Idiazabal D.O.P. smoked sheep's cheese

Idiazabal is one of the most well-known and distinctive protected designation of origin cheeses in Northern Spain. It originates from the mountainous, green pastures of the Basque Country and Navarre, where sheep farming and the production of sheep's cheese have been part of the local gastronomy for centuries.

This smoked Idiazabal comes from the workshop of Quesos La Vasco Navarra: a family cheese-making business that has been producing cheeses since 1977 on the borderlands of Navarre and the Basque Country.

The geographically protected Idiazabal D.O.P. can only be made from the raw, whole milk of Latxa and Carranzana sheep. These local sheep breeds have adapted well to the northern, mountainous, rainy landscape, and their milk is particularly rich, aromatic, and excellent for cheese making. Idiazabal is a pressed, aged sheep's cheese, which can be made in natural and smoked versions; the smoked version evokes the mountain pastoral traditions.

La Vasco Navarra's smoked Idiazabal is a compact, semi-hard to hard cheese, easy to slice. Due to smoking, its rind is darker, its aroma is more intense, and its character is deeper. A good smoked Idiazabal is not simply "smoky cheese": it contains the richness of sheep's milk, the nutty, buttery, slightly piquant character from aging, and this is complemented by the subtle, long-lasting aroma of smoke.

Its aroma reveals ripe sheep's milk, butter, hay, toasted seeds, and smoke. Its taste is full, deep, and long-lasting: at once salty, nutty, slightly spicy, and smoky. The texture is compact yet pleasantly crumbly, slowly unfolding in the mouth. This is a more serious, characterful cheese, which particularly shows that Spain's cheese culture goes far beyond Manchego.

On a cheese platter, it is worth serving with simple accompaniments to allow its flavor to prevail: fresh sourdough bread, walnuts, almonds, quince cheese, figs, or good olives.

It pairs wonderfully with fuller-bodied white wines, dry cider, lighter reds, or even sherry or smokier beers. Grated or thinly shaved, it can also be used in warm dishes, for example, on roasted vegetables, potato dishes, or more substantial salads.

La Vasco Navarra smoked Idiazabal is for those who love deeper, more rustic, characterful cheeses. A slice contains the mountainous world of Northern Spain: sheep, pastures, smoky cheese cellars, and the knowledge of a decades-old family cheese producer.

The cheese will be cut from a whole wheel and offered vacuum-packed in pieces of approximately 150–250 grams; the desired size can be selected at the top of the page.