Churra Mondegueira, one of two indigenous species of sheep whose milk can be used to make Queijo da Serra da Estrela
The secret, they say, is in the hands of the cheesemaker. Not metaphorically, but literally: They have to be refrigerator-cold while handling the cheese. Besides that, you just need the fatty milk from one of two indigenous species of sheep, Bordaleira da Serra da Estrela or Churra Mondegueira; a local thistle flower for rennet; salt and time. These are the ingredients to make Queijo da Serra da Estrela, a pale-yellow wheel wrapped in a white gauze, a runny cheese to spoon onto crusty bread. For a recipe that dates back to Roman times (most likely even older than that), it almost seems simple.
The mountain range that gives its name to this cheese is at the very center of Portugal: Serra da Estrela. Its highest peak is close to 6,600 feet in elevation, at the southeast edge of the Dão region, the second oldest established wine region in Portugal, after Douro.
“The cheesemaker will tell you the wines were adjusted to the cheese and the winemaker will tell you the opposite. Despite that, it’s obvious that both are umbilically linked,” says Álvaro Castro, winemaker at Quinta da Pellada, his family’s estate near Gouveia in the northern foothills of Serra da Estrela. According to Castro, traditionally, everyone ate the cheese with palhete, a fresh field blend of local red varieties that, in recent years, has been overshadowed by denser wines. Castro’s family has farmed this property for centuries—he was born and raised here and, for the past ten years, he has been inviting local shepherds to bring their sheep to his vineyards. “It’s a win-win situation: I let their herds walk around in my fenced and safe grounds and, in return,” he says, “I get a weed-free vineyard and the occasional Serra da Estrela cheese.”
Torre, a small outpost at the top of the Serra da Estrela, has an enormous weather station and a small shopping center where the stores sell cheeses and local wines.
Serra da Estrela cheese, by law, must be made from unpasteurized sheep’s milk and use a local thistle flower for rennet.
At Casa da Passarella, less than a mile south of the Quinta da Pellada, Paulo Nunes considers himself a very lucky man. Ever since this Douro-born winemaker moved to Dão—to one of the oldest wine producers in Dão—he’s had access to a special version of this precious commodity. “The estate has a shepherd who makes and cures his own Queijo da Serra. Now and again he hands out cheeses with twelve or twenty-four months of curing!” Nunes says enthusiastically. “You can only open the one aged twenty-four months with a cleaver.” These harder versions, less common even in Portugal, have longer curing times (minimum 120 days) but follow the same recipe of the soft ones, that cure for 30 to 60 days. The only exception is that the harder ones are covered with a natural preservative made from mixing olive oil with colorau, a red powder similar to paprika. The cheese’s flavor gains intensity and the outside of the wheel takes on a reddish tone. While speaking about this Paulo recalls the traditional bucha, a snack that every shepherd carried while out with his animals: “some bread, his hard Serra cheese and some wine,” most likely to fight the cold and boost morale.
During the curing process, the cheeses are turned and cleaned every day. Fresh Dão reds go well with Serra cheese; so do crisp whites with mineral acidity; and it’s a classic match for aged tawny Ports.
Looking at the big picture, the soft Serra da Estrela cheese might not be very well known internationally, but all over Portugal, Queijo da Serra is king, a delicacy especially during the winter holidays. For the locals in Serra da Estrela—whether winemakers, shepherds or cheesemakers— it’s something as natural as the toughness of this place, a land of granite, cold and isolation.
This story appears in the print issue of February 2021.
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