Sierra de Albarracin Cheeses win again at the World Cheese Awards 2017-18!

One more year we have to celebrate the success of our cheeses at the World Cheese Awards. This time, Quesos Sierra de Albarracín received 8 medals consolidating this cheese factory as the most awarded in Aragon.

The 30th edition of the largest and most prestigious cheese contest in the world, the World Cheese Awards, took place with 3,001 varieties of cheese being judged in a single day during the London Festive Edition with a historical record of countries participating in the event.

The different participating cheeses arrived to London through 12 points of consolidation spread all over the world: Australia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Colombia and South Africa, among others. A total of 230 professionals from 29 different countries met to compose the jury in charge of tasting, sniffing and blindly qualifying the 3,001 varieties, and awarding the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Super Gold medals to the deserving cheeses.

This professional jury was able to recognize once again the art and know-how of the small artisan cheese industry in Teruel "Sierra de Albarracín", making them worthy of a gold medal, three silver and four bronze medals: the most awarded cheeses in our region.

To date, there were already 5 varieties of our cheeses that had obtained the highest recognition of the contest, a gold medal or super gold. These were the semi-cured raw milk "Gold Label", "Blue Label", "Wine Cheese", "Green Label" and cured pasteurized milk "Silver Label". After this last edition we must add the "La Cava de Mía" soft cheese, the latest of the novelties from this Spanish cheese factory that came onto the market just over a year ago. With all this, the Albarracín cheese factory has won 36 World Cheese Awards medals to this day.

In summary, the World Cheese Awards 2017-2018 have been distributed as follows:

• La Cava de Mía soft cheese: Gold Medal
• Cheese "Gold Label": Silver Medal and Bronze Medal
• Cheese "Red Label": Silver Medal and Bronze Medal
• Cheese "Silver Label": Silver Medal
• Cheese "Green Label": Bronze Medal
• Red Wine Cheese: Bronze Medal

Buy these award-winning cheeses in our online store!

This international event coincided with the Aragon Food Awards, organized by the Government of Aragon, where "Sierra de Albarracín" cheeses have been called to receive the Award in Agroalimentary Crafts. The jury of these awards justifies this recognition in "having maintained a high level of quality, increasing its range of products while their penetration in the market and prestige". Without a doubt, these are days of celebration for this Spanish Cheese factory!

Tasting the artisan and exclusive Spanish cheeses from La Cava de Mia

Due to the growing reputation of Aragonese cheeses in Spain and internationally, the tv program "Objetivo" (Aragón TV) returned to our Dairy to record a report highlighting the role of the Sierra de Albarracín in this international recognition with our latest and successful innovation "La Cava de Mia" while obtaining the title of The Most Awarded Dairy in Spain at the World Cheese Awards 2016-2017.

"A family project with own livestock that since last year has a public facility." Sara Narro, communication manager of Sierra de Albarracín Cheese, welcomes the TV program team inside La Cava de Mía.

"This is La Cava de Mía, inside the Cheese Shop Sierra de Albarracín. It's a cheese refining cellar. Refining a product is to give it the touch of perfection and here is what we do in this kind of cave using the ultimate technology to generate the conditions of  natural cave. So we can control the temperature and aeration humidity."

The final result, which can be appreciated with the senses, is confirmed by Alberto Asensio, Dairy's manager with one of the cheeses born from this Spanish gourmet innovation. "One of the aspects to be evaluated in any tasting is that external format. Immediately after, its cut begins to speak of this product. This cheese aurea clearly defines the crust matured in a highly humid environment above 90 percent practically all weeks, two and a half months or two weeks, three months maximum. This 750 grams format is how we get the optimum timing."

To conclude the visit, Objetivo underlines our commitment to a different product that is added to the wide range of Cheeses Sierra de Albarracin exported to countries like Japan or Qatar.

We invite you to taste these award winning cheeses in our online shop!

The novelties of Cheeses Sierra de Albarracín in the Hall of Gourmets 2017

The Sierra de Albarracín cheeses once again participate in a new edition of the Salón de Gourmets (Hall of Gourmets)  the largest annual concentration of high-end food and beverage products in Europe. The international fair, of a strictly professional nature, is the biggest showcase for delicatessen products and the space where trade between producers and consumers is encouraged. A rich program of activities related to gastronomy which took place from 24 to 27 April at the IFEMA in Madrid and has broke the record with 93,346 professionals!

In our stand everything was prepared to welcome the interested foodies and lovers of the gourmet artisan cheese. This year Sierra de Albarracín participated as the current most awarded Dairy in Spain at the World Cheese Awards, a recognition that undoubtedly won the attention of those who came here.

All of our award winning cheeses were present, in different sizes. Among them, the great novelty of this year: the cheeses of La Cava de Mia (soft paste and pressed pasta), which were premiered at this Fair and thus announced in the exhibition space for the gourmet novelties in 2017.

In the meantime, we could not be better accompanied, within the space of Aragón Alimentos, sharing the experience with other exemplary agri-food companies to which we thank their company from here.

Artículo de @JuanBarbacil publicado en @heraldoes sobre la participación de empresas @Aragón sector #Agroalimentario en @SalondeGourmets pic.twitter.com/El3rlbqfkZ

— Aragón Alimentos (@aragonalimentos) 26 de abril de 2017

Among the thousands of visitors who passed by our gourmet space, it was nice to see our friend Antonio Mariscal or the Aragonese chef Rubén Pertusa again.

🧀 Con @CheesefromSpain saboreando algunos de los mejores quesos del mundo y que también llevamos a #Altafulla ¡y más allá! #SalondeGourmets pic.twitter.com/nlvzBoGwAO

— Mariscal & Sarroca (@GourmetFoodES) 27 de abril de 2017

The spanish actress Lluvia Rojo and the TV show "Dani & Flo" (Cuatro) ran into our stand and it caused a very original proposal!

In short, we return to Albarracín from the Salon de Gourmets with many things to tell ... and many fewer cheeses!. 

Thanks for both! We remind you that you have available our online store so that you can also enjoy at home our gastronomic treasures.

Cheeses from Albarracin win 13 World Cheese Awards and make history

Cheeses Sierra de Albarracin becomes the great winner of the World Cheese Awards 2016 at the International Cheese Festival, which in its 29th edition was held in San Sebastian for the first time.

With 13 awards we can boast of being the most awarded dairy in Spain in 2016-17. It is an amazing success in the prestigious "Oscar" awards about cheeses, the most important international event in the cheese sector, involving more than 3,000 cheeses from 35 countries of the five continents.


A total of 9 cheeses from Albarracín have achieved at least one of these recognized international awards adding to our list of awards 1 Super Gold, 1 Gold, 4 Silver and 7 Bronze.

Silver Label cheese: special jury award

Our aged sheep cheese, in addition to a silver medal, has won the Super Gold award, that is, it becomes one of the 66 best cheeses in the world chosen by the jury, a huge recognition for having competed against almost 3,100 Cheeses from all over the world.

• More information
• Buy Silver Label cheese online

Blue Label cheese: Gold medal

The Gold Cheese Award 2016 won by Sierra de Albarracin was taken away by our delicious mild cheese.

• Read more
• Buy Blue Label cheese

Cheeses from La Cava de Mía: dream debut with 2 silver and 2 bronze medals

With barely a few months in the market, the gourmet cheese La Cava de Mía continues to accumulate awards. The newly elected Best Cheese of Autumn has seen how its two varieties win a total of 4 World Cheese Awards. A magnificent debut in these awards.

• Read more about La Cava de Mía

Gold Label cheese: 1 silver medal

Our semi-cured cheese made from raw sheep's milk, known as "Gold Label", win a new medal to add to its track record: 1 silver medal

• Read more
• Buy Gold Label cheese online

Green Label cheese in rosemary: 1 silver medal

The aromatic sheep cheese in rosemary adds a new silver medal to its particular history in these awards.

• Read more
• Buy spanish cheese in rosemary online

Red Label cheese: 2 bronze medals

Our mature sheep cheese or "Red Label" already knew what it's to get a bronze medal at the World Cheese Awards. This year this cheese made exclusively from fresh pasteurized sheep's milk has been awarded with a double bronze medal.

• Read more
• Buy spanish mature cheese online

Wine Cheese: 1 bronze medal

Again, our sheep cheese in red wine won a World Cheese Award. In this edition, a bronze medal was added to the gold one already obtained in a previous occasion.

• Read more
• Buy spanish Wine Cheese online

Black Label cheese: 1 bronze medal

For the second consecutive year, our cured cheese made from raw sheep's milk gets an award in this international contest. Our Black Label cheese won two bronzes in 2015, and this year has got a new bronze medal.

• Read more
• Buy spanish cured cheese from Albarracin online

Thank you so much from Sierra de Albarracin Team!

We could not miss the International Cheese Festival. Alberto Asensio, manager of Quesos Sierra de Albarracin, our cheese master Ximo Alpuente, Andres Hernández, Liewe Schwerzel and Sara Narro.

We want to thank you for the great support and congratulations received since the announcement of this great news. It means so much to us. With 10 years of history, Cheeses Sierra de Albarracín already has won 28 World Cheese Awards and, consequently, a national and international recognition that keeps increasing. Thank you for sharing our passion for artisan cheese!

We invite you to taste these award winning cheeses in our online shop!

Cheeses "La Cava de Mia", the first refining cellar in Spain

"La Cava de Mia" the first cheese ripening cellar, unique in its kind, was presented on July 6th to the press, collaborators and friends of Cheeses Sierra de Albarracín.

Coinciding with our tenth anniversary, we decided to build this limestone cellar obtained from its environment which reproduces the conditions of a natural cave but having the latest technology. This allows a maximum control of temperature, humidity and aeration, favoring the implementation of a unique and exclusive flora cheeses, consisting of mildew (Penicillium candidum), yeasts,... which gives them their own personalitys as they mature on wooden shelves (sabina).

The human factor plays a fundamental role, as the cheeses are turned daily and changed of place periodically, in order to ensure a higher homogeneity in each shipment.

"La Cava de Mia" has a production capacity of 6,000 kilos per year of these sheep milk cheeses produced exclusively from the cattle owned by the Dairy and processed according to strict guidelines about food and hygiene.

Here is where our two new gastronomic treasures under this brand will be refined:
- Soft cheese with four weeks of maturation (150g).
- Pressed cheese with three months of maturation (750g).

Two new cheeses in which we have been working for a long time performing tests with different formats and textures, with different ripening times and observing the possibilities offered by these exclusive facilities.

Maturing cheese with organoleptic high-tech needs to have a good quality milk and follow a methodology and appropriate protocol to ensure the safety and wholesomeness of the final product. Thus, cheeses refined in "La Cava Mia" are unique products which have unique and unrepeatable textures and flavors.

"La Cava de Mia" comes from a complex project that began a year ago, with the idea of creating a place for cheeses which could mature in the same way as they have done since time immemorial: in contact with nature. The goal is to produce cheese with increasing quality and greater recognition, without losing the artisan value as differential element of our cheeses. Under these assumptions we decided to build "La Cava de Mia", a unique space within the Quesería in Albarracín becoming the first cheese refining cave in Spain.

"La Cava Mia" is a tribute to the tradition and culture of the environment, as it's represented by a symbol extracted from a cave painting in Pinares del Rodeno, which provided food and shelter for man for centuries. At the same time, it takes the name of the daughter of Alberto Asensio, director of Quesos Sierra de Albarracin, as her birth gift.

The opening of "La Cava Mia"

Its inauguration took place on July 6 in the presence of the Quesos Sierra de Albarracín team, headed by Alberto Asensio, as well as reference journalists in the Aragonese gastronomy, project collaborators, friends and prescribers.

Our sincere thanks to the sponsors of this special event: Antonio Jimenez, Managing Director of the Santa María de Albarracín Foundation and Maria Jose Meda, Michelin star chef of "Hospedería El Batan".

After the emotional welcome, we visited the cheese factory where Alberto Asensio explained in detail all the production stages while the smell of cheese wheted the appetite of the attendees.

Then, in small groups, the attendees could enter into the cave and learn about the maturation process of these new cheeses. José Luis Martin, Master Refiner and Collaborator, explained the highlights of "La Cava de Mia". (check out the video above)

Finally, the most awaited moment came: the tasting of the first soft and pressed cheeses "La Cava de Mia". A cheese tasting guided by José Luis, brilliantly to not miss a single nuance.

The private lunch celebration took place in the restaurant "Tiempo de Ensueño", owned by Chef Maria Jose Meda and Sebastian Rosello in Albarracin, where we enjoyed a delicious menu with great presence of other concerning products and ingredients from Aragon. Amazing.

After a morning full of gastronomic pleasures, nothing better than ending the day with the great Albarracín Cathedral, when the Foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Gracias querido Antonio por mostrar el valor de nuestro patrimonio en la Catedral de de #Albarracín #LaCavadeMía pic.twitter.com/1pUG5h06HV

— Albarracín Cheese (@CheesefromSpain) 6 de julio de 2016

In short, all our high expectations for this day were perfectly fulffilled.

Thanks to all who joined us and made possible this unforgettable day. Now, it's time to share "La Cava de Mia" with all of you.

"La Cava de Mia", the exclusive spanish cheese matured in a natural cellar

We are excited to announce that next July 6 our new cheese "La Cava de Mia" will be introduced, the great newness and pride from the Sierra de Albarracin Dairy. A Spanish gourmet sheep's cheese differentiated and exclusive because its maturation: in a natural stone cellar on savin wood shelves and under conditions that facilitate the cultivation and growth of a specific mildew (penicidium candidum).

Alberto Asensio, director of Quesos Sierra de Albarracin which celebrates its 10th anniversary, will welcome the guests at the Cheese Factory. Here we will pay attention to the interventions of Jose Luis Martin, an expert cheese refiner and project collaborator, and Antonio Jimenez, managing director of the Santa Maria de Albarracin Foundation.

At 12:30 we will visit the facilities and the official opening of La Cava de Mia, unique in Spain as cheese ripening cellar. Here's when we can enjoy the first taste of cheeses made in the Cava. A smooth and creamy texture with the aromas and flavors provided by its natural cave, and the very intensity of our raw sheep's milk.

The lunch will take place at the restaurant "Tiempo de Ensueño", owned by Maria Jose Meda and Sebastian Rosello, who also manage the "Hospedería El Batan" in Tramacastilla, awarded with a Michelin star.

Photo: Sara Gimeno

A special day like this must end the same way: with an exclusive private tour at 17:15 to the Cathedral of Albarracín, before its pending opening for September this year when the Foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary. 

We look forward to sharing with you this new Spanish gastronomic treasure in which such dedication and enthusiasm were placed. These cheeses "La Cava de Mia" assume a new life for Quesos Sierra de Albarracin and we invite you to join it.

Merry Christmas. Our best wishes with our best cheeses.

From Quesos Sierra de Albarracin, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2016 full of joy and health.

To make the most of these special days we'd like to share with you our best and winning cheeses.

Thank you for your continued confidence that you have placed in our gourmet products. We hope to keep surprising you with the best flavors from Spain in 2016.

Our best wishes with our best cheeses.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Tribute to Wine Cheese from Albarracín.

Wine is one of the most importants products of Spain due to its cultural tradition and its important meaning on our mediterranean gastronomy and diet. There are those who say, wine started to be produced on the Iberian Peninsula during the Bronze Age.

Thousands years later, the consumption of wine went worldwide and are many, the companies innovating and experimenting with their own products that combined with red wine creating unique result.

At our Quesería de Albarracín, we elaborate Wine Cheese with 100% sheep milk pasteurized.

The final product has been awarded on many national and international events and competitions such as the feria de otoño Biescas, or the world cheese awards, getting the gold medal.

For the cheese, we have an own ranching there in the Sierra of Albarracín (Spain), surrounded by montains, where we breed cattles and take the pure pasteurized sheep milk that we marinate with wine resulting in a special touch with an different soft taste. 

The wedge is excellent for special occasions.

700 gr. Format is excellent for families.

3 kg. Format is for those cheese lovers.

Further information and purchases under our online shop

Hollywood stars are chosing our cheeses!

Ridley Scott recorded part of "The Kingdom of Heaven" in Aragón, "The Bourne ultimátum" from Paul Greengrass chose Madrid, and now the irish Terry George (Hotel Rwanda) has chosen our landscapes for his new movie named "The Promise" set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire.

The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael (Oscar Isaac), a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), and Chris (Christian Bale), a renowned American journalist based in Paris.

Our cheeses to roll on the red carpet.

Concretely Óscar Isaac came to our cheese shop at Albarracin last weekend to know about and buy our products where he was attended by Maribel, one of our workers.

Oscar is one of the main characters of this new big screen that is transforming our city into a true middle age hamlet.

Try the cheeses of the starts here.

Further film information here.

About us!

The cheeses from "Quesería de Albarracín" are being sold in Dubai with Mariscal & Sarroca.

 

Mariscal&Sarroca is an Spanish enterprise headquartered in the Region of Aragón and specialised in selling and exporting gourmet Spanish products,"the flavours of Spain".

It is conquering the Middle East with more than 1000 Spanish products already tasted over there.Among many others, such as the extra virgin olive oil with gold, or with saffron, there are some of the best cheeses from our "Quesería de Albarracín". Our cheeses have been top considered and awarded in many trade fairs and events like the Global Village or the Gulfood Trade Show Dubai. 

Detail in Spanish of the magazine ""Actualidad de las Empresas Aragonesas"" (May 2015)
about Mariscal & Sarroca and Cheeses From Albarracín. 

Our "Don Manuel" and "Blue label" are two of the most popular cheeses sold in these markets. The "Blue Label" cheese has been included at the 101 best cheeses in the world by Culture Magazine in 2013. 

From Quesería de Albarracín we want to especially congratulate Mariscal&Sarroca and thank them for trusting in the quality of our products. They are one of our distributors for the Middle East and in the U.K.

Looking forward to success!