A taste of the Hills – s28 Sunrise and Sunset

Terroir is a much used (and abused) term that originated in the French wine industry. It doesn’t have an exact English translation but it references the unique set of environmental factors that affect the taste of a product – the climate, the soil, the terrain and the way the country is farmed.

It is the reason why a Roma tomato grown on the Adelaide Plains will be different to one grown in Queensland, or why a Shiraz from the Barossa Valley will be different to one from the McLaren Vale.

We established Section28 Artisan Cheeses with an absolute commitment to excellence, and to producing alpine-style cheeses of the highest quality. A fundamental part of our ethos is the crafting of cheeses that reflect the terroir, or the taste, of the Adelaide Hills.

In capturing this taste of the Adelaide Hills, we are committed to creating unique, handcrafted cheeses that give you a sense of our environs, and a food experience that transports you to this glorious part of the world where we make our cheeses.

Another key founding aim of Section28 is a desire to be a part of the local community. In doing this, we deliberately located our factory close to the dairy that supplies our milk and have sought opportunities to collaborate with other talented local artisans that are working to capture the taste of the Adelaide Hills.

One of the awesome local artisans we have had the pleasure to work with over the past 18 months is Brendon and Kirsty Keys from BK Wines. We share their goal of making great art, admire their passionate approach to winemaking and love their wines.

With wine and cheese being natural bedfellows, early last year we discussed opportunities for working together. This week we are very excited to be able to launch the product of that collaboration!

We have crafted two limited release, semi-hard cheeses that are unique in their manufacture and affinage, and have been aged for 10 – 12 months in our cave. As a result, we think they are a unique reflection of the taste of the Adelaide Hills and demonstrate the benefits of local collaboration.

Our Section28 Sunrise is washed in Chardonnay lees from BK’s Petillant Naturel. Its golden rind captures the essence of a Hills sunrise and encases a cheese with a supple texture and complex flavour. It has a buttery and creamy taste, with floral notes and a certain frizzante and freshness from the lees.

Our Section28 Sunset is washed in lees from BK’s Gower Pinot Noir. The lees give the rind a deep purple colour and the resulting cheese has floral notes and an emerging roasted nut flavour that is complemented by its unique spicy undertone.

We hope you enjoy these two seasonal cheeses and look forward to your feedback!

Why Section28?

Currently, alongside “why Alpine cheeses” , this is the most commonly asked question of our small enterprise. Whilst certainly a valid question, it is usually followed with a guess along the lines of: “is it a reference to some piece of legislation?”.

Nothing nearly so clever, I am afraid. Rather, the name Section28 is a nod to our original family farm.

A Section is a historical legacy in South Australia, left by the surveying structure used in founding the colony. Under the founding scheme, land was divided up and sold to pay for the passage of selected settlers. The simplest method for the systematic survey of new areas was found to be dividing the land into Counties, then Hundreds (usually 100 square miles) and then into sections.

Thus, Section 28 in the Hundred of Roberts is 1,800 acres in the middle of South Australia’s ‘wheat and sheep’ country. There are not many dairies in the area and, with less than 400mm of annual rainfall and an altitude in the tens of metres rather than the 1,000s of metres, it is a long way removed from the Alpine pastures of Eastern France.

However, while growing up, we ran a few house cows (all named, as was the fashion, after a garden flower – Daisy, Dandelion, Rose…) for milk, cream and butter. And it was on the farm where, in what seems like an eternity ago, the seeds for this adventure were sown.

What other questions do you have?

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An Invitation to Make Art

“If we want to make meaning, we need to make art”  – Brené Brown.

Eleven words that caused a pause in an otherwise busy day. The surprise was that this pause then formed the kernel of a thought that, in turn, developed into an idea, which has now grown into Section28 Farmstead Cheeses.

Making art in the form of Artisan Cheese is possibly not the result that you might expect from a moment of reflection, but this has been our inspiration to step out of our comfortable existence and try something new.

We are passionate about creating products of the highest possible quality. We are inspired by true Master Craftsmen – people that spend a lifetime perfecting their art, referencing time-honoured traditions but making their own improvements, and measuring their success in the joy on a customer’s face.

And so, we are setting out to emulate this tradition. Section28 Artisan Cheeses will produce hand-made Alpine Cheeses that capture the very essence of the Adelaide Hills. We are captivated by the mixture of science and technical skill, combined with pure artistry that has been the source of the world’s great cheeses. Our aim is to create unique Australian cheeses that reference their European heritage and cheesemaking traditions but have a style and flavour which is distinctly their own.

Over the past 18 months we have worked to put the foundations for this venture in place, and today we begin the process of building the business. Over the next few months we will build and equip the production facility, test our production processes, develop our signature cheeses, launch our brand and begin selling. It all seems quite simple when captured in a brief sentence, but marginally daunting if thought about for too long!

Wiser people than us have said that the joy is in the journey rather than the destination. With this in mind, we would like to invite you to join us as we embark upon this journey to make art. We promise it will be exhilarating.