Indulging in Australian Dairy Cheeses at Maroondah Reservoir Park

Hubby and I headed out to the Maroondah Reservoir Park near Healesville a couple of weeks ago with our Australian Dairy Cheeses hamper. We decided to drive out there, have a picnic together and indulge in this delicious assortment of goodies which was kindly given to us by Dairy Australia. It included some Australian Dairy Cheeses, Australian wine and some extra delectable condiments.

We grabbed our picnic rug, the delicious hamper and found a spot.

After we had unpacked our picnic goodies, we had some fantastic Australian Dairy Cheeses to unwrap and a bottle of wine to get stuck into. The three kinds of cheese we were about to taste were being judged in The 2016 Australian Grand Dairy Awards.

Now in its 17th year, the Australian Grand Dairy Awards is the grand final of dairy competitions in Australia, recognising and rewarding excellence and quality in Australian dairy produce. More than 300 of Australia’s top dairy products – from milk, cream and butter to yoghurt, ice cream and loads of cheese – were put through a rigorous judging process, assessed by 24 expert judges on flavour, aroma, texture, body and appearance.

From small family-owned producers through to favourite supermarket brands, dairy products from across the spectrum are represented.

There was King Island Dairy Stormy (washed/mixed rind cheese), Heidi Farm Gruyere (semi hard & eye) and King Island Black Label Triple Cream Blue (Blue Cheese). So many delicious cheeses! Where do we start?!

Well, we started by opening the bottle of wine, cracking the walnuts, slicing up some pear, and opening up the jar of pickled cherries.

Before we started to taste the cheeses, we read over some notes that were supplied with the hamper so we could understand how to eat cheese properly…..while sampling the wine!

Hubby headed straight for the King Island Black Label Triple Cream Blue while I went for the King Island Dairy Stormy. My first choice had a slight fragrance of spring onion and was a smooth texture. Hubby’s choice didn’t have an overpowering smell that some blue cheeses have, and was delicious. Our first tastes were paired with the crackers supplied. The Heidi Farm Gruyere was a dry cheese and one that we found felt better just on its own. The wine was a fantastic choice to cleanse our palates, as it wasn’t too sweet or dry.

So, after all, the cheese tasting and having a few sips of wine, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon walking around the beautiful park.

Walking up these stairs was a great way to make more room for eating more cheese and drinking more wine!!

This glorious little rotunda was awaiting us at the top. Perfect for relaxing and for getting ready to make our way back down.

Hubby and I had a wonderful time indulging in the delicious Australian Dairy cheeses and wine. It was great learning how to eat cheese and what to look for with taste, smell, texture and presentation.

If you would like more information or recipes, you can check out the Dairy Australia website or The Dairy Kitchen Facebook Page.

Dairy Australia recently did some research to find out what Aussie’s really thought about cheese.

Here a few things they found out:

• 83% of Australians call themselves a cheese lover
• Yet only 28% would say they know what to look for in a good cheese
• Women classify themselves as cheese lovers over men (85% vs 80%)
• When asked what Australian’s would give up over cheese, it was revealed that Aussies would rather give up a toe, sex, their dishwasher, friends, driving and social media (instead of cheese)

What would you give up over cheese??