When I was invited by the UK-based Guild of Fine Food<\/a> (GFF) to attend the International Cheese Festival<\/a> in Oviedo, Spain as a judge at the 33rd-annual World Cheese Awards<\/a> (WCA), I decided to make the trip into a week-long educational journey. I would start and end in Madrid, covering some 1,000 miles in the central, northern, and eastern parts of the country, visiting a total of six cheesemakers before and after the awards on Nov. 3. The following are highlights of a whirlwind week.<\/span><\/p>\n Sunday, Oct. 31:<\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n Because Nov. 1 is All Saints Day, a national holiday in Spain, after landing at 9:45 a.m. my partner, (and de facto photographer, Jeff Leyden) have to hit the ground running. It\u2019s gray and drizzling as we drive out of the Madrid airport and I\u2019m grateful for the lack of traffic. Slightly bleary from the overnight flight, I\u2019m also thankful that for the first cheesemaker visit I will be accompanied by a translator who not only speaks English, but is also familiar with the complex territory of Spanish cheese. Enthusiastic, kind, and immensely helpful, Mar Sanz was recommended by Carrie Blakeman of <\/span>Rogers Collection<\/a>, one of two importers I worked with to plan my itinerary (the other is <\/span>Forever Cheese<\/a>). Mar and Joaquin Manchado Munoz, owner and cheesemaker at <\/span>Moncedillo<\/a>, are waiting at a highway gas station to guide us into the tiny hamlet of Cedillo de Torre in Segovia, where Joaquin\u2019s operation is located. <\/span><\/p>\n But first, we have to see the sheep. We bump down a dirt road between fields to a long barn, where pregnant ewes and their lambs rustle about in large, hay-filled pens. They belong to the farmer\u2019s 1,600-head herd of Churra, an ancient, now-rare breed that originated on the Iberian peninsula. Their milk is traditionally used for Zamorano<\/a>, but Joaquin uses it to make three raw-milk cheeses: Moncedillo Original (which won Gold at the WCA), Red\u2014dusted with spicy, smoky Pimenton de la Vera paprika\u2014and Madurado (aged). At his creamery, he explains that he and his wife, Esther Garcia Rodr\u00edguez landed on cheesemaking as their \u201crural Plan B\u201d following long careers in the film industry. Both Esther and Joaquin have worked extensively with celebrated Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almod\u00f3var, she as a producer and he as a cinematographer. Joaquin studied with a master affineur and found that the creativity involved in making cheese mirrors that of making films. \u201cI believe that whatever you do, do it with enthusiasm and do it well, or don\u2019t do it,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t