Dreams come true: Stutzien Robiola di Roccaverano DOP

The Stutz family's story is like something out of a Hollywood movie: in 1991, a young Swiss couple, André and Simone, hear from a friend about a farm in the Langhe region of south-eastern Piedmont, in the heart of the birthplace of Roccaverano DOP cheese. Mombaldone is a small village of 200 inhabitants in Roccaverano, which is also listed as one of the most beautiful villages in the country on the " I Borghi piu belli d'Italia " list.

André and Simone visited the farm and fell in love with it. They soon found themselves, their two young sons and all their worldly possessions on an old farm on the outskirts of the village of Mombaldone.

FROM CUTS TO THE BEST CHEESE IN THE COUNTRY

When the family arrived in the village, the farm was just a one-room shack in the middle of 40 hectares. Although the couple had attended agricultural school, they had no knowledge of cheesemaking or goat farming. They started out in the garage, making 10 cheeses a day, guided by advice from neighbors, and developing the recipe one cheese at a time.

Gradually, the hut also gained new rooms and floors. First, Stutzie's cheese received organic certification in 1999, and in 2006, Stutzie's Robiola di Roccaverano DOP won the award for best cheese in Italy.

NEW GENERATION, NEW STREETS

Ten years later, sons Jerome and Ramon took over the farm alongside their parents. The cheese factory got a brand new building, as did the animals and families.

The Stutz family in two generations: Ramon, Simone, Jerome and his wife, and André

Robiola di Roccaverano was the first Piedmontese cheese to receive the prestigious DOP label in 1996. The DOP label strictly regulates the production of the cheese, from the breed of goat to the feed fed to them, both of which must be local to the Roccaverano area. For this reason, the cheese is produced in a very limited way and could never be made on an industrial scale.

There are 16 Robiola di Roccaverano producers in the region, all but one of whom get their milk from their own farm, like Jerome and Ramon. In total, 400,000 pieces of cheese are produced annually.

"That amount wouldn't even be enough for one cheese per Piedmontese person!", Jerome calculates.

LIVING IN PAIMENTA LIKE A PEIMONTEAN

Jerome and his herders have a close relationship with the goats. They are present at the birth of almost every kid, and hand-feed them from the very beginning.

"It is important that the animals get to know us so that they follow us when we go herding."

Goats can live up to 15 years, and taking care of them is one of Jerome’s most important tasks. Without healthy and happy goats, he wouldn’t be able to make cheese and support his family. Luckily for Jerome, his brother Ramon is a veterinarian who is always there when needed. The goats are taken out to graze for a few hours a day. The role of the shepherd is particularly important here: the shepherd must choose the right place for grazing and change it daily so that the goats get the right food and don’t eat the area bare.

The most beautiful villages in Italy: The village of Mombaldone is known as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. The meadows and forests surrounding it provide delicious food for the goats.

The goats are milked twice a day, 12 goats at a time. In fact, all 150 goats on the farm are milked in two hours. One goat produces an average of 3.5 liters of milk per day. Jerome’s goats are mainly the local camosciata wild goat breed, which produces less milk, but the quality of the milk and the cultures it contains are richer. The milk is never pasteurized, as raw milk naturally contains important bacteria and cultures that help the cheese ripen properly.

Jerome's own culture is added to the milk milked in the evening, which helps the milk to naturally oxidize overnight. The milk milked in the morning is then added to this evening milk, and cheesemaking can begin.

DELICATE CHEESES ARE MADE WITH SKILL AND EXPERIENCE

Robiola di Roccaverano cheeses are made in a new cheese factory with a few employees. Around a hundred small cheeses are made per day, and each stage requires special skills from the makers:

"Salting is perhaps one of the most difficult and important skills to learn," says Jerome, "it must always be done by hand and with a specific technique, and there can be no mistakes."

New cheesemakers practice salting daily for up to many weeks before they get their hands on real cheeses.

Every cheese must be perfect - it is impossible to notice any flaws before the cheese reaches the gourmet's table.

Jerome continues: "I need to be able to trust that it's done right - every time. We can't test and taste every cheese, so the mistake is usually only noticed by the person who starts eating the cheese at home. If there's too much or too little salt, the cheese is ruined."

The temperature in the cheese factory is a constant 20 degrees Celsius. This is the perfect temperature for making delicate cheeses.

The freshly made cheeses are first left to ripen for five days at a cool temperature of 4 degrees. After this, some of the cheeses are packaged into fresh Robiola di Roccaverano, which resembles a soft and fluffy cream cheese.

The next maturation is 15 more days, when the "affinata" is created. The surface of the cheese is rinsed with brine, which helps the right flora grow on the surface of the cheese. Some of the cheeses are wrapped directly in paper, some in toasted chestnut leaves, and some in fresh fig leaves.

"For me, affinata is more interesting than cream cheese," says Jerome. "The ripening process requires skill, and every small mistake can make a big difference in a small cheese."

Fresh Robiola di Roccaverano has been matured for only 5 days, affinato for 20 days.

FROM FOOD FOR THE POOR TO A CELEBRATED DELICIOUSNESS

Jerome thinks the best way to enjoy Robiola di Roccaverano is to take it out of the fridge for half an hour to let it sit. And then enjoy it with bread.

"This is how this cheese has been enjoyed for centuries. It was originally a food for the poor, so there would have been nothing to accompany the cheese except bread, and perhaps fresh fruit."