josh windsor

Josh Windsor is the  Associate Director of Caves at Murray’s Cheese in New York City, where  he develops and ages the Cave Aged line of specialty cheeses, including  the 2019 American Cheese Society (ACS) “Best in Show” winner  Stockinghall Clothbound Cheddar and  the 2022 World Cheese Awards “Best American Cheese” winner Greensward.  In addition to being a seasoned affineur (someone who ages cheese), Josh  is both an ACS Certified Cheese Professional and a Certified Cheese  Sensory Evaluator. Since 2020 he has taught  the Sensory Evaluation unit for Cornell University’s Science of Cheese  short course. Josh shares his love of all things dairy by teaching  cheese appreciation, science, and history at Murray’s Cheese Boot Camp.   In 2025, he began writing the quarterly cheese  science column for Culture Magazine’s print and digital editions. 

A modern day  polymath, Josh holds a degree in philosophy from Sarah Lawrence College  and an MFA in Arts Leadership from Seattle University. He has served on  the board of directors for several dance companies,  has a penchant for contemporary music composition, and enjoys reading  up on post-humanist philosophy. In addition to writing the cheese  science column for Culture Magazine, Josh runs the Instagram account  @theaffineur where he blends his interest in art, science,  philosophy, and cheese in micro-essays about the craft of affinage. 

 Always seeking to  foster a culture of learning and discovery in the cheese industry, Josh  runs a quarterly cheese cave internship program at Murray’s Cheese that  has trained scores of burgeoning affineurs.  He serves on the board of directors for the Daphne Zepos Teaching  Endowment funding a wide array of cheese research around the world and  is an active member of the community biology lab, Genspace, where he  explores the microbial world of cheese rinds.

 Josh is sought out  as an expert in dairy, cheese, affinage, and fermentation microbiology  with a reputation as being a charismatic and passionate educator and  speaker. He is regularly asked to speak at industry  associations such as the International Dairy Deli Bakery Association,  the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin’s Cheese State University, The Barnyard  (a NYC based cheese education center), and the American Cheese Society.  In addition he been an active participant in  workshops such as the international collectives Future Organisms,  Microbial Memories, and the Micobiology of Cheese at Tuft’s University.

@theaffineur