Home  >  Previous Artisan Profiles

Previous Artisan Profiles

Tale of Two Cheesemakers: Uplands Brings Production to the Farm, Redwood Hill Ventures Off the Farm

Here's the tale of two ACS-member cheesemakers. One, Uplands Cheese, is in rural southern Wisconsin, near Dodgeville. The other, Redwood Hill, is in California's western Sonoma County, an hour North of San Francisco. Uplands began just five years ago as an artisan "almost farmstead" producer, renting space to make a very special cheese using only the seasonal milk from Mike Gingrich's own farm's rotationally grazed cows. Redwood Hill began nearly 40 years ago as the Bice family's grade A goat dairy and, under the guidance of second-generation owner and cheesemaker Jennifer Bice, became one of the country's farmstead cheesemaking pioneers, turing out award-winning goat cheese products from a small on-farm plant.

With demand for their products soaring, both recently took giant steps forward and moved into new digs: Uplands set up shop on the farm, while Redwood Hill found a more workable solution three miles down the road.

Uplands: Never Say Never
By Dana Tanyeri

Building a true farmstead cheese plant was never in the cards for Mike Gingrich, who several years ago began making his award-winning Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve in rented space during off-production hours at a the nearby Cedar Grove Cheese plant in Plain, Wis., and aging it in separate rented space in Spring Green, Wis. After all, cheesemaking was a late-start second career for Gingrich and something of an experiment. He and his partner managed everything from animal health to rotational grazing and milking, to cheesemaking, affinage and shipping. His hands were full and his best customers understood that his cheese was as close to farmstead as it gets without being physically made on the farm. He never wanted to do it, never thought he would do it--but now, with technical assistance from the Dairy Business Innovation Center, the Center for Dairy Research and other Wisconsin dairy support organizations, he's done it.

In the shadow of the big blue silo on the 300-acre ridgetop dairy farm owned by the Gingrich's and partners Dan and Jeanne Patenaude now sits Uplands Creamery, a 4,000-square-foot farmstead cheese plant. The first vat of Pleasant Ridge Reserve was made there in late September and, construction scars aside, Gingrich couldn't be happier.

Two key factors spurred his unlikely move to on-farm production. First, with his pasture-grazed Beaufort-style cheese an instant hit in the artisan cheese world (including taking Best of Show at ACS in its first year out in 2001), Gingrich had quickly reached capacity. "It was so inefficient shuttling among three locations, with the farm in Dodgeville, the cheese plant in Plain, and the caves in Spring Green. In addition, our caves were small and we were naturally at the scheduling mercy of Cedar Grove, where we made the cheese."

With the plant now on his own farm and his space significantly expanded, production capacity has increased four-fold. "Previously, we did about 2,200 wheels a year. We only make cheese when the cows are on full pasture, so that impacts our production, but in a good year we can now do 10,000 wheels," Gingrich says. "We can make cheese seven days a week during our peak milking season, in May and June. We can keep about 8,000 wheels here, and having the extra storage space means we'll be able to age a larger percentage of product longer. We have a lot of demand for extra-aged product, but until now haven't had the cave space to do it."

A second key factor in the decision to build was Gingrich's desire to turn his business into a more saleable package. "I'm in my 60s. While I'm not planning to retire yet, I knew that trying to sell Uplands Cheese the way it was would be very difficult."

The new Uplands Creamery houses a 1,000-plus gallon vat in a 700-square-foot make room, three separate 500-square-foot aging caves, a 600-square-foot reception area with observation window and a 600-square-foot shipping area, among other miscellaneous spaces for coolers, storage and boiler room. Milk is pumped directly into the vat from the bulk tank in the milking parlor via a pipe burried under the driveway. Night milk is cooled to 65 degrees and blended with the next morning's milk, which comes in at "cow temperature."

Each of the three aging caves has individual controls for temperature and humidity. All are kept at a steady 55 degrees F and the cheese travels from one cave to the next as it goes through the aging process, gradually drying out the rind. "The first room is kept at 95% humidity, the second at 90% and the third at 85%," Gingrich explains. "Unlike our caves in Spring Green, these new rooms have a cooling system that has no fans, which we really like. They're extrememly easy to keep clean."

Other features in the new plant that Gingrich particularly likes are the drain table and custom vertical press, built by Darlington Dairy Supply. "During the make process, the curds and whey are pumped into a drain table, or pre-press," he says. "Most of the whey drains off, to be cooled and spread on the fields. But some stays. A press plate then drops down on top of the curd mass and presses the curd under the whey. It's the traditional method for making Gruyere. At Cedar Grove, we used a traditional Cheddaring process. There's really no flavor difference, but with this press we do get a more closed bodied texture and better salt control."

Once the curds have drained for 30 minutes, yielding one large curd mass, they're hand-cut into blocks and put into 10-pound molds. The molds are then stacked six high in the vertical press. "The pressure applied is controlled automatically," Gingrich says. "It is adjusted at 20-minute intervals. The cheese is left on the press overnight at maximum pressure before being put on racks and rolled into the first cave."

Yet another feature that has Gingrich pinching himself is the wash tank, with an automatic water circulation system "like a whirlpool," and the dishwasher for forms and aging room boards. "We used to do all of that by hand. It saves a lot of time," he says.

Construtction of Uplands Creamery began June 1, 2004, and while some aspects are still being completed, the major work was completed by early September. With 10 years ownership of the farm, the value of which has risen steadily over the years, Gingrich was able to secure equity-based bank financing to fund the construction.

"It all took longer, was more difficult and costly than I expected, but now that's it's done it was worth it," he says. "Not only is our production capacity greatly expanded, we have so much more control. Ultimately, that will lead to better product. And our quality of life is so much better. My partner moved into the house on the farm in June, when construction started, and our home is on a 10-acre parcel of land connected to the farm. We can see our cows grazing and walk over to the creamery if we want. We're all much more grounded."