At Portland cheese festival, tastes of the Pacific Northwest
Lily Roby
PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) — With a rich taste and creamy mouthfeel, some call Rogue River Blue one of the best cheeses in the world. And yet unlike many other prized cheeses, it hails not from France or Italy but from the small city of Central Point in southern Oregon.
Using milk collected in its prime during cool fall weather, when Oregon milk is at its creamiest, the cheese is left to age in caves for up to 11 months. Its finishing touch consists of hand-wrapping the wheels in Syrah grape leaves, which are themselves soaked in a pear spirit.
This technique by Central Point-based Rogue Creamery helped make its blue cheese the 2019-20 World Cheese Awards’ World Champion. It was one star of the show at The Wedge festival, an annual farmers market-style festival designed to celebrate cheese and all that accompanies it.
Prized Rogue River Blue was far from the only cheese available for tasting at this year’s The Wedge, held on Saturday, Sept. 28 in inner southeast Portland. More than 60 vendors offered up not just artisan cheese but other specialty food and drink, all of it produced locally in the Pacific Northwest.
The Wedge is one of two festivals held every year by the Oregon Cheese Guild. The association of artisan cheesemakers exists for one purpose: to promote Oregon cheese.
Like California and raisins or Idaho and potatoes, some say it’s what Oregon does best. Besides The Wedge, the Oregon Cheese Guild uses a variety of initiatives to promote the work of local artisans, including the Cheese & Food Trail, which spans across the entire Beaver State and supports more than 35 cheese, chocolate and specialty food sellers.
The guild helps artisan cheesemakers share their passions with cheese enthusiasts, said Katie Bray, the group’s executive director.
“I’ve always loved cheese, but I really have more of a passion for producers of local food and beverage,” Bray said as she stood by the entrance to The Wedge. All around her, visitors swarmed tasting tables.
“I really believe in the people that I work with,” she added. “They take good care of their animals and the land, and they care about what they’re putting out there into the world. That’s the part that makes it so awesome.”
In a state as large and geographically diverse as Oregon, festivals like The Wedge allow cheesemongers to share their passion projects with enthusiasts in and outside of the industry.
The guild looks forward to The Wedge each year, Bray said. It’s an opportunity to enjoy long-loved staples like Rogue River Blue. It also helps promote newer small businesses, such as the chile crisp company Al Xile.
“We started as a family,” owner Nora Hernández said in an interview at The Wedge. The family started the business mostly as a lark, she said, a way to keep her two teenage sons busy during the pandemic. She never expected the business to take off — and yet “little by little, it grew.”
Hernández markets her product as chile crisp — an homage to chili crisp, a staple condiment of Asian cuisine. But she spells "chile" with an "e," the term for fresh and dried hot peppers like those that abound in Mexican cuisine.
Some might describe it as salsa macha, a Mexican condiment that — like Asian chili crisp — also involves marrying aromatics and spices in oil. She was inspired to create the company while living in Mexico. A part of her heritage, she said she holds such recipes close to her heart.
When friends began asking to buy jars for use in tacos, pasta and even sushi, she felt encouraged to expand. “My favorite part is doing it with my husband,” Hernández said. “We really enjoy working together. We have fun and don’t take it too seriously.”
Just two years since its inception, Al Xile has become a successful vendor at local Portland farmers’ markets.
Bigger events like The Wedge give the company an extra boost. Hernández explained that the festival helped connect her with regional grocery stores like New Seasons and Market of Choice, making The Wedge an essential resource for small businesses.
HAB Sauce is another spicy local business that relies on events like The Wedge to connect with Portland’s food scene. Owner David van Overeem founded the company in 2017.
“It was a passion of mine,” van Overeem said of his hot sauces, as a line of curious visitors formed at his booth. “I started expanding my palate, reaching for flavors from my childhood and experimenting with new flavors.”
HAB offers an eclectic variety of sauces, from Oregon Seaweed Chili Crisp to Chocolate Habanero Honey.
Van Overeem credits this to his diverse background. His father is of Dutch and Indonesian descent, he said, while his mother is from Latin America.
HAB Sauce’s Spicy Sweet Soy Sauce won first place for World’s Favorite Hot Sauce at the 2020 Old Boney Hot Summer Nights International Hot Sauce and Culinary Experience, a hot sauce festival in Thousand Oaks, California. It’s also seen other accolades from the hot-sauce world, including three Scovies.
Despite the success, van Overeem still likes to keep things small. He works with local growers as much as possible, advertising his product personally at events like The Wedge.
“I just make these for myself,” van Overeem said when asked what makes HAB Sauce stand out. “I keep myself in mind, and if people like my art, that’s great.”
Rogue Creamery takes a similar approach when it comes to their craft. That’s held true even after the company was crowned World Champion at the World Cheese Awards in Bergamo, Italy — the only time a U.S.-based cheesemaker has won.
Besides award-winning blue, the creamery has also produced staples like cottage cheese, butter and fresh cheeses since 1933. “We send cheese [to the competition] every year,” said Marguerite Merritt, the company’s brand director. “We always figure it’s worth a try.”
Sure enough, it was. “We had no idea [the win] was coming our way until the announcement was made, and it completely changed our future at Rogue River,” Merritt gushed. “We are now recognized as one of the foremost makers of artisan blue cheese, nationally and internationally.”
Although Rogue Creamery certainly has more opportunities now that they’ve found their niche of aged blue cheese, it is still a very small operation. Merritt explained that part of the reason the creamery’s cheese is so high-quality is because its cheesemakers spend months cave-aging wheels and searching for ways to elevate flavor profiles, such as by soaking cheeses in red wine.
The Wedge has seen Rogue Creamery attend for years. It’s a great opportunity for the long-running cheese company to share accomplishments with Portland foodies, Merritt said.
“It’s really fun to be able to see new vendors, or vendors that have been here for years bringing in a new product or a new take on a classic recipe,” she said. “For me, the number one reason I come to The Wedge is for the engagement with the community. To get people excited about eating cheese and all the things you can pair with it.”
Rogue Creamery is already looking forward to The Wedge’s 2025 edition. Merritt hopes that their success with Rogue River Blue will help inspire cheesemakers and other vendors to return to the festival each year with something new to share.
“The rising tide raises all boats, and I like to say that Rogue River Blue has led the way,” Merritt said as visitors sampled the creamery’s array of cheeses. “It’s allowed cheesemakers across the country to produce ultrapremium cheeses and to compete with the best of the best internationally.”