Stilton
Colston Bassett £1.95 per 100g, Selfridges
A good bitey one which smells great. It's rather dry and I'm not sure why. Good veining though. A different breed compared to the others.
Marks & Spencer Quenby Hall £2.09, 200g
Another suitably veiny number, creamy and strong. Quite gooey.
Potted organic £24.50, 350g, Fortnum & Mason
Bitter on the end. Looks a little peculiar, which may be something to do with its 'location' (the pot).
Tesco, Finest mature £1.83, 215g
Less good, bit tough and cold. An unappealing slab rather than a moist mound.
Brie
Harvey Nichols, truffle brie
£5 per 100g, Harvey Nichols
Brilliant idea if massively unaffordable. A truffle sandwich surrounded by dark, rich brie. Sensational.
Waitrose, French ripe £2.10 per 200g
Everything you want from a brie - with a good, beef stock-like base. It's collapsing before my very eyes saying, 'Eat me, eat me!'.
Brie de Meaux £2.25 per 100g, Fortnum & Mason
Looks nice but smells a bit far gone. Good, rich, yellowy colour and a proper brie taste. Sadly it has an overly bitter aftertaste.
Brie de Melun £2.30 per 100g, Paxton & Whitfield
It has a very full flavour but I'm not terribly keen on the taste - I think it's just up against tough competition. Not a bad brie at all.
Mature cheddar
Daylesford Organic £1.80 per 100g, daylesfordorganic.com
Cor - what a chunk of cheese. Creamy, punchy, just amazing. Give me a wheel of this and a warm winter fire and I'd be happy.
Forman & Field, Montgomery's £9.95, 500g, formanandfield.com
Probably the oldest cheese of the lot - looks waxy and smells potent. Citrussy, strong taste. A delicious cheddar.
Cave-aged £1.50 per 100g, Waitrose
This has acidity and bite, combined with a buttery texture. Smeary rather than crumbly. It has quite a kick - twangs like a guitar string.
Graig Farm, organic Dairy House £3.69, 300g, graigfarm.com
Paler and sweatier and it doesn't have that sexy cheddar smell. Lacking saltiness.
Buffalo mozzerella
La Fromagerie £5.60 a ball, lafromagerie.com
Rather thick-skinned and stringy, but it unfurls nicely and sits bouncily on the plate. Very creamy and gooey and delicious.
Gastronomica £2.50 each, 125g, 020 7407 4488
Really rich but quite floppy. I like this one, particularly as it has a collection of flavours which aren't too overpowering. Just too slippery.
Paxton & Whitfield, Napoli £2.95 per ball, paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk
This one's all about the texture but it's rather flaccid in the centre and too salty for a mozzarella.
Selfridges £5 per 250g ball
Too clean and too salty and almost too milky. Not an ideal mozzarella if you're squeamish about where cheese comes from.
Greek feta
Selfridges £1.70 per 100g
A nice, unusual burnt-sugar taste. The best one by far. It's really subtle. To make something this mild is quite a skill.
Marks & Spencer, organic £2.25, 200g
I like this one. It's not too dense. Slight hint of bitterness, which is unappealing, but the flavour's very strong.
Cypressa £2.25, 200g, Waitrose
Mmm, this is saltily moreish. Craveable but only in small doses.
Harvey Nichols £1.65 per 100g
Too strong for a feta - I would expect something creamy and salty but this is verging on bitter. Not the nicest but then feta-making is a hard skill to master.
Parmesan
Parmigiano Reggiano £2.55 per 100g, Selfridges
The most outstanding of the lot - nutty with a burnt taste and stinkily tasty. Crumbles well, even if it's a little bitter on the finish.
La Fromagerie, 36 months old £2.34 per 100g
Nobbliest, crumbliest of the bunch, which implies some authentic parmesan. Quite cheddary - I prefer mine a little stronger - but a fine piece of cheese.
Fortnum & Mason, 48 months old £3.60 per 100g
A little under-flavoured but it's a great aged cheese. In fact, I dare say I haven't had anything this aged for some time. Good effort.
Waitrose £2.50 per 100g
Starts off reasonably well but it looks a little processed, (whether it is or not I don't know) and the flavours collapse after a few seconds.
Manchego
Villarejo, curado £2.20 per 100g, brindisa.com
Bloody delicious. Everything about this is beautiful. It has lots of dimension, is fruity and fresh. An absolute delight to eat.
Fortnum & Mason £3.20 per 100g
A little dark and uninspiring but it's a tasty, punchy little number. Good for manchego beginners.
Dehesa DOC Riserva £3 per 100g, Selfridges
Nice, mature flavour. Not amazing but I would love this melted on toast.
Waitrose, vintage £3.40 per 100g
Rather uninspiring. Five years ago this would have been it but now it falls by the wayside.
Goat
Rosary Ash £2.19 per 100g, 01794 322196
Smells mild and fresh, looks unusual and strangely alluring and it's still wonderfully light. The ash coating is both functional and genius. Superb.
Brindisa, El Suspiro £9.95, 300g, www.brindisa.com
What an unusual, punchy cheese. I've never seen one like this. Unusual consistency with a wonderfully smooth rind.
Forman & Field, Dorstone £6.50, 180g
A bit sticky but it looks the part. It has a nice, bouncy texture but it's rather flat.
Graig Farm, Ragstone £5.64 per 200g, graigfarm.co.uk
A goat's cheese log? Keep up ... at least it's nice and creamy if far too inoffensive.
· Alex James makes Little Wallop goat's cheese, £7.50 per cheese, available from Harvey Nichols, 020 7235 5000
