Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve

Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve: American cheese royalty

It's hard to find a more beloved American cheese than Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve. Made with natural, Old World techniques from the raw milk of a single herd of Wisconsin cows, Pleasant Ridge Reserve is an aged, washed-rind, Alpine-style cheese. It's made only in the summer months when the cows are grazing on fresh pasture. The result is a rich and salty cheese with complex and exquisite flavors and a long, fruity finish. It's no wonder that Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve is the most awarded cheese in American history.

The Story of Uplands Cheese

Owned and operated by two families, Uplands Cheese is located in Wisconsin's Driftless Region with rolling hills and valleys and soils that are ideal for grazing animals. Uplands' uses only their own fresh milk to produce Pleasant Ridge Reserve. Their cows enjoy a diversity of grasses, legumes, and wildflowers, and they're moved every 12 to 24 hours to a new pasture to prevent the land from being overgrazed. This practice gives the milk exceptional flavor that's perfect for making a high-quality cheese similar to the Alpine cheeses from the Alpine regions of France and Switzerland.

Wisconsin: The State of Cheese

Uplands Cheese is part of a long tradition of cheesemaking innovation in Wisconsin. Our cheesemakers have been perfecting Old World techniques and inventing new cheeses since the mid-19^th century. Along with Uplands' Pleasant Ridge Reserve, you'll find over 600 varieties, types, and styles of cheese in Wisconsin. These include award-winners and Wisconsin originals like Sartori SarVecchio Parmesan, Wood River Creamery Cheddar Gruyere from Burnett Dairy, Chalet Cheese Co-op's Gouda Parmesan cheese, Dunbarton Blue cheese from Roelli Cheese Haus, and Widmer brick cheese from Widmer's Cheese Cellars.

All About Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve

What's the flavor of Pleasant Ridge Reserve?

The extraordinary appeal of Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve is its amazing combination of complex sweet and savory flavors. Grass-fed raw milk imparts lush, sweet, fruity notes with hints of mango, passionfruit, and pineapple. The brine-wash adds complex umami flavors. Aged for a minimum of nine months, the cheese has a dense, creamy-crunchy texture.

How is it made?

Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve is made only with the milk from the farm's herd of roughly 140 Holsteins, Jerseys, and Brown Swiss cows. The cheese is made only during peak pasture season, after calving in the spring – a time when the cows are happily feeding on fresh grass in open pastures. The cheese is made from raw milk that is cooked and pressed into 10-pound, rounded molds and left to age in the creamery's built-in ripening rooms. Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheeses are washed several times a week with a brine solution to encourage the growth of bacteria on the rind and, along with the indigenous microflora in the milk, create the sophisticated flavor of the cheese over time.

What is the Extra Aged variety?

Because each batch of Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve matures at its own pace, the eatch batch is constantly tested to determine when it's ready to sell. A small number of wheels each year are aged for more than a year and sold as Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve in the fall and early winter.

What awards has it won?

Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve is the most awarded cheese in American history. It won Best of Show in the American Cheese Society's annual competition three times, in 2001, 2005, and 2010 – the only cheese to ever claim three titles. It also won the U.S. Cheese Championships in 2003, making it the only cheese to ever have won both of the major national cheese competitions.

How to enjoy Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve

With beverages

A complex and aged cheese like Pleasant Rich Reserve is best enjoyed with full-flavored beverages. Think robust red wines, rich oaky whites, dry rieslings, and fruity Belgian-style beers.

With food

In the kitchen, Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve melts beautifully and can add flavor to any dish that calls for Alpine-style cheeses like gruyere or Beaufort. Try it in fondue, French onion soup, hearty sandwiches, or baked into savory scones and muffins.

When grazing

On the cheese board, Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve can be paired with spiced pecans, cranberry crisps, slices of chorizo, tart cherry and white tea preserves, sea salt crackers, and strawberry rhubarb preserves.