Craggy Range Sheep Dairy is a small family farm in the beautiful Tukituki Valley in Hawke’s Bay, from where James and Kate Clairmont produce a range of award-winning sheep cheeses. Sheep milk is naturally homogenised, so it is lovely and creamy with a velvety texture and it is higher in amino acids, protein and iron than cow’s milk and has almost twice the calcium. Their passion for sheep and their care of their animals is at the very core of everything they do and this is evident in their ethical and sustainable farming practices. Lambs stay with the ewes for the first two months following birth, until they are old enough to be weaned and start milking in the shed. Milking is then once a day only and the sheep milk is carefully crafted into a range of cheese in the factory right on the farm.

Grassy and earthy, the Italian-style pecorino is a light creamy colour with subtle notes of fruit and pasture. The underlying full sheep-milk creaminess lingers on the palate, perfectly matched with fresh pear or as an excellent New Zealand alternative to parmesan to be grated on risotto or pasta. sheepdairy.nz