Taste Workshops

Though it takes only three ingredients to make cheese—milk, rennet and salt—hundreds of different varieties are made in countries like France and Italy. This biodiversity is determined by important factors such as livestock breed, pasture type, altitude and of course production technique. Taking part in a Taste Workshop at Cheese means not just mastering techniques for identifying quality, but also hearing from cheesemakers and herders (whose areas of expertise include veterinary medicine, geology, botany, meteorology, food technology and more) and exploring geography, deepening the understanding of a place through its typical products. In the 34 Taste Workshops held during Cheese, participants will meet the protagonists of cheese production, along with Slow Food experts who will lead the tastings and suggest the best wines, beers and spirits to pair with the cheeses.

Focus on France: One of the workshop rooms will be dedicated to French products, with ten workshops on subjects like butter, goat’s cheeses from Touraine and Provence, blue cheeses from the South, Alpine cheeses and Slow Food Presidia.

The Banca del Vino in Pollenzo will also host three workshops. Two will be on wine, with cheese as the guest of honor. One is a vertical tasting of Barolo with vintages going back to 1977, while the other is on white wines fermented in wood from Burgundy and Valle d’Aosta. The third will explore the unusual pairing of cheese and extra-virgin olive oil.