Cheese · DOP · Rías Baixas
Also labelled Queixo do Cebreiro
A fresh cow's milk cheese from Thirteen municipalities in the mountains of eastern Lugo province around O Cebreiro: Baleira, Baralla, Becerreá, Castroverde, Cervantes, Folgoso do Courel, A Fonsagrada, Láncara, Navia de Suarna, As Nogais, Pedrafita do Cebreiro, Samos and Triacastela.
A fresh cow's milk cheese shaped like a mushroom or chef's hat: a cylindrical base, at most 12 cm high, topped by a cap 1 to 2 cm wider and at most 3 cm high, about 15 cm in all and 0.3 to 2 kg. It comes from the mountains of eastern Lugo, where the Camino Francés enters Galicia, far from the Rías Baixas. The fresh paste is white and clay-like, with no distinct rind, made from drained curd that is hung in cloth bags and then kneaded. The Agriculture Ministry ratified its Denominación de Origen rules by Orden APA/1559/2005 of 17 May 2005, which gave it provisional national protection, and the EU registered the DOP in 2008. Tradition credits the monks who settled at O Cebreiro, and Spanish Wikipedia says two dozen cheeses went every year to the Portuguese royal house under Charles III.
Made in: Thirteen municipalities in the mountains of eastern Lugo province around O Cebreiro: Baleira, Baralla, Becerreá, Castroverde, Cervantes, Folgoso do Courel, A Fonsagrada, Láncara, Navia de Suarna, As Nogais, Pedrafita do Cebreiro, Samos and Triacastela
Fresh, a milky flavour with a slight acidity, according to Spanish Wikipedia. The optional cured version has a yellow paste and a somewhat metallic, spicy and milky taste.
Rind: none, eaten fresh
Wine and cheese
Fresh Cebreiro is white, clay-like and milky with a slight acidity. Albariño kept longer on its lees, without oak, gains weight and a rounder texture to meet the dense, milky paste, and its high acidity answers the cheese's tang.
The grapes behind these winesAlbariño
Arzúa's cheese fair, a Festa de Interese Turístico de Galicia built around Arzúa-Ulloa, with a producers' fair, workshops, a tapas contest and concerts. Arzúa is in A Coruña province, outside the Rías Baixas wine area, in Arzúa-Ulloa's home country.
Fair devoted to requeixo and honey in As Neves, in the Condado do Tea subzone inside the Rías Baixas wine area. It has run since 1991 and was declared a Festa de Interese Turístico de Galicia in 2013; the Condado-Paradanta cooperative organises it.
Vilalba's cheese fair for the DOP San Simón da Costa, with showcooking, cheese tastings paired with sake, cava and Ribeiro wines, a children's cooking workshop and evening concerts. Vilalba is in the Terra Chá in the north of Lugo province, outside the Rías Baixas wine area.
A visit to the Anzuxao dairy beside a pazo in the Deza, inland in Pontevedra province and outside the Rías Baixas wine area: a walk round the grounds, an audiovisual on cheesemaking and a tasting of Galician cheeses, with a view of production through a glass wall when the visit coincides with cheesemaking. Groups book ahead.
Santiago's public market, in A Coruña province, north of Pontevedra and outside the Rías Baixas wine area. Its cheese stalls include Máis que Queixos, Chacinería Seco (Galician and imported cheeses) and Chacinería Hernández (national and imported cheeses).
Like a mushroom or chef's hat, about 15 cm tall, with a cylindrical base and a wider cap, according to the register text on queseros.com.
In thirteen municipalities of eastern Lugo province around O Cebreiro on the Camino de Santiago.
Yes, an optional cured version aged at least 45 days, with a yellow paste and a peppery, slightly metallic flavour.
Same cheeseboard
Plan the trip
Tastings and tours where it is made, and somewhere to stay.
Rías Baixas Albariño Experience: Winery Visit & Cheese
All 317 experiences in Rías BaixasBooking 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, queseros.com, es.wikipedia.org. The drawing is made from the cheese's recorded shape, rind and paste, not a photograph.
