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In preparing these weekly articles, I have a small arsenal of cheese books at my disposal. Though the internet helps, of course, my first stop is always the books. As much info as Wikipedia has, I trust Max McCalman a whole lot more. Heres a list of my favorites:

Name: Grise des Volcans
Producer: Pascal Bellevaire (Machecoul, France)
Milk: Raw Cow's Milk
Age: 3 months
Price: $19.50-29.00/lb

In the past, Ive shined the spotlight on superstar affineurs Herve Mons and Rolf Beeler. Sadly, Ive neglected another excellent affineur out there, one who only recently came to my attention. That affineur is Pascal Bellevaire. Bellevaire has been in the milk business in one way or another since he was a young boy, working at his familys dairy. Today, he produces a wide variety of cheeses and other milk products, all from raw milk. If this weeks cheese, Grise des Volcans, is any indication, Im already hungry to try everything else he has to offer.

Name: Leonora
Producer: Various (Leon, Spain)
Milk: Pasteurized Goat's Milk
Age: 3 months
Price: $16.00-23.50/lb.

I am about to say something thats slightly heretical, but please bear with me. When it comes to lightly aged goat cheeses, the Loire Valley has something to worry about. With new cheeses like Monte Enebro, Pau St. Mateo and now this weeks cheese, Leonora, Spain is ready to give France a run for its money.

Name: Mountain Top Bleu
Producer: Firefly Farms (Bittinger, MD)
Milk: Pasteurized Goat's Milk
Age: 5-8 wks.
Price: $13.00-15.00/ea.

As anyone who has tasted an alpine cheese, such as gruyere, can attest, much like rough terrain can produce fine wines, high altitudes are the source of many fine cheeses. Located in Marylands Allegheny Plateau, Firefly Farms represents the cooperative effort of Mike Koch and Pablo Solanet, who founded the farm back in 2000. They were later joined by neighbors Ron and Beth Brenneman, who together make up the core of Firefly Farms.

Name: Tronchon
Producer: Various (Tronchon, Spain)
Milk: Raw/Pasteurized Raw Cow's, Goat's & Sheep's Milk
Age: 2 months+
Price: $11.99-$23.00

Few cheeses are as readily identifiable at Spains Tronchon. Produced in a small village of the same name, Tronchon has a distinct crater in the center and a raised ring around the outside, giving it the look of a very large doughnut whose center has not been completely removed. The origin of this shape are a bit mysterious, but cheesemakers continue to use the same traditional molds that have been used for generations.

Name: Toussaint
Producer: Sprout Creek Farm (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Milk: Raw Cow
Age: 3 months
Price: $19.50-$25.98

After a short bout of French-themed tunnel vision, I am happy to be back covering the wealth of cheeses the rest of the world has to offer. When deciding upon a cheese, I thought there would be no better place to pick up this quest than a few hours from my Brooklyn home, at Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie, where they produce many wonderful cheeses, including this weeks selection, Toussaint.

Name: Tomme de Chevre de la Valle DAspes
Producer: Various (Pyrenees Mountains, France)
Milk: Raw Goat
Age: 2+ months
Price: €25,00/kilo

With a name like Tomme de Chevre de la Valle DAspes, what more needs to be said? The name is so long it says it all. What we have here is a small wheel of goats cheese produced in Valle DAspes, also known as the Aspe Valley, located in the French Pyrenees. Its worth noting that not all examples of Tomme de Chevre come from this region. They are not even all made from raw milk (just the good ones). In fact, the Rhone-Alps area is also a major producer, as well as a bit from Corsica. These areas have one thing in common; they are all mountainous, perfect for producing this rich cheese.

Name: Tomme de Lozre
Producer: Various (Lozre, France)
Milk: Raw Sheep
Age: 4-6 months
Price: €18,00/kilo

In America, the mantra of buy local is one were just recently rediscovering. In France, however, it continues to be a way of life as it has been for generations. In fact, all fruit stands, no matter how small, invariably list the location where every item is from as a matter of course. This way, when choosing cheeses to bring home, rather than cart back famous cheeses made far from the area of the south of France where we were staying, I opted to buy local" and stick to cheeses I hadnt seen back in the U.S.

Name: Muracciole / Le Petit Nmois
Producer: Various (France)
Milk: Raw Sheep / Raw Goat
Age: 1-2 months / 2 weeks+
Price: €36,08/kilo / €4,60 ea.

From Paris, France to Brooklyn, New York, I am back in my borough, full of fromage and ready to regale you with the information I gleaned during my 10 days wandering the fromageries of France. This week, I am going for a double-header: two cheeses in one article. Expect the French celebration to continue in the weeks to come, with more cheese reviews as well as reviews of my favorite Parisian fromageries. This week Ill be covering two very different cheeses: Muracciole and Le Petit Nmois.

The Cheesemonger will be in France next week, eating lots of delicious cheese. Because of this, there will be no Cheesemonger post. I'll be returning the following week with lots of new cheese posts for the Francophile in all of us.

Name: Flixer
Producer: Rolf Beeler/Mario Cotto (Graubunden, Switzerland)
Milk: Raw Sheep
Age: 80 days+
Price: $28.00-$31.50

If it werent for the fact that it's actually a great cheese, Id smell a conspiracy with Swiss Affineur Extraordinaire Rolf Beelers cheese, Flixer. Of the two new New York shops who carry it, Stinky Bklyn and Artisanal, both seem so fixed on its rarity, it almost seems like one of the Bush administration's talking points. Every mention I found, most connecting to Max McCalman of Artisanal, drives the point home: this cheese is hard to find. This is kind of odd since Rolf Beeler is a bit of a celebrity in the cheese world. Ill skip my usual love-fest about Mr. Beeler (though if you want to read one, check out my review of his Tomme Vaudoise) and get right into the cheese!

Name: Birchrun Blue
Producer: Birchrun Hills Farm (Chester Springs, PA)
Milk: Raw Cow
Age: 80 days+
Price: $17.00-$21.99

Occasionally, when picking up a new cheese to review, I get home and open my books and laptop to find that Ive rolled snake eyes. Ive bought a cheese that is either too obscure or simply the victim of very little written coverage. Birchrun Blue is of the former category.

Name: Gamonedo
Producer: Various (Asturias, Spain)
Milk: Raw Cow & Goat Milk
Age: 4 months+
Price: $24.00-29.98

One of the things I love about cheese is that it gives me a sense of place. Even if Ive never visited the area where a cheese is made, I get a feeling for the caves, the farm and the people through its smell, its taste, and its look. That is one of the many reasons I dont like factory produced cheeses. The average supermarket cheese is like a T.G.I. Fridays; benign, faceless, lacking in personality and color. By that same token, Gamonedo is a hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurant frequented by cabbies, neighbors, and Chowhound members. These might seem like romantic ideas thought up to idealize what is, frankly, a pretty ugly cheese, but hear me out.

Name: Great Hill Blue
Producer: Great Hill Dairy (Marion, Massachusetts)
Milk: Raw Cow's Milk
Age: 4 months+
Price: $13.99-$17.75

Unpasteurized, unhomogenized and, as an orange juice company put it, simply unfooled around with. These phrases describe the ideals Great Hill Dairy employs when producing their lone cheese, Great Hill Blue. Located near Boston, in Marion, Massachusetts, they are one of a growing segment of Massachusetts cheesemakers. Great Hill was previously a dairy farm, but is strictly in the business of making cheese. They source their milk from nearby farmers, using a mix of Jersey and Holstein.

Name: Lincolnshire Poacher
Producer: Ulceby Grange Farm (Lincolnshire, England)
Milk: Raw Cow's Milk
Age: 1-2 years
Price: $19.99-21.98/lb.

It can only be fate, or some sort of subliminal voice with an English accent, that made me pick up that hunk of Lincolnshire Poacher at Whole Foods the other day. I had no idea, at the time, about the connection between this cheese and last week's review of Gorwydd Caerphilly. As it turns out, Simon Jones, the cheesemaker behind this week's Lincolnshire Poacher, is the former apprentice of Gorwydd Caerphilly's creator Todd Trethowan.