Castelrosso - Wheel Apx 3.4kg

Castelrosso

Caseificio Rosso | Biella, Piedmont

A refined Piedmontese table cheese made from local, whole pasteurised cow's milk using the traditional latte riposato (rested milk) technique — a method said to have originated from a happy accident with poorly preserved milk and now prized for the depth it brings to the finished cheese. The milk is rested in the tanks long enough to develop distinct acidity characters, producing a paste that starts compact and chalky and gradually turns creamy and complex with age.

Aged: 30 to 90 days on spruce boards, in cool, humid cellars.

Rind: Smooth and pale when young; darker, grey-green and wrinkled with age, often carrying characteristic yellow moulds in the more mature wheels. Not edible.

Paste: Opens ivory-white and lightly grainy, firming briefly before turning soft, yielding, and meltingly creamy under the rind as it matures. The most aged wheels may show natural blue marbling.

Aroma: Fresh cultured milk, damp cellar, wet straw, a touch of mushroom at depth.

Flavour: Clean, refined, and layered. Bright lactic acidity at the front — yoghurt, crème fraîche, a squeeze of lemon — giving way to mineral, buttery depth and a gentle, well-judged pique on the finish. Older wheels bring earthier notes of mushroom, damp wood, and a lingering savoury warmth.

Texture: A study in transformation — chalky and crumbling in the centre of young wheels, softening from the rind inward as it ages, eventually becoming spoonable and almost melting near the paste.

In the kitchen: A serious table cheese, equally at home on the board or on the stove. Pairs beautifully with honey, walnuts, pear, and mostarda. Melts cleanly into risotto, polenta, and pasta dishes, and holds its character when baked into savoury tarts or folded through gnocchi. Strong enough to anchor a cheese course, refined enough to serve at the start of a meal.

About the Producer

Caseificio Rosso is a family-run dairy at the heart of the Biellese alpine arc in north-western Piedmont. Founded in 1894 by Rosa Pidello Rosso, the business is now run by Enrico and Riccardo Rosso, the fourth generation to carry on the family's work.

The dairy sits where the Valle d'Oropa meets the Valle del Cervo, in valleys that open out from the plain like a vast amphitheatre, bounded to the west by the long moraine ridge of La Serra and to the north and east by the peaks of the main alpine chain. Maturation still takes place in the Upper Elvo Valley, where the Rossos come from.

Milk is the foundation of everything. It is collected daily from 30 small Biellese farms, all of which raise a single native breed, the Pezzata Rossa d'Oropa. Robust and muscular, suited to the demands of mountain farming, but at risk of extinction. Caseificio Rosso, together with local farmers, has worked carefully over the years to preserve and improve the breed.

Each summer, the cows are brought to the high alpine pastures for four to five months. This practice — la monticazione — is one of the oldest rhythms of Alpine life, and it's what gives the milk its richness and floral character.

Production follows the same traditional logic: curd worked by hand, turned repeatedly during resting, then brined and moved to cool, humid cellars between 8 and 12°C. The cheeses rest on white fir shelves, hand-turned weekly as they mature.

The Rossos also run FORMA, a company museum and cultural space at the Pollone site — a workshop for projects tied to alpine culture, mountain life, and its economies. It's a clear signal of how the family thinks about their role: not simply as producers, but as custodians of a mountain craft that still shapes the valleys they work in.