It has been a pretty good year on the cheese beat, all things considered. Some shops are offering samples again. Importers are expanding shipments from Europe. And our domestic cheesemakers seem to have largely rebounded from their pandemic straits. Looking back on the year’s highlights for me, I compiled a short list of standouts—cheeses that wowed me with their quality and struck me as benchmarks for their style. I taste a heap of cheeses in twelve months’ time, but these ten made the biggest impressions. In alpha order:

Boont Corners from Pennyroyal Farm (goat’s and sheep’s milk/California):
This aged raw milk wheel has a natural rind, an aroma of damp cave, roasted nuts and artichoke, and a sturdy texture that finishes creamy. The flavor is concentrated, balanced between sweetness and salt, with a lingering lemony aftertaste. The sheep are off-duty between September and February, so wheels made then are all goat’s milk.

L’Etivaz (raw cow’s milk/Switzerland):
A mountain cheese made by ultra-traditional methods, such as the practice of cooking the curds over an open fire. L’Etivaz is like Gruyère on steroids, with more aroma, more flavor, more depth. I get a beefy, roasted-onion aroma with hints of bacon and hazelnuts. Shave this silky cheese with a plane (frowned on in Switzerland) and let it melt on your tongue.

Fleur Soleil (goat’s milk/France):
A young, velvety cheese coated with sweet paprika, shallots and garlic, Fleur Soleil is the lesser-known sibling of Fleur Verte. I could eat this dreamy cheese all day long. The texture is almost fluffy, and the seasoning is bold but not overdone. Melt a garlicky slice into an omelet or stir into a cream sauce for pasta.

Majorero (goat’s milk/Spain):
I’m not the only one who adores this pimentón-coated wheel from the Canary Islands. Spanish cheese expert Enric Canut considers it Spain’s finest goat cheese. The interior is firm and smooth yet crumbly,with an aroma of smoked paprika, nuts and cooked milk and a lemony finish.

Pavino by Roth Cheese (cow’s milk/Wisconsin):
This alpine-style wheel is matured for at least nine months, yielding a firm and crystalline texture, concentrated flavor, and aromas of caramelized onion, roast beef and barnyard. Pavino, which is exclusive to Whole Foods, won its category at the 2018 American Cheese Society competition. Roth is Swiss-owned (the parent company makes Kaltbach Le Gruyère) so it’s safe to say that nobody has more expertise in making cheeses of this type. Still, I have no idea how Roth delivers so much quality for the price.

Rispens (sheep’s milk, The Netherlands):
This Gouda-style wheel is made with sheep’s milk—a rare thing even in The Netherlands. Named for the family whose flock provides the milk, Rispens is aged for about nine months, long enough to produce a captivating scent of pale caramel, custard, cheesecake, pineapple and lightly browned butter. One cheesemonger described it as smelling like shortbread. The wedge I sampled was firm yet creamy and just starting to develop some crystals.

Rocket’s Robiola from Boxcarr Handmade Cheese (cow’s milk/North Carolina):
Cut into this handsome dusky square and the aroma leaps out, a wave of mushroom, barnyard, garlic and aged beef. The interior slumps quickly; have some bread ready. The recipe relies on Geotrichum candidum to produce the soft, damp, wrinkled rind, which you definitely should consume.

Tomme de Chèvre Grand-Mère (goat’s milk/France):
This chèvre has it all: good looks, luscious texture and big mushroomy aroma. The delicate ashed rind is dusted with white mold, and the interior is creamy, not clingy. The flavors are balanced and mellow, with no bitterness or goaty quality and just the right amount of salt. It’s hard to overstate how challenging it is to get cheeses like this to California, where I live, in good condition.

Tomme de Savoie, Hervé Mons affineur (cow’s milk/France):
I’ve bypassed Tomme de Savoie for years because the export wheels are so disappointing, but the ones matured by Hervé Mons restore my faith in this classic cheese. Made with thermised cow’s milk—think of it as halfway between raw and pasteurized—the wheels arrive at the Mons cave when they’re three to four weeks old. Matured for another four weeks under the care of these affinage experts, they develop a crusty rind and a tender, open interior that smells of cheesecake and damp cave.

Ur-Eiche (raw cow’s milk/Switzerland):
Yet another splendid cheese from Gourmino, a company comprised of 13 independent cheesemakers who market their products under that name. Ur-Eiche is the only Gourmino cheese made by a woman, Christa Egli, and her creation is sublime, a 10-month-old wheel with a potent roasted-onion aroma and intense beefy flavor.