Nicoletta

The Nicoletta farm rears red and black Valdostana dairy cattle to make its own organic cheese and buys in milk from a local goat breeder to make a certain amount of goat cheese too. All cheeses are on sale from November to April at a small shop next door to the dairy in Cesnola, and it is also possible to buy them and taste them in summer at a pleasant agriturismo in the mountains at the top of the valley where the cows go to graze. The range comprises raw-milk toma with characteristic mountain pasture aromas, Agrifoglio, a sort of cave-matured taleggio, fresh cream cheeses, ricotta, primosale, yoghurt, butter and milk. The agriturismo is open every day of the week from the middle of April until the end of October and serves the farms dairy products, charcuterie made with pork from the farm’s own pigs, and local delicacies such as chestnuts, polenta and, in season, the splendid zuppa di ajucche, bugleweed soup. Meals at the agriturismo can be washed down with Nebbiolo vinified from the farm’s owns grapes by a cellar nearby, and rounded off with ice cream made with milk from its cows.

***