Italians have a different relationship with cheese than the French. While the French tend to enjoy their cheeses as is on a charcuterie board with very little accompaniment and plenty of fanfare, Italians are a lot more relaxed when it comes to their formaggio. Sure, you’ll see artfully crumbled wedges of a good aged pecorino on an antipasto platter, but you’ll also see it tossed through pasta or melted over vegetables.
The Italians’ relationship with cheese is unfussy and unpretentious, but that doesn’t make the cheese itself any less delicious. The country is home to some of the world’s best known and most beloved cheeses.
These are our top 7 picks for your next dairy-induced coma with wine pairing suggestions. Our virtual cheese and wine pairing sessions dive deeper, too!
Taleggio
Named after the valley of its origin, Taleggio is a DOP cheese produced across the north of Italy in Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto, and defined by its deep orange-washed rind. Made from local cow’s milk, Taleggio uses five different types of mold to produce this uniquely colored rind, which is edible.
Taleggio has a pungent aroma and a rich, creamy flavour with savory hints of smoked meats and lightly fried mushrooms. It’s perfect for a thyme and mushroom pizza or stirred through risotto and polenta. It goes well too, grated over a salad of bitter leaves or eaten at the end of a meal with some fruit with a beer or glass of light white wine, like a Lugana DOC produced near Lake Como
Pecorino Toscano di Pienza
Tuscan pecorino is one of Italy’s oldest and most popular cheeses. This cheese is made from full cream ewe’s milk and takes its name from the Italian word pecora or sheep.
It’s thought that Sardinian shepherds migrated to Pienza with their sheep centuries ago, bringing their cheesemaking skills to Tuscany. The unique flavor of Pienza’s pecorino cheese is in great part due to the untouched vegetation of the hills of Val d’Orcia.
Unlike Parmigiano-Reggiano, which is not traditionally used as seasoning, pecorino is perfect anytime you want to add a luxurious melting cheesy layer to a dish of roasted vegetables, stuffed pasta filling or a divine toasted cheese sandwich (with a drizzle of truffle oil to finish, perhaps?), served with a good dry Tuscan red like a Chianti Classico or a Vernaccia di San Gimignano
Pecorino also is delicious on its own at room temperature or in an antipasto platter with an initial nutty taste similar walnuts followed by a distinctive saltiness.
Our food club/cheese box includes two types of Tuscan pecorino (one semi-aged from Pienza and one laced with Tuscan foraged truffles). Order your box HERE
Parmigiano-Reggiano
It was monks in the area around Parma who first started making this distinctive hard cheese during the Middle Ages. By the Renaissance, the nobility had followed suit.
Parmigiano Reggiano can only be made in a restricted area in northern Italy, primarily in the region of Emilia-Romagna. In fact, Parmigiano Reggiano means ‘from the cities of Parma and Reggio Emilia.’ It’s also the only hard cheese that can legally be called Parmigiano Reggiano.
There is one particular type of Parmigiano-Reggiano that is prized above the rest. It’s the one made with milk from the ‘Vacche Rosse’ (Red Cows). They’re native to Northern Italy, where they’ve been producing milk for Parmigiano Reggiano since the 8th century, earning them the nickname the Mothers of Parmigiano.
With its mild nutty flavor and fruity taste, Parmigiano-Reggiano should be served at room temperature, and is delicious slathered with mostarda di frutta – a 17th century northern Italian condiment made from candied fruit flavored with wine and just a hint of mustard. It’s a good pairing with Italian sparkling wines.
Our food club/cheese box includes a hearty slab of Parmigiano. Order your box!
Fontina
A special breed of cow, red Valdostana, provide the milk for this sweet and pungent cheese, which has tones of butter and roasted nuts as it lingers on your palate,
Made at the feet of the Alps, in the Aosta valley, Fontina is incredibly rich and creamy, and excellent with dried dark fruits like dates, raisins, and figs, as well as chocolate, port and sherry.
When cooked, Fontina goes gooey, making one of the better melting cheeses around, perfect in eggs, mac n’ cheese, fondue or soup. In the winter months in the Aosta valley, it’s traditionally melted over wedges of cooked polenta in the Italian version of cheese on toast.
Tasty paired with a prie’ blanc from the Valle d’Aosta
Toma Piemontese
Toma Piemontese is a PDO cheese made in the Piedmont region of Italy from pasteurised cow’s milk. The rind is elastic and smooth with a deep straw-yellow to reddish brown color and an intense flavor that features traces of hay and stable and sometimes a hint of bitterness.
Pair with full bodied red wines, aromatic honey, fresh fruit, black rye bread and polenta. Toma is also delicious cooked in a frittata, grated over gnocchi and risotto or added to pasta fillings.
Wine Pairing: Grignolino from Piedmont or a Gavi DOCG
Burrata Pugliese
Burrata is a fresh and stretched-curd cheese with a very soft and creamy texture. It comes from the province of Bari, where it was invented in 1956. That year, a heavy snowfall made it difficult to transport dairy products, inspiring one ingenious cheesemaker to use the stretched curd as a casing to store his cream and pulled mozzarella.
Burrata di Puglia is still made manually by filling the outer curd shell with a soft mix of mozzarella and cream, also known as stracciatella. It should be served at room temperature with a neutral white wine or lighter styled sparkling wines.
One of our favorite ways to serve this cheese is to tear the outside into pieces and add to crostini, pastas or salads. As for the creamy inside, we drizzle that with olive oil, sprinkle with flaky salt and serve alongside tomatoes, grilled bread or roasted vegetables. Pair with a Pugliese Bombino Bianco.
Robiola
Robiola is a very ancient type of Italian cheese, originating in the Langhe region in Piedmont. Robiola is made from cow's milk and either sheep or goat's milk and is available to buy fresh or aged up to several weeks.
It mousse-like paste is as crowd-pleasing and spreadable as brie without the chewy, obtrusive rind. Flavors are mild and creamy, with multi-layered notes of sour cream, butter and mushrooms
Serve fresh robiola with acacia honey or aged balsamic. Orange jam or apricot jam are perfect paired with aged robiola. You can also add robiola to salads with rocket or chicory or stuff the fresh variety in halved apricots and drizzle with balsamic for a gourmet starter!
Pair with very young, fruity reds of the region like a dolcetto or barbera or a crisp, dry Nebbiolo rosé.
Curious? Join our monthly cheese and wine pairing event online to learn how to best pair these Italian cheeses and more with an Italian sommelier or contact us to arrange a private tasting!
