In North America, even as more states encourage cheese producers to make artisanal products made from the milk of animals which graze in natural pastures, Wisconsin still holds sway in the continent’s most prestigious cheese competition sponsored by the American Cheese Society. In a show that easily draws more than 1,100 entries each year, Wisconsin has won the best of show award in six out of the last 10 years.

And, after participating in a tour of some of the state’s best respected cheese farms sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Matt Caputo has added a small line of Wisconsin’s best cheeses to the huge internationally diverse array currently available at Tony Caputo’s Market and Deli. These include products that have won the American Cheese Society’s best of show award.

One is the cave-aged Snow White Cheddar by the Carr Valley Cheese Company which has been making cheese for more than four generations in La Valle, situated in central Wisconsin. The cheese, which sells for $20.95 per pound, imparts some rather surprising original characteristics for an American-made cheese. Unlike traditional English cheddar, this cheese has a pleasant creamy texture with the tangy, complex notes one would expect from a goat cheese. It is a highly approachable,yet unusual, product.

Sid Cook, the fourth-generation owner, also makes more traditional cheddars, such as a six-year-aged cheese which retails at $21.95 per pound. However, the Benedictine is quite the exquisite example of a mixed milk cheese, featuring fresh sheep, goat, and cow’s milk in a washed rind offering. As with all of the cheeses, Caputo’s brings in the complete rounds, the Benedictine, measuring nine pounds. At Carr Valley, the rounds are cellar cured and hand rubbed for 12 weeks. At Caputo’s, they get the benefit of further aging in the cheese cave at the store. The result is a Wisconsin cheese especially distinguished in its capacity for a creamy texture and intense flavors with definitive notes of tang and earthiness. It’s $22.95 per pound.

Another Wisconsin standout comes from Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, a farm that thoroughly impressed Caputo. The family farm is a prominent example of the classic disruptive innovation model. The family built a cheese factory in 2001, in which the milk is piped directly from the dairy farm. And, the milk is made under what Matt described the most complete example of a fully self-sustainable farm. The cows graze on homegrown high-quality forages consisting of corn, alfalfa and soybeans. The animals also receive plenty of exercise, fresh air and individualized care. The power supply for the farm is generated from captured methane gases.

The cheeses are a direct tribute to Europe and other nations including fresh mozzarella, mascarpone, Oaxaca and, most particularly, Les Frères (see below), a continental-style cheese that is remarkably similar to Italian taleggio, in which the rather strong aroma belies a comparably mild tangy, fruit-noted taste. The cheese sells for $15.95 per pound, an exceptionally good value.

However, Matt reserves special praise for the Pleasant Ridge Reserve (see top), which comes from a small dairy farm in Dodgeville, Wisconsin that’s operated by two families (Mike and Carol Gingrich and Dan and Jeanne Patenaude). The cheese is reminiscent of a French mountain-style cheese such as Comté as well as Gruyere. With that wonderful mix of creamy and crunchy crystal textures, the milk to make the cheese comes from a herd of 100 cows that graze in rotation on lush pastures of alfalfa, wildflowers, and other grasses from the early spring to the fall. This is the only cheese made from this farm’s milk, Matt says, adding that the cheese pairs beautifully with homemade jams, honey, and fresh fruit. The cheese retails at $27.95 per pound, and well worth every penny.

Another Wisconsin offering available at Caputo’s is the four-year-aged cheddar from Joe Widmer, whose family has been making cheese by hand for three generations. The cheese, which retails at $16.49 per pound, starts out in an air-tight environment at Widmer’s in a cellar cave and they slowly develop the distinctive qualities of a top-notch cheddar as enzymes begin to break down the fats and proteins. The milk is colored with annatto, a harmless plant dye that gives the cheese that pumpkin hue found in many of Wisconsin’s cheeses.

For more information about Wisconsin’s cheese, see here.

And, at Caputo’s, for more information about these cheeses as well as scores of other amazing cheeses from both sides of the “big pond,” see here.