The cheeses made in and around Rioja: the protected names first, then the local cheeses people actually eat, with their milk, rind, ageing and taste.

The cheeses of Rioja

Queso Camerano

DOP, first protected 2009Goat milk, bothSemi, hardNatural rind

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.

Taste: 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.

Ageing: Fresh needs none; tierno at least 15 days, semicurado at least 30, curado at least 75

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)

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Cheeses in Rioja, FAQ

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.

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