Oggi vi racconto la mia visita all'Azienda Agricola Bricco della Croce, situata a Cessole, in provincia di Asti.

As a good lover of artisan cheeses, I contact a small company in my region to arrange a pleasant visit on a late winter day. I reach the company by car along a narrow, sometimes winding road, which takes me to 500 meters above sea level in an area of Piedmont that is still truly wild and unspoiled, away from the major communication routes between the hills of the Alta Langa that overlook not far from the Ligurian Apennines.
To welcome me I find Mattia, a young breeder and cheesemaker who tells me how, a few years ago, he decided to buy an old Langa stone farmhouse, abandoned for decades and renovated to live there with his partner, Federica. On the top of this hill there is a large iron cross, hence the name of the company "Bricco Della Croce".
Let's say that Mattia was a real pioneer when he arrived in these woods! The work was remarkable to bring to light the pastures that the forest had recovered over time.
In Mattia's story you can perceive his innate passion for cheeses and his desire to start a small herd of goats and sheep from which to start devoting himself to his great passion: producing artisanal raw milk cheeses and at the same time redeveloping the territory.
Gradually, with the passage of time, the number of animals has grown and today the barn houses about 30 heads of Langhe sheep and as many of Roccaverano goats, with the aim of creating a herd of indigenous sheep and goats.

While listening to Mattia's story, we take a pleasant walk through the surrounding meadows and woods where his animals graze, watched over by two wonderful trained Maremma Shepherd dogs, who constantly watch over the flocks. We reach the top of the hill where you can enjoy a wonderful view of the surrounding area. At the end of the tour we move to the small and very clean laboratory used for the processing of this raw milk with high nutritional properties, as the animals are raised in the semi-wild state, thus feeding on wild herbs in the meadows and woods. Milking and processing take place daily, therefore the precious raw material must be absolutely preserved in order to have high quality products.
Mattia's dairy production takes up the traditional types with some particular proposals including Robiole, Sola, Toma di capra, Pecorino and a small saffron tometta with an intense yellow color and unmistakable aroma. In addition to cheeses, natural yogurt rich in live lactic ferments.
My visit continues in the small aging cellar where the cheeses rest in silence and with particular environmental conditions, which with time and the skilful care of Mattia, acquire further intensity and aromatic complexity, because raw milk cheeses are living cheeses !
The moment of tasting arrives where I taste in succession, from the freshest to the most seasoned, all the cheeses of their production and I am surprised by the care of the processing that is perceived in each type, where the salt is well dosed, in some cases just perceived , which really lets cheese speak in all its facets.
A particular mention goes to its Robiole, extremely delicate, clean on the nose and on the palate, balanced in flavor and rich in aromatic complexity and very pleasant persistence. In the production landscape of Piedmontese Robiole it is not easy to find products like this!

I greet Mattia and Federica thanking them for the visit and for what was a beautiful sensory and personal experience, rediscovering and enhancing even more these wonderful territories and the people, who live there with tenacity and passion and produce these wonderful products very linked to the territory. and its traditions!