Red Hill Portsea Picnic

This is the goat milk version of Sorrento Picnic


Cheese Maker: Red Hill Cheese
Cheese: Portsea Picnic
Location: 81 William Road (Off Arthurs Seat Road), Red Hill
Cellar Door: Open weekends & public holidays Noon-5pm (except Christmas, Boxing Day & Good Friday)

While it may be shaped exactly like the Sorrento Picnic, once unwrapped the differences become more obvious


That white to beige rind carries a saffron hue that's slightly sticky in parts.


Once cut we observe a much paler coloured cheese. The taste is fresh with a slight tang, reminiscent of a mild cheddar. When we sampled the portsea and sorrento together on the cheese platter, we thought that this Portsea was the better of the two.

Red Hill Fingal Gold

I must preface this post by saying that at the moment, there isn't much stock available when in comes to washed rinds.



Cheese Maker: Red Hill Cheese
Cheese: Fingal Gold
Location: 81 William Road (Off Arthurs Seat Road), Red Hill
Cellar Door: Open weekends & public holidays Noon-5pm (except Christmas, Boxing Day & Good Friday)

There must be something about using gold wrappers when it comes to washed rind - discovery scrubbed brie and goldenbelle both utilise similar wrappings. Regardless of choice, there's always something wonderful about unwrapping a cheese like this, it's your nose that gets the first indication of what is in store.


The skin is a little fairer in colour compared to others but this is also a while off from reaching full maturation (use by date is september!)


This hasn't been out of the fridge for very long so it's a lot firmer than I would expect.


With aging you'll see that softening around the edges continue to move towards the center.



At the moment, it's quite mild in flavour but still has a lovely creaminess in the mouth.

Capra Serenade

It could be said that I love cheese but this next cheese loves you back - how can you resist the delightful heart-shaped Serenade from Capra Cheese?


Cheese Maker: Capra
Cheese Name: Serenade
Location: 125 Tices Road, Mt Lookout


This has a double layer of ash - one surrounding the heart and the other straight through the center.


All cheese made by Capra uses organic goats' milk from their own free-range herd.


Much like their Velvet this has that same creamy, clean taste with the ash giving it another dimension. The flavour is quite distinct, I know my sister likened it to a blue cheese but I put it more towards a bitey vintage cheddar.

This cheese is now available at The Cheese Shop Deli at Prahran Market as well as the other places listed in my earlier post.

Originally published here