Does Artisinal have to mean small? Does scarcity make it better? Don't we buy Eppoise's here in the USA and the entire world for that matter? They are all made in Burgundy, and the quality/flavor is good. So why should an American "Artisanal" cheese be any different? Or does the "snob" appeal make it better also?

"The word "artisan" or "artisanal" implies that a cheese is produced primarily by hand, in small batches, with particular attention paid to the tradition of the cheesemaker's art, and thus using as little mechanization as possible in the production of the cheese. Artisan, or artisanal, cheeses may be made from all types of milk and may include various flavorings." –The American Cheese Society

It really doesn't take that large a company to make a huge amount of cheese relative to the fine cheese market. The proof is in the eating and in the nature of the cheeses themselves. If they are seasonal, well (mostly by hand) made, and they reflect the terroir of where they are made, then they are artisanal. If they are made strictly for uniformity, they are industrial production. There are small producers of reggiano or ementaler who are industrial even though they are hand making tier cheese because they are going for a uniform product that only reflects a large production zone's characteristic. There are other producers of the same size whose aim is to make the best, most individual cheese they can and they are artisan.

Cypress Grove probably has about 20 to 30 employees. They hand ladel their fresh and ripened cheeses. Their block cheeses are mostly sent out to be mmade and I am not a fan of those. At least as far as their fresh & ripened cheeses are concerned they are still pretty artisanal to me.

I've had a lot of pretty lame American "artisanal" cheese, and a lot of very good cheese made by what I assume are fairly un-artisanal European Co-ops (and good American and bad European cheese, as well). Annual production of Pont L'eveque is 3500 tons, who knows how many of those huge wheels of Regianno get produced in a year? (not Wikipedia, apparently)

Unless they have outstripped their supply of quality milk and help, a concerned cheesemaker should be able to ramp up production and still maintain quality (and wouldn't it be great if the prices came down?)

Google does: about 100,000 tons.

The other day at Whole Foods (Bethesda) I bought one of the most delicious cheeses I've had in years: Monocacy Silver, made by Cherry Glen Farms in Boyds, MD. It's a very mild chevre, and I cut into it at a nice stage of ripeness, wuthg the paste totally runny near the rind but nicely creamy deeper inside. It has a fresh, clean, light flavor. Good cheese from Montgomery County. Who'd've thought it?

We also carry the Cherry Glen cheeses at Cheesetique. I've been out to the farm several times - at less than an hour away from DC, Diane and Sharon are our city's closest cheesemakers. Try the Monocacy Ash - its similar to the Silver, but with a ribbon of ash through the center and underneath the rind.