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.
Cheeses: Queso Camerano
Curado 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.
Semicurado 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.
Two 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.
Address: Arnedillo, La Rioja
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.
Cheeses: Queso Camerano
Visiting: guided tour of the dairy and its ripening process, tasting of three cheeses and two olive oils, pairing tastings and a cheese-board workshop on set Saturdays
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.
Cheeses: Queso Camerano
Visiting: invitation to visit the dairy, see how the cheese is made and taste it (no schedule published)
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.
Cheeses: Queso Camerano
Visiting: direct sale at the Ortigosa address, guided visit of the dairy with a tasting, booked by phone, listed on its site; that page still reads closed until spring 2024, so ask before travelling
Discover Rioja on a full-day wine tour visiting 3 wineries in Rioja Alta and Alavesa. Taste local wines, explore wine country and enjoy a traditional pintxos lunch.
Taste selected wines at 3 different wineries in Rioja. Visit our own 1881 winery, La Bodega del Tesoro. Enjoy a traditional lunch in a wooden wine press.
The best way to know the basics of the Spanish Rioja wines, along with a traditional Spanish lunch.
