Lácteos Martínez (Queso Los Cameros)
Haro dairy founded in 1961 by Jesús Martínez and Justi González; one of four DOP Queso Camerano makers (goat semicurado and curado). Guided visits with a tasting, booked online, Fridays and Saturdays.
About Queso Camerano
A goat's milk cheese named for the Sierra de Cameros in the south of La Rioja, where families once turned surplus milk into cheese. The curd drains by gravity, without pressing, in a woven mould called a cilla that prints its weave on the surface. The specification allows milk from Serrana, Murciana-Granadina, Malagueña and Alpine goats and their crosses, grazing mostly on scrub and wild herbs. It is sold fresh, tierno, semicurado or curado; the two aged styles grow a brown to greenish-brown mould rind. A whole cheese weighs 200 g to 1.2 kg. National DOP in 2009, on the EU register since 2012; output is about 47,000 kg a year, a La Rioja newspaper reported in October 2026.
Made in: La Rioja: every municipality of the Rioja Alta, Sierra Rioja Alta, Sierra Rioja Media and Sierra de Rioja Baja comarcas, plus listed municipalities of Rioja Media (Daroca, Lagunilla de Jubera, Logroño, Ocón, Santa Engracia, Villamediana de Iregua) and Rioja Baja (Arnedo, Autol, Igea, Quel and others)
On the plate
Sweet and slightly acid when fresh, mildly acid and a little salty after a short ripening, then acid, salty and faintly bitter when long-aged, with goat and wild-herb notes and a cave-like, mouldy edge in semicurado and curado, per the specification.
Rind: natural crust
Wine and cheese
What to pour with Queso Camerano
Rioja Reserva (Tempranillo-led) Rioja
Our pickCurado Camerano, ripened at least 75 days, is hard, with a brown-green mould rind and a salty, slightly bitter finish. A Tempranillo-led Reserva, aged a year or more in oak, brings fruit that softens the bitterness, while the cheese's salt tames the tannin.
Rioja Gran Reserva (Tempranillo-led) Rioja
Our pickTwo years or more in oak and long bottle ageing make Gran Reserva Rioja mature and complex, medium in tannin and high in acidity; curado Camerano, hard, salty and faintly bitter with wild-herb notes, meets that depth, and the acidity cuts its fat.
Rioja Crianza (Tempranillo) Rioja
Our pickSemicurado Camerano is firmer, with a cave-like, mouldy note under the rind. A Tempranillo Crianza gives red cherry and plum with supple tannin after 12 to 14 months in oak: enough fruit to face that cellar edge, too soft in tannin to bully the goat milk.
Barrel-fermented white Rioja (Viura) Rioja
Our pickFresh Camerano is white, glossy and very moist, sweet at first and only slightly acid. Barrel-fermented white Rioja brings citrus and high acidity to lift that sweetness, and its creamy lees texture matches the paste without adding tannin.
Modern Tempranillo-led Rioja aged in French oak, full bodied and firm Rioja
Our pickAged in French oak, often new, these modern Tempranillo-led Riojas are full bodied, firm in tannin and high in acidity; a hard curado Camerano's salt and fat tame the tannin, and its slightly bitter, wild-herb finish holds its own.
Oak-fermented dry rosado (Garnacha or Mazuelo) Rioja
Our pickFresh Camerano is white, glossy and sweet at first, only slightly acid. A pale, oak-fermented dry rosado brings redcurrant, pink grapefruit and high acidity with a saline finish, keeping the goat's milk fresh.
Traditional Rioja Crianza, high-acid style Rioja
Our pickCubillo spends about three years in American oak, giving a savoury, leathery red with cranberry acidity and a saline finish. Beside a semicurado's salty, mouldy rind that high acidity keeps the mouth fresh instead of heavy.
Single-varietal Graciano (DOCa Rioja) Rioja
Our pickGraciano bottled on its own is full bodied, firm in tannin and high in acidity; aged in French oak, it wants a hard curado Camerano, whose salt and fat soften the tannin and whose wild-herb notes meet the wine's freshness.
Single-vineyard and village Tempranillo bottled as Vino de España (formerly DOCa Rioja) Rioja
Our pickBottled as Vino de España since leaving the Rioja appellation, these old-vine Tempranillos aged in French oak bring cherry, violet and a mineral edge with high acidity; a hard curado Camerano's salt and wild-herb notes meet that fruit.
Tempranillo-led Rioja, oak-aged, medium tannin (no Crianza or Reserva label) Rioja
Our pickAged in oak but medium in tannin and high in acidity, these Tempranillo-led Riojas have fruit enough for a semicurado Camerano's cave-like rind without overpowering the firm goat's paste.
Saline, nutty white Rioja (Viura; one with manzanilla) Rioja
Our pickLong oak ageing, or a dash of manzanilla, gives these Viura whites an almond or hazelnut note and a saline edge with high acidity; that echoes a semicurado Camerano's salt and herb notes and, with no tannin, leaves the goat's milk in front.
The grapes behind these winesTempranilloViuraGracianoGarnachaMazuelo
From the source
Where to buy and taste it
Quesería Artesana Roca de Cabra
Dairy and goat herd at 1,200 m in Ortigosa de Cameros, run by cheesemaker Alicia Fernández and shepherd Matías Mogilner; semicurado DOP Queso Camerano, fresh cheese, yogurt. Direct sale; call about visits.
Quesos Celia
Arnedo dairy with over 40 years making fresh cheese and requesón, and makes a fresh Queso Camerano DOP. Its site invites visitors to see the process and taste; no schedule is published.
Quesería El Alto Cidakos
Dairy in Arnedillo, in a restored 19th-century wine cellar, making semicurado (50 days) and curado (75 days) DOP Queso Camerano in an underground cave. No visit details published.
Cheese experiences nearby
Guided visit to the Queso Los Cameros dairy
A walk through a working Haro dairy, from pasteurising and curdling to salting, ripening and packing, ending with a tasting of three cheeses and two olive oils. Booked online, 20 people at most.
Cheese pairing tastings at Queso Los Cameros
Saturday morning pairing tastings at the Haro dairy on set dates. The 2026 calendar paired cheese with chocolate, beer or jam; wine is not listed. 7 adults minimum, 16 people at most.
Cheese board workshop at Queso Los Cameros
A workshop on building a cheese board, listed for Saturday 21 November 2026 at 10:30 and the last date on the dairy's 2026 calendar. 16 places; under-5s not admitted.
Fiestas del Pan y Queso, Quel
Festival of National Tourist Interest (since 2015) in Quel where, on 6 August, portions of bread and cheese are thrown to the crowd from the hermitage, recalling the town's deliverance from a plague.
Queso Camerano: questions
What does Queso Camerano look like?
A flattened cylinder with flat faces and convex sides, weighing 200 g to 1.2 kg, with the weave of the cilla mould printed on its surface. Fresh and tierno have little or no rind; semicurado and curado have a defined rind with brown to greenish-brown moulds, according to the DOP.
Is Queso Los Cameros the same as Queso Camerano?
No. Queso Los Cameros is a brand of Lácteos Martínez in Haro, whose range includes cow, sheep, goat and mixed-milk cheeses. Only its goat semicurado and curado are listed on its own site as DOP Queso Camerano.
Where can Queso Camerano be made?
Only in La Rioja, in the municipalities listed in the DOP specification, which cover the Rioja Alta, the three sierra comarcas (Cameros among them) and parts of Rioja Media and Rioja Baja. Haro, Arnedo, Arnedillo and Ortigosa de Cameros all have a DOP dairy.
Which varieties does the DOP cover?
Four: fresco (not ripened), tierno (at least 15 days), semicurado (at least 30 days) and curado (at least 75 days; the only one allowed raw milk). Fresco weighs 200 to 800 g, has almost no rind and a white, glossy paste, according to the DOP consortium.
Plan the trip
Visit Queso Camerano country
Tastings and tours where it is made, and somewhere to stay.
Booking links go to our partners (GetYourGuide, Viator, Zen Hotels), who may pay us a commission. It never decides what we cover. Editorial standards.
Sources: protection register, quesocamerano.com, www.larioja.com. The drawing is made from the cheese's recorded shape, rind and paste, not a photograph.