Our cheese
LaBelle cheese began in 2010 as a journey to tell our family dairy farm’s story where the deep love of our land, cattle and heritage is brought to you in a handcrafted local artisan food product. LaBelle means beautiful in French, and there is beauty in our farmstead approach to transforming fresh premium milk from our Holstein dairy herd into this aged Gouda-style cheese that we are so honored to share with you.
Where it all starts
LaBelle cheese is made only with the milk from the Koepke family’s herd of Holstein dairy cows. This single milk source from one family farm is the hallmark of LaBelle cheese. The cows are milked in a modern milking parlor where we also can monitor their daily health. The cows are free to choose when to eat, drink and lie down every day and night.
Milk miles
The milk being made into LaBelle cheese is transported in a small milk truck 40 miles to Clock Shadow Creamery in downtown Milwaukee who is our cheese making partner. Clock Shadow Creamery is Milwaukee’s first and only urban creamery opened by Bob Wills who is a Master Cheesemaker that created the LaBelle recipe for our family.
Where LaBelle is made
When the milk arrives at Clock Shadow Creamery, the licensed cheesemakers use their well-trained skills to create LaBelle cheese from the Koepke farm sourced milk. Every step of the process is carefully monitored. Here the cheese curd is pressed into forms or molds that create LaBelle cheese wheels. Because of the handcrafted process, each wheel is a unique weight between 10-12 pounds because the cheesemakers hand pack the molds.
Where we age and store LaBelle
Once the wheels are ready to leave Clock Shadow Creamery, we transport them back to an aging and storage facility custom-built on the farm. Each wheel is packaged in a single carton awaiting the ideal age to be brought to market between 6 months to one year.
