Wheels in Motion | Culture: the word on cheese

Wheels in Motion

Traveling from its maker at a small farmstead in Albio, Spain, to a cheese counter in New York City, Garrotxa Sant Gil d’Albio traverses 4,174 miles across land and ocean and many hands in between.

Photography by Ivan Raga

The Spanish countryside near Albio, where this trek begins

Murciana goats supply the milk

Cheesemaker Josep Marti in his aging room

Labeling a matured wheel of Garrotxa Sant Gil d’Albio

Marti’s mother, Nativitat Ninot, founded the creamery in 1986; every wheel is brushed during aging

Brushing the cheese

Stacks of Garrotxa ready for transport

On the road to Jumilla

At Centrale Quesera Montesinos, the shipment is sealed

At Centrale Quesera Montesinos

Jose Maria, warehouse manager, securing a spot for Garrotxa in the container

Traffic at the Port of Valencia

> 11 The cheese emigrates, crossing the Atlantic in a climate-controlled section of a freighter

After nine days at sea, New York Harbor is in sight

Docking at the Port of Newark in New Jersey

After waiting to clear U.S. Customs, unloading begins

After waiting to clear U.S. Customs, unloading begins

After waiting to clear U.S. Customs, unloading begins

t the warehouse of importer Forever Cheese, manager Tyrell Moore unlocks the container

First the temperature of the cheese is checked

The cheese is unloaded

The cheese is moved to a refrigerated room

Moore checks the count of each pallet

Moore checks the count of each pallet

General manager, Jeffry DiMeo, administers the nose test on a core sample of the Garrotxa

The office mascot at Forever Cheese

Michele Buster, VP and owner of Forever Cheese, specializes in finding handcrafted Spanish cheeses

4,174 miles and 19 days later, Garrotxa Sant Gil d’Albio arrives on the counter at Ideal Cheese in NYC

4,174 miles and 19 days later, Garrotxa Sant Gil d’Albio arrives on the counter at Ideal Cheese in NYC

Wheels in Motion

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Fall 2012