



About Michael Landis
Food and Beverage Educational Services
American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional American Cheese Society Certified Sensory Evaluator Court of Master Sommeliers Cicerone Certified Beer Server Guilde des Fromages World Cheese Judge International Cheese Awards Ambassador North America
Michael Landis has over 25 years of experience in teaching wine, beer, cheese and food pairings around the United States and abroad. He is an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, Certified Cheese Sensory Evaluator, Court of Masters Sommelier, Certified Cicerone beer server and was inducted into the International Guilde des Fromages. He has been an cheese Judge at the World Cheese Awards, International Cheese Awards and the Global Cheese Awards for over 10 years and is the Ambassador for North America Cheeses at the International Cheese Awards.
Most recently, he joined the world’s most talented chefs, culinary influencers and wine and spirit experts at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman for the 11th annual Cayman Cookout. The event, hosted by acclaimed chef Eric Ripert, was an interactive celebration and offering an exciting agenda featuring José Andrés, Emeril Lagasse along with him conducting 4 educational cheese, wine, beer and charcuterie pairing events throughout the event.
Author of 8 industry publications along with the soon to be released book, “Beer Stories” complete with over 200 beer and cheese pairings. He is regularly featured on CBS Morning shows and is an award winning brewer, winning multiple awards, including a Gold Medal at the Great American Beer Festival for a Collaborative Black Lager.
Here are the cheeses we will be tasting:


Saint-André








Chaumes









Etorki






Esquirrou Ossau-Iraty








Saint Agur













About Savencia
What We Do
Savencia is a family owned group, operating mainly in the cheese and dairy industry as well as fine delicatessen and chocolate. Savencia Fromage & Dairy is amongst the world’s leading companies in producing specialty cheeses. As a proud subsidiary, Savencia Cheese USA specializes in crafting high end specialties in the USA under brands Alouette, Chavrie, Dorothy’s and Smithfield to name a few. Savencia Cheese USA also imports the best high end cheeses such as Esquirrou, St Andre, St Agur, Etorki, Le Montagnard and Maroilles Fauquet.
Culture & Values
Leading the way to better food, innovating, promoting quality and respect for nature, developing and promoting our staff, investing to ensure growth and long-term stability, contributing to the common good: it's on the respect and application of these values that our group has always been committed to deploying its responsible and sustainable energy.
Corporate Social Responsibility
With the vision of "Leading the Way to Better Food", Groupe Savencia has developed a CSR Program called "OXYGEN" to innovate nutritious and quality food using responsible sources with less environmental footprint while creating a better place to work for its employees and working with community to raise awareness in social, economic, and environmental issues.
Food Safety and Quality
At Savencia Cheese USA, Food Safety and Quality are our top priority! Our products only start with the finest and safest ingredients. From the processing to packaging, our products go through many comprehensive quality and safety checks to ensure our customers are consistently receiving the safest and best quality products. All of our domestic and imported products are manufactured or processed in facilities that are either BRC, IFS or SQF FSSC2200 certified. In Savencia Cheese USA, we implement continuous improvement principles to make sure we meet and exceed the government regulations, customer and Savencia Groupe requirements while maintaining a robust food safety and quality culture.
Savencia Fromage & Dairy Heritage
The history of Savencia Fromage & Dairy began in France in 1956 with "Caprice des Dieux" - a soft ripened cheese that revolutionized the market. Today, Savencia is one of the leading cheese and dairy companies, and a leader in high-quality chocolate specialties, fine meats and fish products.
Savencia Cheese USA story began in the early ‘70’s when the renowned French cheese maker Jean-Noel Bongrain decided it was time to bring his passion and skill for French specialty cheese to the States.
In 1974, Alouette Spreadable Cheese was born and has grown to become the leader in soft spreadable cheese.
Today, Savencia Cheese USA has 3 manufacturing locations across the United States and is an importer of a carefully selected portfolio of France’s finest specialty cheeses.