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Golden Ring Cheese Boutique Cheese Factory
The best Vipava cheeses can be tasted at Sinji vrh above Ajdovščina, 1000 metres above sea level. There you will find Golden Ring Cheese, a boutique cheese shop where special and different cheeses are produced. David Ličen and Kristijan Vidmar from the Sinji Vrh guesthouse are behind this interesting story.
These unique cheeses are produced in a special way 30 metres underground, in abandoned war tunnels from the last century. The cheeses are ripened in complete darkness, at a constant temperature and high humidity. The tunnels provide these ideal conditions for producing the sharp and unique flavours that make their cheeses special and worth tasting.
Six unique types of cheese
The cheese factory produces 6 different types of handmade cheese, each requiring a specific production and ripening process. They use raw cow's milk from the mountains and natural ingredients for all their cheeses, which are matured for up to four months. They offer the following types: Vipava Valley, Soft Valley, Blue Valley, Sinji vrh, White Valley, Vipava Sunset and Black Widow.
The best-selling cheese is Vipava Valley. It is a hard cheese which is suitable for ageing for several years, allowing it to develop sharp, intense flavours. The cheese is wrapped in a cotton cloth which allows it to mature evenly, and over time the cheese develops the unique textures of natural moulds.
Soft Valley has a sweeter flavour and as it matures, natural mould develops on the surface of the cheese, giving it an interesting appearance.
Sinji vrh cheese is matured in a different way, in a barrel, before being surrounded with local herbs and covered with hay. During maturing, the cheese thus acquires a strong flavour, most often of thyme and shetter.
White Valley cheese is a soft, fluffy and elastic cheese, covered with a white noble mould, which is matured in underground tunnels for 40 to 50 days and has a slight mushroom flavour when ripe.
Blue Valley is made in the same way as Soft Valley, but the cheese is inoculated with blue mould during ripening, which makes the cheese spicy.
Black Widow is a dark-coloured cheese that gets its special colour by adding charcoal to the milk during production.
The freshest cheese they offer is Burjata, named after the characteristic windof the region "burja". It is similar in appearance to Italian burrata, but the composition is quite different, as Burjata is filled with albumen curd and cream.
Cheeses are already part of the cuisine in some renowned restaurants, and each year the visibility and sales of cheeses from this interesting boutique cheesemaker grows. In the future, the founders David Ličen and Kristijan Vidmar want to produce additional new and interesting types of cheese, as they have high goals and love to experiment, and they also pay great attention to the creativity and uniqueness of their cheeses.
If you would like to try these unique and unusual cheeses, visit the Vipava Valley and the Sinji vrh guesthouse, where they offer tastings of their interesting cheeses and other specialities. You can find out more about the guest house here.
Photo: Golden Ring Cheese