Onetik Ossau-Iraty offers flavors of toasted hazelnuts, sweet cream, caramel, and gentle earthiness, with a smooth, lingering finish. Traditionally, Basque sheep’s-milk cheeses are particularly delicious with black cherry preserves. Also try figs, pears, walnuts, honey, charcuterie, or crusty bread. Pair it with Madiran, Bordeaux, Pinot Noir, dry cider, Saison, or a malty amber ale.
Onetik produces traditional cheeses in Macaye, in the French Basque Country, an area shaped by generations of pastoral farming and sheep’s-milk cheesemaking. Ossau-Iraty is one of the region’s most important cheeses and carries protected designation status, restricting its production to a defined area of the western Pyrenees. Onetik draws on this regional tradition to create a cheese that showcases the naturally rich character of sheep’s milk and the distinctive flavors developed through maturation.
This selection is made from pasteurized sheep’s milk and matured for approximately six months. During aging, its paste develops a firm yet supple consistency and a concentrated flavor that remains balanced rather than aggressively sharp. Sheep’s milk provides natural richness and sweetness, while maturation introduces deeper nutty, caramelized, and gently savory characteristics. A natural rind surrounds the pale interior, giving the cheese a rustic appearance that reflects its Pyrenean heritage. Its combination of richness and restraint makes it approachable while still offering plenty of complexity.
Experience International Variety
You might receive a Gaperon, originating in France during the 14th Century, an
authentic Lancashire by Ruth Kirkham, and an Italian Taleggio matured in the
caves of Valsassina…all in one shipment!