The local cheeses of Valpolicella with the local wines that suit them, and why they work.
The cheeses of Valpolicella with the wines made beside them. Pairings marked as a local tradition are the ones a regional source names; the rest are our own picks, and say so.
Old d'allevo is the sharpest, most peppery Monte Veronese, a cheese for the end of a meal. Amarone, dry and full-bodied from dried grapes and long ageing, has the weight and alcohol to stand up to it. Serve a small piece.
Bottles to try:
Monte Veronese di malga, aged long, turns hard and slightly granular with butter, hazelnut and a spicy edge. A Riserva Amarone, dry, full and seasoned by years of ageing, matches that depth, and the cheese's fat softens the wine's structure.
Bottles to try:
D'allevo has a harder rind and a savoury, slightly peppery paste. A Ripasso, refermented on the dried-grape pomace left from Amarone, is dry with more body than a young Valpolicella and less weight than Amarone, enough to meet that savoury bite.
Bottles to try:
Young latte intero Monte Veronese is mild and faintly sweet, with a soft, elastic paste. A young Valpolicella, light in tannin and fresh, cleans the milky fat from the palate without any grip that would flatten such a gentle cheese.
Bottles to try:
Recioto is a sweet red from dried grapes. Against aged, granular Grana Padano the cheese's salt and savoury crunch play off the wine's sugar, a milder version of the sweet and salty contrast of Recioto with blue cheese.
Bottles to try:
Monte Veronese d'allevo has a harder rind and a savoury, slightly peppery paste. Veronese IGT reds made with partly dried grapes or a pass over dried pomace are dry and fuller than a young Valpolicella, with the ripe weight to meet that bite.
Bottles to try:
Grana Padano aged past a year is granular, savoury and salty. A dry Valpolicella Superiore has more body than a young Valpolicella and the acidity to cut the cheese's fat, while the salt in the paste brings the wine's fruit forward.
Bottles to try:
Monte Veronese di malga aged past six months turns hard and slightly granular, with butter, hazelnut and a spicy edge. Full-bodied Veronese IGT reds raised in oak have the weight to meet it, and the cheese's fat softens their tannin.
Bottles to try:
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Latte intero, from whole milk and sold from 25 days, and d'allevo, from partly skimmed milk and sold from 90 days. Italian Wikipedia splits d'allevo into mezzano (90 days to 6 months, blue label) and vecchio (over 6 months, black label); latte intero carries a light green label.
Qualigeo's gastronomy note says d'allevo, the older and stronger type eaten at the end of a meal, goes well with slightly fruity red wines ("vini rossi leggermente fruttati").
Musella's cellar tastings at San Martino Buon Albergo serve its wines with Monte Veronese of different ageing, and the Moonlight Lessinia dinner on 25 October 2026 pours Musella wines with three ageings of Monte Veronese DOP.
Italy recognised Monte Veronese as a denominazione di origine by a decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of 9 April 1993 (Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 196, 21 August 1993), and the EU registered it as a DOP in 1996.
By the letter M branded on the heel of the wheel next to the DOP mark, according to Slow Food.
The consortium says the milk comes only from cows on alpine pasture between May and October.
Slow Food's presidium lists La Casara in Roncà, Caseificio Achille (Dalla Valentina) in Velo Veronese, Caseificio Artigiano Dario Gugole in San Giovanni Ilarione and Caseificio Gardoni in Roverè Veronese. Dalla Valentina, in the Lessinia hills north of Valpolicella, has a shop open to visitors.
Italy recognised Monte Veronese as a denominazione di origine by a decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of 9 April 1993 (Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 196, 21 August 1993), and the EU registered it as a DOP in 1996.
