When most people think of Parmigiano-Reggiano they think of it as a cheese from grating onto pasta or salad. While we love the "king of cheeses" on top of a nice bowl of gnocchi or in a Cesar salad it's also fantastic as a snacking cheese.
Our cheese comes from the world-famous Cravero family affineurs in the cradle of the slow food movement in Bra, Italy. The cheese is made using raw milk from cows fed a strict diet of local forage. The cheese is made with a mix of evening and morning milks. The cream from the evening milk rises to the surface during the night and is skimmed off to make butter and ricotta. The cheese is then matured at the creamery for thirteen months. While still at the creamery Giorgio Cravero selects the wheels that he will transfer to his own maturing facility where the wheels will stay until they reach the age of at least 24 months.
Our Parmigiano-Reggiano has a softer texture than most and has a fantastic fruitiness and slight sweetness. Notes of pineapple, dried papaya, fresh baked bread and a lovely green grassiness are shown in the aroma and the flavor.
For the wine we've chosen the Ocone Falanghina del Taburno from Campania, Italy. The Ocone family has been cultivating and making wine in the Campania Region of Italy for 100 years. The Falanghina grape is an ancient white variety that is cultivated just north of Naples. This fuller bodied white wine has aromas of apricot and melon with rich, enveloping honeydew notes. The present acidity flows nicely with the lingering apricot and mango finish.
Usually consumed along the southern shores of Italy with seafood, this wine will pair nicely with the cheese due tot he cheese's saltiness and its subtle herbal nuances. While this wine is now sweet it certainly has vibrant fruit flavors that will create the fantastic salty-sweet paradigm that we all go crazy for. Come into any of our stores this weekend to get a taste of both!
For more on this fantastic cheese, it's history and why that stuff in the green can just can't compare, take a look at Cesar's informative post . Can't come to the shop? We
