The cheese shifting from supermarkets to the top shelf thanks to Melbourne chefs

It has taken almost 40 years, but Gippsland cheese maker Laurie Jensen is finally making the cheeses he has always wanted to make. It just took a global pandemic to help him.

Four decades ago the Gippsland cheesemaker founded Tarago River Cheese Company with Neerim South dairy farmer David Johnson. They were part of Australia's artisanal cheese renaissance of the late 20th century and produced one of Victoria's first farmhouse cheeses.

Perched on a ridge in the Great Dividing Range above Warragul, Jensen and Johnson made an Italian-style blue cheese (Gippsland Blue) that was met with massive acclaim by a burgeoning food community hungry for home grown produce.

"When I first came to Australia in the early 1980s," says cheese importer Will Studd, "Gippsland Blue gave me great hope that Australia was ready for some really interesting cheese."

Over the ensuing decades, Tarago River cheese has become a household favourite. Trapped by its own popularity, the company's cheeses were made for distribution through supermarkets and large delis. This meant the cheeses had to be made in a style that allowed plenty of shelf life to sit in distributors' warehouses and supermarket shelves.

It did not allow for what the French call affinage – or ageing.

"We have been trying for years to develop a cheese ageing program," explains the softly spoken Jensen, "but there just [isn't enough] people with that level of experience in Australia. I really needed people with passion for food who understood cheese. We had to think outside the box to find people willing to become affineurs [cheese agers]."

When COVID-19 hit and restaurants began closing their doors, Jensen and Johnson started advertising for chefs to work on their new product, Tarago Affineurs.

"It was Easter 2020," adds the laconic Johnson. "Because it was a massive change in direction for us, we called it the Good Friday Accord."

The pair hired five former chefs to work as cheesemakers and agers. One was Michael Paradise, an Englishman who worked as a chef in Melbourne's erstwhile Meatballs & Sons, but more importantly as buyer and affineur at Neal's Yard Dairy and La Fromagerie in London.

"The pasture, milk and cheese is exceptional here," says Paradise. "By ageing the cheese at a select range of higher temperatures for longer periods we can change the flavour profiles."

Paradise presents three samples of Gippsland Blue. The youngest has a firm, creamy texture and blue cheese tang. The next was made in May and aged using Tarago's new protocols. It is more complex, funky and dense, with rich aromas of Vegemite and roast meat. It is exceptional.

An even older Gippsland Blue has breathtaking piquancy plus aromas of baked goods and fungal funk. "We have to find the right amount ageing to make sure we meet the demands of the market," says Paradise.

The unintended consequence of chefs joining the existing team of cheesemakers is their inherent habit of tasting everything they make.

"Chefs always have a spoon in their back pocket," says Philip Botes, who was a chef at Castello's restaurant in Packenham before the pandemic.

"We test and taste the milk every morning and make notes on sweetness, aroma and anything we detect of the pasture the animals are eating. We also taste the curd. We have an organoleptic [smell and flavour] understanding of how the cheeses should taste and smell all the way through the production."

Jensen adds, "but it is not a normal thing in Australian cheesemaking. Chefs bring skill in tasting and procedure … this has been a complete injection of energy and ideas into our business."

Cheese distributor Sam Penny from Cheese Therapy says "What Laurie and his team have done is age their cheeses until they are perfectly ripe for the customer, not the distributor.

"His triple cream brie is truly exceptional. We will receive 1000 wheels on a Wednesday, and by Friday they will arrive in people's homes in the most perfect, delicious, aged condition."

Jensen, however, is still cautious of change. "I'm 68-years-old and still wondering if Australians are ready for cheese like this," he says.

"But we have to change. We also have to find not only the next generation of cheesemakers but a local market who are interested in exciting Australian cheese. It's a big risk."

Tarago Affineurs is available at Leo's Supermarkets Kew and Glen Iris, and Boccaccio Cellars, Kew or online through cheesetherapy.com.au.