Somewhere special to eat

Whitestone Cheese

Simon Berry eats blue cheese on toast for breakfast. Not every day, of course, but he has to do his bit to support the family business. “I love all our cheeses, but the blue is the best,” he says. “But it depends on the season because there's so much scope.” It's not as if he doesn't have a wide variety to choose from. Whitestone Cheese, the company started by his father Bob and mother Sue back in 1987, now produces 25 different kinds of cheese from its Ōamaru factory. One of those cheeses – the Vintage Windsor Blue that Simon is so fond of having on his toast some mornings – is now exported to France. It also won a gold medal in the 2019 Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards, along with Whitestone's Ferry Road Halloumi (the highest-scoring cheese in the awards) and its Vintage Five Forks 50/50 goat's and cow's milk cheese. The Ōamaru limestone plays a part in creating Whitestone's awardwinning blocks of another kind. Simon says the limestone soils in the area help promote flourishing sweet pastures, which in turn makes for great milk. “Our location means we have a fantastic water supply, which runs directly from the glaciers of Mount Cook to our mineralrich soil. We have a great raw product on our doorstep. That's our point of difference.”

Whitestone wins awards at every cheese contest going and has 50 staff working at the Ōamaru factory, which also boasts a cheese shop/ deli and hosts factory tours. 3 Torridge Street, Ōamaru. 0800 892 433, whitestonecheese.co.nz

Annabel and Simon Berry