Master cheese makers Gabrielle Kervella and Alan Cockman have developed their own unique styles, derived from ancient techniques.

OPINION: A serious financial investor I was speaking to the other day told me he'd instructed his fund manager to 'redefine' his portfolio.

First thing on his wish list being dump his Fonterra shares. It doesn't surprise me - rock star companies can be like rock star economies, they turn belly up by whims of commodity markets, fluctuating currencies, even peddling risky infant milk formula to the Chinese.

I'm not sympathetic. For years, Fonterra diddled me to into drinking their homogenised-tasting milk, and it wasn't until I tasted fresh, raw milk again from Village Milk at Motupipi did I wake up to what I'd been missing out on – real tasting milk.

I must have forgotten, because I had a house cow once.

The same goes for cheese – our market flooded with blocks of Mild, Tasty, and Edam for a bit of variation – thanks Fonterra for nothing, no taste worth celebrating anyway.

I must admit my big cheese wake-up call only came last month when I visited Kervella Cheese, a small boutique cheese maker at East Takaka. That visit proved a revelation for me.

Gerard Hindmarsh Gabrielle Kervella and Alan Cockman say New Zealand could be at the forefront of cheese production, concentrating on quality and new styles.

Alan Cockman and Gabrielle Kervella came to live on their 4 hectares of totara-studded river terrace at East Takaka five years ago.

From their tiny fromagerie built into a stainless steel-lined shipping container, they now create a unique range of modern cheeses found nowhere else in New Zealand.

Forget the usual artisanal cheese styles – the likes of feta, camembert, haloumi – Kervella have developed their own unique styles, derived from ancient techniques. And each one tastes divine!

The furthest any their cheeses seem to make it is Nelson, Marlborough, and occasionally Wellington, so snapped up are they by a steady stream of devoted customers.

Much of it goes at the Saturday Market in Takaka where they have a regular stall. Their products include three ages of 'Pikiki' hard cheese, a dried wash rind, a white-blue cheese, and a raw milk cheese soon to follow.

Interesting that their cheese varieties are named after emotional attributes - Love, Blush, Innocence, Essence, Temptation, Knowledge and Wisdom. Not surprising when you realise Alan studied philosophy.

By far their most popular cheese is Love, a semi soft white rind cheese that melts in your mouth and leaves you thinking you wont bother with bland camembert again.

Alan was born in Kent and moved to South Africa when he was 17, working his way up to position of foreman in the engineering division of Clover Dairies, a big dairy company there.

"I realised the most important man in the whole factory was the guy who made the 'starters', because they dictate everything. We became friends and he encouraged me to study dairy microbiology specialising in raw milk cheese."

Alan later shifted to Australia, Gabrielle sponsoring him out, and the couple came to New Zealand in 2008,

Gabrielle, a trained concert violinist, is the daughter of Riwaka-born war hero General Sandy Thomas.

Murray Hedwig Alan's day starts before most of us, when he heads over to Mark and Laura Manson's farm to get the first batch of their milk.

She recalls her childhood; "We lived all over the place - Africa, India, Arabia, post-war Germany. When my father became a diplomat, we shifted to Canberra."

Australia was where Gabrielle set up with a couple hundred goats to become the first biodynamic goat farm in the Southern Hemisphere. Her subsequent mastery of cheesemaking earned her Australia's top cheese award in 1996-98 and she was invited to France to be a cheese judge at that country's top awards.

They certainly could have picked an easier life.

Alan's day starts at 3.45am when he does a boil up to wash everything down in their tiny factory. Then he heads over to the adjoining dairy farm owned by the Manson family, and grabs the first batch of milk that hits the vat, a modest 200 litres a week in total.

Marion van Dijk/Stuff When you call your cheeses Love, Blush, Innocence, Essence, Temptation, Knowledge and Wisdom, the temptation to tuck in is obvious.

"The first milk is the best," Alan explains. "That's because the strongest healthiest 'bully' cows usually push their way to the front and get milked first. "

Well-tested balanced soils along with the Manson's sound 'biological' farming methods are the reason though why Kervella source their milk from this farm.

From that collection point, the milk is not pumped anymore, at the most it's gently paddled. Moulding, turning and packing ensue before the incessant washing down at the end of the day.

"This country could be at the forefront of cheese production, concentrate on quality and develop new styles," Alan reckons. "The era of big dairy is over. We used to be like this, little factories producing their own styles."

"Even Golden Bay's old cheese factory at Rockville used to make great cheese before they switched to packet starters, instant cake mix stuff."

This couple believe we should go back to cheesemaking being an apprenticed profession, not a factory job. In France they're regarded as artisans.

MPI here with all their regulations have put the fear of God into producers, as they try to set hygiene and process standards to protect the public from under-qualified producers.

Marion van Dijk/Stuff The couple believe cheesemaking should be an apprenticed profession, not a factory job.

It's only been 10 years since cheesemakers have been able to use raw milk again Says Alan.

"We have to remember the cleaner things are, the more bacteria that can get in, bad as well as good. Understanding the microbiological processes is critical, even if I depend more on my nose these days, and Gabrielle has a nose for cheese which is far better than mine."

These master cheesemakers are hoping to inspire a new generation into their craft by selling ready-to-go micro-fromagerie, complete with the unique recipes and starter cultures which can be worked by one person which they liken to "a chef in a galley".

I have seen the future of cheese, and it does not resemble Fonterra.