Spanish Cheeses: A Photo Album

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Spanish Cheeses

Spain has a wide variety of superb cheeses made 

from the milk of cows, sheep and goats. 

(Click on the link above to go to the Spanish Cheeses Pinterest photo album.) 

All photographs copyright by Gerry Dawes. 

 gerrydawes@aol.com /Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest

Marino González, the Godfather of Asturian Cheeses, holds 
a cheese poster from the Asturian Museum of Cheeses. 
Photo by Gerry Dawes©2010. gerrydawes@aol.com  

 Jesús Gútierrez, La Chivita with one of his herd of baby goats, Buelles, Asturias. 
Photograph by Gerry Dawes©2010. Contact gerrydawes@aol.com for publication rights. 

For more on La Chivita  see http://www.gerrydawesspain.com/2010/03/incredible-spring-afternoon-in-las.html


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About Gerry Dawes

Writing, Photography, & Specialized Tours of Spain & Tour Advice

For custom-designed tours of Spain, organized and lead by Gerry Dawes, and custom-planned Spanish wine, food, cultural and photographic itineraries, send inquiries to gerrydawes@aol.com.  

I have planned and led tours for such culinary stars as Chefs Thomas Keller, Mark Miller, Mark Kiffin, Michael Lomonaco and Michael Chiarello and such personalities as baseball great Keith Hernandez and led on shorter excursions and have given detailed travel advice to many other well-known chefs and personalities such as Drew Nieporent, Norman Van Aken, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg, Christopher Gross, Rick Moonen, James Campbell Caruso and many others.

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“The American writer and town crier for all good Spanish things Gerry Dawes . . . the American connoisseur of all things Spanish . . .” Michael Paterniti, The Telling Room: A Tale of Love, Betrayal, Revenge and The World’s Greatest Piece of Cheese

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"Gerry Dawes, I can't thank you enough for opening up Spain to me." -- Michael Chiarello on Twitter. 

"Chiarello embarked on a crash course by traveling to Spain for 10 days in 2011 with Food Arts

contributing authority Gerry Dawes, a noted expert on Spanish food and wine.  Coqueta's (Chiarello's new restaurant at Pier Five, San Francisco) chef de cuisine, Ryan McIlwraith, later joined Dawes for his own two week excursion, as well. Sampling both old and new, they visited wineries and marketplaces, as well as some of Spain's most revered dining establishments, including the Michelin three-star Arzak, Etxebarri, the temple to live fire-grilling; Tickets, the playful Barcelona tapas bar run by Ferran Adrià and his brother, Albert; and ABaC, where Catalan cooking goes avant-garde." - - Carolyn Jung, Food Arts, May 2013.

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"In his nearly thirty years of wandering the back roads of Spain," Gerry Dawes has built up a much stronger bank of experiences than I had to rely on when I started writing Iberia...His adventures far exceeded mine in both width and depth..." -- James A. Michener, author of Iberia: Spanish Travels and Reflections

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Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés. ". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

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Trailer-pilot for a reality television series 

on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain  

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Beyond Cabrales: Discovering Spain's Hidden Cheese Treasures in the Asturias - Summer Issue of Culture the word on cheese

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Article and most of the photographs by Gerry Dawes

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About Gerry Dawes: Press, Awards, Tours to Spain, Television Trailer, Contact Info

Insider’s Deluxe Taste of Northen Spain Gastronomic Tour of Bilbao - San Sebastián - Navarra - Barcelona Nov. 27 - Dec. 5, 2010

Asturian Journal: Incredible Spring Afternoon on March 19, Dia de San José, in Las Asturias with Jésus Gutierrez & Josepha Schiano-Lomoriello of La Chivita, a Top Producer of Goats' Milk Cheese (Excerpt from my article in the summer issue of culture: the word on cheese.)

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La Chivita, Buelles, Peñamellera Baja (raw goats’ milk)

One of the most fascinating and rewarding visits of my five-day trip to Asturias, was to La Chivita, yet another single-producer cheese, this one made by the husband-and-wife team of Jesús Gútierrez and Josepha Schiano-Lomoriello, a Renaissance pair of subsistence farmers who battle to stay in touch with nature, their herd of 200 goats (soon to be supplemented by a hundred or so captivating new-born kids that I saw while I was there) and the vagaries of the new world economy. They deserve to succeed, because they are great people and so is their compelling farmhouse goat cheese, which Jesús says “was inspired by and is similar to Muenster.” The cheese, as they eat it at home, often has a naturally runny exterior (which they wipe off before sending to market), a somewhat crumbly white interior and a creamy, haunting, mushroomy flavor.

Jésus Gútierrez and Josepha Schiano-Lomoriello of La Chivita.

Check out the Summer issue of culture: the word on cheese, where I had an eight-page article with photographs on the Asturias, Beyond Cabrales, with profiles of Cabrales and six other wonderful Asturian cheeses, plus hotel and restaurant recommendations.   Only the title page and a few photos are excerpted here, but you can find out how to get a copy on the culture - the word on cheese website and read the rest of the article, plus articles by Max McCalman, Susan Herman Loomis, Janet Fletcher and an interview with Steve Jenkins.

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About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel


Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com

Principado de Asturias Journal: Día de San José, March 19, 2010. A Very Pleasant Night in the Asturias at La Quinta de Villanueva with Beatrice Montes and Camino Guerra

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As part of my plan to learn about different hotels on my trip in March to El Principado de Asturias, I asked my trip organizers to put me in a different hotel each night (not recommended for those for whom unpacking and re-packing every day and sleeping in a different bed every night are a problem!)--with the stipulation that each place have FREE wi-fi available in the rooms (all but one, whose desk person said the wi-fi was not functioning do to the wind [it was a still night], worked). 

On the night of March 19, after visiting the goat cheese producer, La Chivita, Nacho Molina and I crossed the Sella River and wound our way to the village of Villanueva, where Nacho left me at La Quinta de Villanueva, a house built by an Indiano in the 19th century.   Indianos were local men who emigrated to Spanish America, often the Indies--Cuba, etc --made their fortunes and returned to their home cities and built large homes that reflected their wealth. These often ostentatious homes can be found in towns all over the Asturias, in Galicia and in the Canary Islands, especially.  

Ironically, this wine, food and cheese road warrior was uncharacteristically without a car and since La Quinta has no formal restaurant, the owners, Beatrice Montes (Beatrice of the Mountains, who spent a couple of years living in New Jersey) and her partner, Camino Guerra (another irony, literally, "Road War," two women serious about running a good bed-and-breakfast, kindly invited me to share dinner with in the downstairs breakfast room. After rummaging about for a suitable bottle of wine, we settled into an impromptu dinner of Spanish serrano ham and a Spanish vegetable tortilla, the vino and good conversation until bedtime.

The next morning, I had breakfast looking out over the gardens that Beatrice and Camino planted with flowers and plants that mirror the way the gardens were planted in the 19th century.   If you find yourself in the Eastern Asturias, right by the Cantabrian border--the Río Selles--you will be only minutes from the coast and minutes from a wonderful mountain road that follow the Selles (which eventually starts out as the Río Cares) into the interior of the Asturias.   I highly recommend a Quinta de Villanueva as an overnight stop on any trip to the Asturias.

_______________________________________________________

About Gerry Dawes

Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel

Gerry Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià.

In December, 2009, Dawes was awarded the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award in a profile written by José Andrés.

". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

Mr. Dawes is currently working on a reality television series
on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.

Experience Spain With Gerry Dawes: Customized Culinary, Wine & Cultural Trips to Spain & Travel Consulting on Spain

Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com