For centuries men has brought their herds on mountains to let the valley pastures rest and be able to grow cereals. The mountain was a "vent valve" for the maintenance of livestock during the summer season, when the agricultural activities required an important and exclusive commitment of agricultural areas. But in the mountains, milk, for its perishable nature couldn’t be used for direct consumption if not in minimum percentage: it becomes so necessary to transform milk into cheese, to be able to preserve it.
This is how alpage tradition was born. Alpages are privileged sites for dairy productions but also fundamental elements to keep the mountain “alive”, productive, cared and of course to preserve an ancient knowledge.
Raw milk cheeses, all of them produced in summer, in the alpine pastures. Native cows, methods of production passed down for centuries, raw milk processing: these are the elements that allow us to taste amazing cheeses.
In their taste profile you will have the chance to trace thousands of essences and the terroir they represent, thanks to the producers who repeat still today the millennial rite of transhumance.
Here the selection of Alpage Cheeses that we are going to present at Taste 2018, in geographical order from the western to the eastern Alps.
Castelmagno DOP d'Alpeggio
Alpage: 1.660 m a.s.l. - Chiappi, Castelmagno (Piedmont)
Producer: La Meiro Terre di Castelmagno. Giorgio Amedeo, representative of the producers of the Presidium of Castelmagno d'Alpage, built together with his son Andrea a production and maturing site in Chiappi, the highest village in the municipality of Castelmagno. The alpine huts are located at altitudes above 1600 meters; at this height there are the best pastures, rich in herbs and flowers, essences that we find in this extraordinary cheese. The forms are then seasoned in humid tufo caves at 1900 meters.
Fontina Valdostana DOP d'Alpeggio
Alpage: 2.200 m a.s.l. - Mont Forclaz (Aosta Valley)
Producer: Nicoletta Srl. Nicoletta is a company that deals since 1988 with the aging of typical cheeses of Valle d'Aosta. A family of refiners, who have been researching the best cheeses in the Valle d'Aosta area for the last 25 years and taking them to maturity with the patience and expertise required by this ancient art. The Fontina we have selected is produced in the Mont Forclaz pasture at about 2200 meters above sea level, in the Valgrisenche area.
Formai de Mut DOP Alta Valle Brembana
Alpage: 1.800 - 2.300 m a.s.l. - Cornoa, Foppolo (Lombardy)
Producer: Latteria di Branzi. Formai de Mut is matured by Latteria di Branzi, in Alta Val Brembana, but the production is made in the mountain pastures, in about 40 "huts" at altitudes between 1300 and 2500 meters, exclusively during the summer season, between June and October. The cheese presented today was produced on the Alpe Val Carisole Giretta Pianone, by the Chiarelli Giovanni farm, at an altitude of 1800-2300 m above the sea level, in Carona-Foppolo territory, with raw milk from Bruna cows.
Storico Ribelle
Alpage: 1.500 - 2.000 m a.s.l. - Alpeggio Orta Vaga (Lombardy)
Producer: Cristina Gusmeroli. The Orta Vaga pasture is located in the Valley of Albaredo. Here the Gusmeroli family starts the alpage season from the lowest altitudes up to the summit towards the San Marco pass. Cristina is the young dairy woman who drives the herd in the Orta Vaga pasture together with her family. Cristina Gusmeroli, has been living in close contact with animals since she was a child and started making cheese at the age of 15. Her cheese has a good texture and a delicate and sweet taste that is maintained even along the maturation.
Bagoss di Bagolino
Alpage: 1.700 - 2.000 m a.s.l. - Bagolino (Lombardy)
Producer: Francesco Stagnoli. Francesco Stagnoli produces his Bagòss in a rigorously crafted way in the Malga Scaie at 1750 m high and in the Malga Cornelle at 2000 m high, in Bagolino (Brescia area), in Val Dorizzo. A gem that survived the crisis of the mountain economy thanks to a few cheese makers, like Francesco. The same old Bruna Alpina breed, the same pastures, the ancient experience of the cheesemakers passed on to the present days, unchanged over the centuries, a very special cheese.
Vezzena di Lavarone di Malga
Alpage: 1.000 - 1.400 m a.s.l. - Lavarone, Folgaria (Trentino Alto Adige)
Producer: Caseificio degli Altipiani e del Vezzena. Altipiani del Vezzena Dairy was founded in 2005, from the merging of two dairies, Lavarone and Folgaria-Costa. The cheese is very similar to Asiago d'Allevo but it differentiates for the specifity of the pastures where the milk is collected: the land of Folgaria-Lavarone, Luserna and the passo Vezzena where are located the mountain dairies: Malga Millegrobbe, Malga Zonta, Malga Pioverna and Costesin. Only the summer alpage production is marked with the "M" of Malga and is a Slow Food Presidium.
Asiago d'Allevo DOP Stravecchio
Alpage: 1.060 m s.l.m. - Val Lastro, Conco (Veneto)
Producer: Malga Verde.The Cortese family run Malga Verde since 2003, in Val lastaro in Conco (VI), one of the most beautiful valleys of the Asiago Plateau. The climate is characterized by cold winters with peak of about - 20 °C and temperate summers. Cortese family transforms only the milk from their own herd: about 60 cows, half of them from Bruna Italiana race.
Monte Cesen Stagionato
Alpage: 1.500 m a.s.l. Monte Cesen, Valdobbiadene (Veneto)
Producer: Ponte Vecchio - Malga Mariech. Ponte Vecchio is a farm run by Italo Curto, cheese-maker since 1974, together with his sons Stefano and Fabio, the fourth generation in a family devoted to farming and cheese-making. In summer all the family and the animals move to Malga Mariech, a mountain dairy located on Monte Cesen at 1500 meters height in the territory of Valdobbiadene (Treviso area).
