Roncal

The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills | Domenico's Foods Verified independent store

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Roncal is a raw sheep's milk PDO from the Roncal Valley in Navarra, Spain, the first Spanish cheese ever to earn DOP status. Made from the milk of Latxa and Rasa sheep grazing the high Pyrenean pastures, it's pressed into wheels and aged for six to ten months on wood. The paste is ivory white, firm, and pressed, with that flaky break you get from a real aged sheep's milk cheese. Flavor leans deep and savory, toasted hazelnut and browned butter up front, then a long buttery finish with notes of lanolin and butterscotch and a gentle piquant pull on the back of the palate. The high-altitude pasture really shows up in the cheese, a grassy herbal note running underneath everything. Roncal was the original. Before Manchego had its DOP, this was the protected Spanish sheep cheese, and the recipe has barely changed in centuries. If you're already a Manchego drinker, Roncal is the next step up in intensity and complexity. Right in the sweet spot at this age. Show more