Annelies
|Ahn-eh-LEES|
Like Challerhocker? Then try Annelies, a raw cow’s milk cheese that represents a joint effort between New York standby Murray’s Cheese and Walter Rass, creator of Challerhocker. In Switzerland’s Appenzell Valley, Rass crafts the wheels which are, at that point, young and mild. The wheels are then sent to New York to age for nine months in caves beneath the city. Annelies grows more sophisticated with age, gaining flavors of roasted nuts and sweet grass and toasty wafting notes of butterscotch and cocoa.
From a flagship shop in New York’s Greenwich Village, Murray’s has been slinging cheese since 1940. In 2004, the shop had caves built below the shop, first as better storage for the shop’s swath of cheeses and then as a launchpad for their own affinage program. Now, Murray’s offers a range of Cavemaster Reserve cheeses, a partnership in which young cheeses from a variety of makers are aged by Murray’s in their caves. In order to improve the caves and grow the Cavemaster line, the caves were expanded a few years ago and moved to Murray’s facility in Long Island City, Queens.
Try Annelies with a fruity Napa Valley Pinot Noir. The wine’s berry aromas will highlight the cheese’s sweet toastiness.