The Cheesemakers of Vermont and Their Unsung Craft

Vermont produces more artisanal cheese per capita than any other American state, with over fifty licensed cheesemakers operating across a landscape of rolling green hills and small dairy farms. The state's cheese tradition is not an import from Europe but a genuine American craft, shaped by Vermont's specific terroir, its cold winters, and its stubborn commitment to small-scale agriculture.

Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro has become the state's most celebrated operation. Their Harbison — a bark-wrapped soft-ripened cheese washed with brine — won Best in Show at the American Cheese Society competition and has earned comparisons to French Vacherin Mont d'Or. The Cellars at Jasper Hill, a 22,000-square-foot underground aging facility, serves as a maturation centre for multiple Vermont producers.

Grafton Village Cheese Company, founded in 1892, produces a clothbound cheddar aged in their own caves that delivers the sharp, crumbly intensity of a proper English cheddar with a distinctly Vermont nuttiness. The raw milk comes from local farms where cows graze on the same grass that gives Vermont butter its characteristic golden colour.

Consider Woodcock Farm in Weston produces a sheep's milk cheese called Timberdoodle that combines the richness of Manchego with a grassy, herbaceous finish unique to Vermont's spring pastures. The operation is tiny — under a hundred sheep — and production is seasonal, making each wheel a genuine expression of a specific place and time.

The Vermont Cheese Trail, mapped at https://www.vtcheese.com, connects over forty producers across the state and provides a touring itinerary that combines tastings with farm visits. Drive the trail in October when the foliage peaks and the aging rooms are stocked with wheels made from summer milk, the richest and most complex of the year.

What unites Vermont's cheesemakers is a philosophical commitment to terroir — the idea that cheese should taste like the place it was made. This means raw milk from grass-fed herds, natural rinds developed in local caves, and seasonal production that follows the rhythm of the pasture rather than the demands of a year-round supply chain.

Support these producers directly. Buy from their farm shops or order online. Every wheel purchased from a Vermont cheesemaker sustains a small dairy farm, preserves an agricultural landscape, and rewards a craft that operates at the opposite end of the spectrum from industrial dairy. The cheese is extraordinary. The ecosystem it supports is even more so.