PASAMONETES La Dehesa Rosemary Sheep Cheese Wedge

This is a common cheese in the la mancha region – it is indeed the same recipe as the Pasamontes Manchego Artesano but due to the PDO Manchego regulations they technical cannot call the cheese Manchego, though it is in recipe.  This is a six month old cheese that is then packed in dried rosemary that is gathered from the fields where the sheep graze and adhered with lard to the rind.  Because this causes a barrier it seals in the moisture, and I find this cheese has a more supple body than the regular Manchego and the rosemary really punctuates the herbaceous notes already present in the cheese.