The lady said "Pungent," and that was like waving a red cloth in front of a bull. In the parking lot I ate a slice in the car on an artisan ciabata roll. Full-bodied, creamy, maybe slight grassy taste, a metallic undertone. I think hardwood forest when I eat it.
I once went to a wine tasting that described the flavor of a Burgundy as "barnyard smells," the earth-hay in the early morning, slightly tangy, not quite manure smell that is the undertone of the wine. Yep, I could taste that in the wine, and it was not a bad taste, definitely distinctive, but not bad.
Well, for this cheese, somebody needs to shovel out the barnyard stalls! It's a little too barnyard.
After I sampled the slice, I had to go to work, and the half-opened cheese lay in the back seat for a few hours. When I opened the car to go home, "Whew! Who cut the cheese!" It had gone from mildly barnyard, to GI ward at the hospital.
And you ask, "Did you throw it out?" "Of course not, I'm not going to let a little smell get in the way of a good breakfast. But I know not to share my cheese with the family. I'll finish what I bought.
It would work at a wine tasting with a strong bodied red wine, accompanied with grilled asparagus and Jamon Iberico.