Going Basque in West Marin

 Wheels of Baserri in the aging room.

This past September I was fortunate enough to visit Barinaga Ranch in Marshall, CA. Situated on top of a hill just due East of gorgeous Tomales Bay, this small, farmstead operation is rolling out some amazing cheese. The first time I met Marcia Barinaga (cheese maker and shepherd) was a few months prior when I hosted her at the San Francisco Saturday farmer's market at the Ferry Building. Through the hectic few hours she spent under the tent with me, her energy remained constant and her passion obvious. To see her in her element was something entirely different.

Marcia pressing soon-to-be wheels of Baserri (farmhouse is Basque) using bottles of water as weights.

Marcia makes two cheeses - Baserri and Txiki (pronounced cheeky, Basque for "little") which are essentially the same cheese made into two different sizes. The milk is unpasteurized, coming from roughly 40 East Friesian ewes, pasture raised, and milked literally 15 feet from the cheese making room.

While we waited for the milking ladies to make their way from the hills to the barn, we passed around some (raw) milk freshly collected that morning. I do not like milk. But I had to try it... Since it's been six months from my visit, I can't accurately describe all the flavors and nuances of the milk, but I do remember that it was delicious, and I'd gladly drink it every day.

The ewe's arrived shortly after, udders swollen and swinging. Marsha pointed out one in the middle and claimed that she was always first to milk. Sure enough when the gate opened up she had made her way to the front and was first to be strapped into the milking machine. Ovis aries pecking order? While sheep are notoriously stubborn and people-shy, Marsha's flock was serene and anything but skittish. (Unfortunately the camera battery died before I could photograph their cute, woolly selves.) 

The combination of rind and paste smelled of sweet earth on this wedge of Baserri. Its texture was slightly crumbly but melted in my mouth, and it tasted (in the most subtle way) rich, grassy and nutty, with a nice lactic tang to round it out. Wheels I have tasted in the past have varied from floral and herbaceous to slightly gamy. While Baserri isn't always the most consistent cheese, it is consistently good.   

It's lambing season up at Barinaga Ranch, and hopefully in three months time (one month of milk fed to the lambs, two months to age the cheese) we'll be seeing some beautiful new wheels. This is the start of only the third season (citation?) for Barinaga, and while her cheese has been amazing from the get-go, it's promising to assume that, like most cheeses, her business and product will only get better with age.