This stunning Spanish sheep cheese is worth the hunt, even without knowing its cinematic back story. I’d certainly place it among the most captivating cheeses I’ve tasted in many months, with aromas and flavors all its own. It tastes nothing like Manchego or any of the Basque sheep cheeses. Made on an estate where sheep have grazed since the 13th century, the cheese owes its origin, in part, to an American fashion model who spied for the OSS in World War II and married a Spanish count. As the importer says, you couldn’t make this stuff up.

You can find a lot online about Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones, but it’s hard to know how much is true. She wrote memoirs about her remarkable life, but some say she embellished the details. She was born in suburban New York in 1923, graduated from college, took up modeling and then moved to Spain to work as a coder for the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the CIA. (Julia Child was a fellow OSS employee in those years.) Apparently, Griffith was then tasked with trying to infiltrate Spanish high-society and recruit spies. Her biggest catch was the fabulously wealthy Count of Romanones, a man whose family owned so much land that he had never seen some of it.

After their marriage, Countess Aline persuaded her husband to visit the family property in Extremadura, the Finca Pascualete, where tenant farmers had raised sheep for centuries. The countess convinced him to renovate the decrepit mansion, and the couple decided to initiate cheesemaking at the finca to keep rural traditions alive.

I don’t imagine the countess herself got her hands dirty. She was a fixture in high society, a friend of Nancy Reagan, the Duchess of Windsor and Jackie Kennedy, and a regular on the international best-dressed lists. But if she really provided the impetus behind the Finca Pascualete cheeses, we should salute her.

Pascualino (pictured above) is one of a half-dozen raw-milk sheep cheeses made at the finca but the only one I have tried. It is sublime, with a gorgeous natural rind mottled with multicolored molds and a pale ivory interior that smells like a cave, with warm butter, mushroom and caramel notes. I also find a nutty, herbaceous scent that reminds me of a steamed artichoke. The texture is friable, yet smooth and creamy on the tongue. The flavor is lactic, like sour cream, with a sweet finish.

Compared to Manchego, Spain’s predominant sheep cheese, Pascualino is younger, moister and more herbaceous, with no lanolin scent. It is also a much smaller cheese—about 1-1/2 pounds—matured for a minimum of three months. What’s more, the packaging is lovely. If you’re a houseguest this summer, a whole cheese would make a beautiful housegift.

I wish more retailers stocked Pascualino. For now, you can find it at Kustaa, Milkfarm and Paradise Pantry (L.A. area); The Independent (New Orleans); Formaggio Essex Street Market (New York City); Cowbell (Portland, OR); Liberty Heights Fresh (Salt Lake City); Sonoma Cheese Factory (Sonoma); and online at Supermarketitaly. The importer is Rogers Collection so nudge your favorite retailer to order it.