I try a lot of new cheeses over the course of a year, and it’s not hard to identify the standouts. They’re the ones I can’t wait to serve to guests in my home and introduce to guests in my classes. I want these cheeses to still be here next year, and the year after, and the year after that. All ten of these lovelies were new to me (but not necessarily new) and help convince me that we live in a Golden Age. American producers keep upping their game. Importers keep sourcing treasures in Europe. I hope you’ll put these outstanding cheeses on your bucket list if you don’t know them already. And I hope you’ll use the Comments field at the end of the blog post to let me know what you would add.

Capriolina (Italy)—A half-pound of supple seduction from Arnoldi, a highly respected affineur. When this stinker is mature, believe me, you will know it’s in the fridge. It has a yeasty, earthy, ripe-laundry scent that even a lidded container can’t restrain. But as with many washed-rind cheeses, the flavor is less extreme. Think of Capriolina as a goat Taleggio and you will have an idea of what to expect: a semisoft, squishy texture; a thin, damp, crunchy rind and a mouth-filling, beefy finish. It’s well priced, too.

Funky Monk (Belgium)—From the same Belgian creamery that makes the fabulous OG Kristal comes this five-pound washed-rind wheel. Despite the name, Funky Monk is not particularly pungent. Let’s call it an entry-level member of the family, with approachable aromas of sauteed onion, roasted peanut, garlicky sausage and not-too-smelly barn. The pudgy interior has a rich butter color and a luxurious mouthfeel, dense yet creamy. The salting is perfect, the flavor mild and buttery with no bitterness.

The Gray from Mystic Cheese (Connecticut)—Cheesemaker Brian Civitello’s tribute to Cheshire (minus the annatto coloring) won a blue ribbon at the American Cheese Society competition this year. Made with milk from Ayrshire cows, the cheese has seductive aromas of buttermilk, warm butter and cave. Firm and friable, with mouthwatering acidity and buttery flavor, The Gray kept me coming back for another taste long after I should have been satisfied. The appearance is flawless, with a thin, handsome natural rind and an interior the color of pale butter.

Old Witch (Switzerland) -- Essentially an extra-aged version of the popular Red Witch, Old Witch spends 8 months in cheesemaker Christian Oberli’s cellar. Oberli adds cream to the raw cow’s milk to make the finished wheel a little more lush. Apart from its remarkable silkiness, what grabs me in this cheese is an appetite-arousing aroma of roasted onions. I also get notes of omelet and roasted peanut but the onion leaps out. Who can resist this? What’s more, the price is significantly less than what retailers ask for comparable cheeses.

Pecuri in i Vigne from Blakesville Creamery (Wisconsin)—Using milk from a new flock of Assaf sheep, a prized dairy breed, cheesemaker Veronica Pedraza riffs on the long European tradition of wrapping fresh cheeses in edible leaves. These small rindless disks are cloaked in wine-soaked grape leaves when a few days old, then vacuum sealed. Pedraza says they continue to improve for weeks, with the wine infusing the interior and the texture softening. For maximum enjoyment, brush a whole cheese with olive oil and grill it until it starts to quiver. The flavor is fresh, bright and lemony.

Red Casanova (Germany)-- Produced with cream-enriched organic cow’s milk from a small Bavarian co-op, the six-week-old Red Casanova (above on the left) is almost a triple cream. No wonder it’s so plush, with a texture like softened butter and a thin, slightly crunchy rind. The goal was a Limburger-like cheese that would stand up to shipping better than actual German Limburger. Of course, Red Casanova smells hugely—my nose finds yeast, garlic, onion, scrambled eggs, sausage and cow barn—but thrill seekers will love that. Drape a thick slice on dark bread, top with slivers of sweet onion and open a Belgian beer.

Rockflower (Switzerland) -- Produced in the foothills of the Alps with raw cow’s milk, this 12-pound wheel is the creation of a father and son who also make Emmental. Albert and Silvio Schöpfer care for Rockflower for the first four months at their century-old mountain dairy, then transfer it to Gourmino’s caves in the Bernese Alps. The wheels spend at least six months there, aging deep inside a mountain. Rockflower debuted in the U.S. two years ago. “It’s our most successful cheese in terms of growth and new placements,” says Joe Salonia, Gourmino’s U.S. representative. Resembling a fine Gruyère, it has a firm, dense interior with a few pinhead-sized eyes and a seductive aroma of roasted onion, toasted walnut and cooked cream.

Sneek 1000-Day Gouda from Frisian Farms (Iowa) – Two brothers with Dutch heritage are behind this 15-year-old venture. One runs the dairy farm; the other makes the cheese. They only produce Gouda and sell most of it young, but a few wheels get extended aging. Nearly three years of patient babysitting yield a wheel that’s almost candy, with a dense, firm, butterscotch-colored interior. The aroma hints at pineapple but the caramel is foremost. Let a piece sit on your tongue and note how it melts into velvety smoothness punctuated with crystals. A tawny port is the ideal companion.

Le Tentation de St. Felicien (France)—Resembling Saint-Marcellin but larger and with cream added, Le Tentation de Saint-Félicien is, in a word, luscious. The cow’s milk curd is hand-ladled into the forms, a labor-intensive technique that is disappearing, and the 6-ounce disks are matured for about two weeks before leaving the creamery. No wonder they’re sublime, with a soft, delicate, wrinkly skin and an interior like pastry cream. The aroma hints at mushroom and the flavor suggests crème fraîche. Tentation was the resounding favorite at one of my cheese classes earlier this year.

Withersbrook Blue from Jasper Hill Farm (Vermont) –Made with raw cow’s milk from Jasper Hill’s own herd, Withersbrook is a four-pound cube aged in Vermont ice cider. It goes into a sealed pouch with the cider at two months and spends another four months marinating, a process that infuses the cheese with fruitiness. Apart from the format and the cider treatment, Withersbrook is the same cheese as Bayley Hazen…and yet so different. Bayley Hazen is more buttery and toasty; Withersbrook is creamier, a little spicier, and definitely more fruity and lactic. I loved it.