To participate in the Cheese Board's Cheese of the Month Taleggio virtual tasting, http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/892781 , I called Healdsburg's Oakville Grocery to see if it had any on hand. The cheese department never answered the phone, so I dashed in on Monday. Well, I guess I haven't paid much attention since the change in ownership. The cheeses are now all locally made.
So, no Taleggio from Italy at Oakville. But the counter guy suggested Nicasio Square, an organic, farmstead cheese made in the style of Taleggio. Since I was there, I asked to taste it. Served refrigerator cold, this made a clean, very thin slice. No aroma, fairly firm and verging on rubbery, the closest comparison I can make is to supermarket muenster cheese. I've uploaded my photo of the cheese at Oakville. Notice that there's no price displayed . . . I asked and Nicasio Square is $33.75 per pound at Oakville!
Compare my photo with this one of a riper specimen.
http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/10/64/12/2310833/7/628x471.jpg
Luckily, I've tasted this cheese ripe before and liked it quite a bit or I would have written it off completely. At the farmers markets, this is often available for sampling, sometimes from a young and from a more ripe example. This cheese was introduced in 2010.
http://www.nicasiocheese.com/cheese.html
The cheese shop/dairy is open daily. Has anyone visited?
http://cheesetrail.org/?page_id=60#CM15
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