, with a few stops along the Maine Wine Trail for good measure.

I start at The Cheese Iron in Scarborough, a retail shop where regional and imported cheeses are nurtured in a temperature- and humidity-controlled cheese cave, the only one in the state. “We’re here to maintain the integrity of the farmer,’’ says Vince Maniaci, co-owner with his wife, Jill Dutton. They know by touch, time, or using a cheese iron that takes a plug from the center, when a cheese is ready to cut and sell.

The friendly staff seems committed to making cheese eaters into cheese lovers, and offers plenty of samples. I learn a few basics: Cow’s milk cheese tends to be buttery, goat’s milk grassy, and sheep’s milk nutty, maybe a bit gamey.

On to Pineland Farms, a 5,000-acre, multi-use campus in rural New Gloucester. At the Market and Welcome Center I pick up a map and head for the creamery, set among pristine pastures and farm buildings. Behind picture windows, in big vats, milk fresh from the farm’s Holsteins is pasteurized, the whey separated, and cheese blocks formed, aged, cut, and wrapped in plastic. The mechanized cheese making is small scale, but Pineland’s products have won several awards.

There are about 35 licensed cheese makers in Maine, a number that has nearly doubled over the last five years. More impressive, says Eric Rector, president of the Maine Cheese Guild, is the success the state’s cheese makers have had in national and international competitions. “There is much more cheese being produced in the state, but it’s also of a very high quality,’’ he says.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Boston Globe.