Our creamery

Nestled in the picturesque landscape of Chilmark, Massachusetts, our creamery crafts extraordinary cheese.  We see cheesemaking not as a job but an art form, a harmonious dance of flavors and textures orchestrated with meticulous care. Handcrafting each wheel of cheese is a labor of love. From the initial curd-cutting to the final art of wrapping, each step is an expression of dedication and finesse. 

Awards & Accolades

Over the past 15 years our cheesemaking journey has been sprinkled with moments of recognition, affirming the passion and care we pour into our land, our animals and each cheese we make here at The Grey Barn. In the ongoing tapestry of our cheesemaking narrative, we are honored to share that our commitment to taste and ethos has been recognized with a Good Food Award Finalist distinction in 2024. This additional nod to our craft joins a collection of acknowledgments, from the 2022 article in The New York Times titled The Big Cheeses from the Vineyard to the humbling First Place award at the American Cheese Awards in 2017. We have also been graced with a Gold Metal at the World Cheese Awards in 2021,  a 2021 Good Food Award Winner,  a 2021 The New York International Cheese Awards Silver Medal, named one of the best cheeses of 2022 by Culture Magazine, in 2021 we were named as one of the Best Cheesemakers in America by Food & Wine Magazine, we were awarded a 2020 Good Food Award Winner and in 2018 we were also named as One of The Most Important Cheesemakers by Bon Appetit Magazine. Each acknowledgment, including this recent Good Food Award Finalist Nomination, weaves together to form a narrative of passion and dedication that is a shared celebration of the flavors we bring to your table.

On our farm the cheese journey begins with certified organic milk sourced from the cows we raise and care for out here on Martha’s Vineyard. Our dairy herd provides the foundation for the exceptional quality that defines our cheeses. We like to think of our creamery as a haven for artisanal creation, where the hands that shape our delectable treasures weave together tradition, innovation, and a deep-rooted passion for flavor. 

The cheesemaking process begins once the milk has been transferred from our milk room to our creamery. It is heated to a specific temperature, and a starter culture is added to the milk. This creates an environment for rennet, an enzyme, to be introduced, leading to the coagulation of milk proteins. The coagulated milk is cut with a series of large cheese knives and this process is what develops into curds and whey, just like the nursery rhyme. This cutting determines the size and shape of the curds. The curds are essentially milk solids that will later become the body of the cheese. The formed curds, depending on which cheese is made that day, are then stirred and sometimes cut into smaller pieces, allowing whey (the liquid component of milk) to separate.

Once cut and stirred we drain the whey and feed it to our pigs. The drained curds are hand scooped and ladeled into cheese molds. Some of our cheeses are pressed to expel additional whey while others only use the weight of themselves to drain the whey. The cheese, in the safety of its hoop, is flipped several times. Each of these activities influence the final texture of the cheese. 

The next step in our process is salting. Depending on which cheese we are making different processes of salting are used. Salt is often added to the surface of the cheese, incorporated into the curds to enhance flavor or salted by soaking them in a brine solution.

After a day or two all our cheese is transferred from the creamery and brine room to our cheese caves located in the basement of our historic dairy barn. The duration and conditions of aging vary widely, from a few weeks to several years. During this time, the cheese develops its flavor, texture, and again depending on the cheese, a rind. Here time takes on a different rhythm, and the cheeses embark on a patient sojourn through the intricacies of aging and maturation just like the rest of us. That might sound a bit over the top but it is quite magical what happens in a cheese cave. The caves, with their controlled humidity and temperature, become the custodians of our little cheesy treasures, shaping and refining their character with a bit of help from our affineurs.

The art of affinage is a delicate affair of precision and intuition. As Ari Weinzweig, founder of Zingerman’s once said ‘Affinage does for cheeses what great coaching does for athletes.” As the cheeses age, they transform into unique expressions of taste. The daily flipping, patting and checking on each cheese in our caves is a testament to our commitment to excellence shown by our cheesemakers. Aged to perfection, from the bold and assertive notes of our Prufrock and Bon Anniversaire to the creamy, nuanced profiles of Eidolon, each of our cheeses tells a story – a story of the land, the animals, and the artisans who bring these masterpieces to life. The result is irresistible goodness that awaits those who appreciate the nuances of fine cheese.