"The cheddar tastes like the paddock smells after rain — grassy and warm and honest. I have been buying cheese for forty years and this is the best in the Wairarapa."Ngaire Thompson, Greytown · customer since 2021 Rind & Meadow Creamery · Martinborough
The cheeses
Six wheels from one herd.
Every cheese starts with the same morning milk from our twenty-eight Jerseys grazing forty hectares of Wairarapa pasture. The difference is time, cultures and what happens in the cellar.
Aged cheddar · 12 months
Meadow Gold$18 / 200 g
Clothbound and cave-aged. Nutty with a caramel finish that deepens through winter. Firm, crumbly, best with quince paste or a Central Otago pinot.
Washed-rind · 8 weeks
Te Muna Wash$24 / 180 g wheel
Copper rind washed twice weekly with Martinborough sauvignon brine. Pungent, earthy and runny at room temperature. Not for the timid.
Blue vein · 6 months
Martinborough Blue$22 / 150 g wedge
Sharp and minerally with green-blue veining through a dense paste. Pair with walnuts, honey and a bold red.
Fresh · made daily
Morning Ricotta$12 / 250 g tub
Creamy and mild, drained overnight in muslin. Eat on toast with olive oil and flaky salt, or fold through pasta.
Halloumi · with olive oil
Olive Grove Halloumi$16 / 200 g block
Pressed with Wairarapa olive oil. Firm, salty, squeaks on the pan. Holds its shape on the barbecue better than any import.
Pressed tomme · seasonal
Seasonal Wheel$28 / quarter wheel
Changes with the paddock. Spring wheels are light and grassy; winter wheels are dense and rich. We label each batch with the month it was pressed.
Seasonal wheel
What the milk does.
Jersey milk changes with the seasons. Select a month to see what is at its best and what we feature at the cellar door.
Tap a month above to see what is in season and what we feature at the cellar door.
Gallery
Field notes.
Where to find us
Shelves and stalls.
Wellington
- Moore Wilson'sCollege Street · All six cheeses, restocked Thursdays
- Pandoro BakeryAllen Street · Ricotta and halloumi
- Commonsense OrganicsWakefield Street · Cheddar, blue and seasonal wheel
Wairarapa
- Village Café, MartinboroughThe full range plus tasting platters
- Poppies VineyardPaired with pinot for cellar-door visitors
- French Baker, GreytownCheddar and washed-rind, weekends only
Farmers' markets
- Wellington Harbourside MarketSundays 7:30 am – 1 pm · Full range
- Greytown Village MarketFirst Saturday of the month · 9 am – 1 pm
Seasonal cheese boxes
Summer box $65 (ricotta, halloumi, young cheddar). Winter box $75 (aged cheddar, blue, washed-rind). Posted nationwide in insulated packaging.
Order by email: cheese@rindandmeadow.co.nz
How we make it
Paddock to cellar.
Morning milking
Bessie, Clover, Hazel and the rest of the twenty-eight walk themselves to the dairy at 5:30 am. We milk by hand twice daily — morning and evening.
Same-day make
Milk goes into the vat within two hours. Cultures, rennet and salt are added depending on the cheese. Fresh ricotta is done by midday; cheddar curds are cut and stacked through the afternoon.
Pressing and moulding
Curds are pressed in clothbound moulds or shaped into wheels. The washed-rind wheels get their first brine bath on day one.
Underground ageing
Our cellar is cut into a clay hillside behind the dairy, holding a constant 12 °C year-round. Cheddar stays twelve months; the tomme varies from four to eight.
Hand-finishing
Every wheel is turned, inspected and waxed or clothbound by hand. Washed-rind wheels are washed twice a week for eight weeks before they are released.
Sustainability
Closing the loop.
- Zero-waste wheyAll whey goes to our neighbour's Berkshire pigs. Nothing leaves the valley.
- Solar-powered dairyA 14 kW array covers 85% of the dairy's electricity. The cellar needs no climate control.
- Compostable packagingAll retail packaging is home-compostable cellulose. Market bags are unbleached cotton.
- Regenerative grazingRotational mob grazing with a 60-day rest per paddock. Soil carbon measured annually — up 4% since 2021.