The fromageries and cheese counters in Alto Adige worth a stop.
A guide to cheese shops in Alto Adige.
Pur Südtirol's first market, in the Meran Kurhaus since 2010. A cheese sommelier, a wine academy graduate and a meat sommelier advise; the speck ripening cellar is downstairs, and there is a wine bar and a sunny terrace on one of Meran's shopping streets.
Mila's shop in Bruneck, where its cheese dairy is, with the whole range and other South Tyrolean specialities. The Senni Bar at the same address opens at 6:00 on weekdays and from 7:00 to 13:00 on Sunday, when the shop lists no hours.
Branch of the Sennerei Drei Zinnen at Burgweg 1, a few steps from Innichen's pedestrian zone and station. It is closed on Sunday and on Thursday afternoon, and can be reached on +39 0474 913317.
Affineur's shop founded in 1994 by Hansi Baumgartner, a trained cook, which selects cheeses from small dairies and finishes them, ripening them in a former military bunker. The counter in Vahrn offers tastings of 12 cheeses (EUR 24) or 15 (EUR 30), with drinks charged extra.
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The EU publication of the PDO specification gives a cylindrical wheel with flat faces and straight or slightly concave sides, 34 to 38 cm across and 8 to 11 cm high, weighing 8 to 10 kg.
Qualigeo says it is usually paired with Alto Adige Pinot Nero or Schiava, and that the more aged wheels suit Alto Adige Lagrein.
Italian Wikipedia says every stage, from milking to ripening, must take place in the production area of 84 municipalities of the province of Bolzano, which includes the city of Bolzano itself.
Mila calls it the only South Tyrolean cheese with a protected designation of origin, held since 2007.
Slow Food says it is made with the milk left over from butter-making, curdled by acidification without rennet, so the fat in the dry matter stays under 2 percent.
Slow Food gives the classic way as small pieces dressed with seed or olive oil, wine vinegar and a little thin onion. The Käserei Sexten page also names Pressknödel (cheese dumplings) as a use.
Slow Food and the Ahrntal tourist board both say it has no rind; grey-green mould forms on the surface as it ripens. Producers differ, and the Moarhof describes a thin ripened outer layer around a white, curdy core.
Italy lists South Tyrol Graukäse as a traditional agri-food product (PAT), and Slow Food runs a presidium for the Valle Aurina version. German Wikipedia notes that Tiroler Graukäse holds an EU protected designation of origin, citing the Austrian register; that designation covers the cheese of the Austrian state of Tyrol, not South Tyrol.