Chris Vogel and the Cheeses of Dellendale Creamery

At Dellendale Creamery, near Denmark in Western Australia’s Great Southern, Chris Vogel makes cheese shaped by local milk, the changing seasons and the skills he learned in Switzerland. We visited the family farm to hear how it all began and to explore the cheeses we have come to know at Singlefile.

I first came to know Chris through his deliveries of cheddar and Tilsit wheels, along with bundles of triple cream brie, to our Cellar Door. This time, we met on his farm, where the cheesemaking rooms sit alongside the paddocks. Over a glass of Singlefile’s 2025 Single Vineyard Frankland River Shiraz, he begins to share the story behind Dellendale.

From pasture to cellar

At the entrance to the production room, I exchange my boots for a pair of factory slides. Natural light fills the space. Chris speaks about the pasture, the cows and the milk they produce, but also about the environment in which he works. “For us to see outside is important,” he says. “The harmony with the whole lot. If you’re feeling happy, your environment is nice, that reflects on to the bacteria.”

Those cultures are central to the flavour of his cheese. Chris explains how their enzymes break down proteins as a cheese matures, and how each stage, from the treatment of the milk to the temperature of the cellar, affects the result. As in winemaking, the season matters. Changes in what the cows eat alter the composition of the milk, so a familiar cheese can develop differently from one batch to the next.

We pass trays of young soft cheese on our way to the ageing room. Inside, wheels in shades of cream, gold and deep yellow line the shelves. Chris moves among them with ease, checking their rinds and explaining how time, moisture and wheel size shape each one. The cellar’s pungent air makes its own impression; after a few minutes, I am ready to continue our conversation outside.

His Tilsit is creamy and gently floral, with a mild citrus character. A longer period of maturation takes the cheese towards raclette, while the smaller Nullaki wheel develops in its own way. Washed with roasted wattle seed, Nullaki also carries a personal connection to the nearby peninsula where Chris grew up. His cheddar offers another interpretation of a familiar style: less sharp and crumbly, with a character closer to the mountain cheeses he came to know in Switzerland.

Back in the fresh air, Chris turns to the wine in our glasses. For this Frankland River shiraz, he would choose his Appenzeller-style cheese, with its rich, spicy character. It is a reminder that choosing a wine with cheese can begin with the particular cheese in front of you, rather than a rule about the whole category.

The road to cheesemaking

Chris grew up on this farm with his Swiss-born father, working with dairy cows. When changes to the milk industry threatened the viability of a small family dairy, making cheese offered a possible way forward. The death of his father made the question more immediate. “Now with my mentor gone, what do I do with the milk and how do I survive?” Chris recalls.

He had little experience of cheesemaking at the time. An early opportunity at a cheese factory on King Island led him to Switzerland, where he worked in a succession of factories and studied dairy science in German. One factory in particular showed him the possibilities beyond making the same style each day. Across the years that followed, he learned to make cheeses including Tête de Moine, Gruyère, Emmental and Tilsit, gaining a practical understanding of the different traditions behind them.

When he returned to Denmark, Chris drove road trains while converting an old farm workshop into a cheesemaking facility. He worked on the building between driving shifts, painting floors and taking on whatever construction jobs needed doing. Dellendale’s first sales began locally, before its cheeses reached Albany, Perth and eventually markets farther afield.

The Swiss training remains evident, but Chris has made room for the place he calls home. Local milk and the rhythms of the Great Southern inform the cheeses, while ingredients such as wattle seed give some of them a character distinctly their own. Dellendale’s soft cheeses helped introduce people to the creamery; today, Chris is especially keen for more people to discover its semi-firm and firm wheels.

At home in Denmark

As the light settles over the paddocks, the cows are still grazing. Chris speaks of his family, the work of running the farm and the welding projects he takes on away from the factory. He also points to the balcony, where he wishes he spent more time simply taking in the view.

After years spent learning his craft elsewhere, Denmark remains the place to which he returned. “It’s where I grew up and where the factory is,” he says. “Having lived in so many places, Denmark is the key for me; being here since the age of 9, I’ve found my place.”