"VINTAGE" AND "GRAND CRU": FROM THE WINE WORLD TO CHEESE. THE IDEA COMES FROM BERTINELLI, HISTORIC COMPANY OF PARMIGIANO REGGIANO - AGED 12, 24, 30 AND 36 MONTHS MADE FROM COWS MILK THAT GAVE BIRTH LESS THAN 100 DAYS BEFORE

"Vintage" and "Grand cru" are two concepts in the wine world that the cheese world has borrowed via innovation in marketing, communications and packaging, but also substance. The idea comes from Bertinelli, historic company in Noceto (famous for having launched the disco-dairy, where you can dance until the wee hours and buy Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, produced a few meters from the dance floor) and it is launching "Parmigiano Reggiano Millesimato Grand Cru", a selection with indication of the year, exclusively from top producing areas, aged 12, 24, 30 and 36 months from the milk of cows that have given birth less than 100 days earlier. “We have borrowed the term Grand Cru from the wine world”, explained Nicola Bertinelli, who along with his father runs the family dairy farm, “because it is synonymous with quality and excellence worldwide.

The idea is to communicate the uniqueness of our Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, starting with the name. I speak of uniqueness for at least two reasons. First, in the panorama of almost 400 dairies in the area of origin of the King of Cheeses, we are one of the few examples of vertical integration, in the sense that we ourselves manage all productive sections of the milk sector. Second”, continues Bertinelli, “Parmigiano-Reggiano vintage is the pride of our production: the cheese is made exclusively using the milk of cows that have given birth no more than 100 days earlier.”
Early lactation milk has unique characteristics: it has significantly higher protein and calcium content and is particularly suitable for the production of hard cheeses because it naturally yields the water it contains. Since this milk is more concentrated, it can be cooked less, and the result is there is a more numerous colony of "good bacteria" that give Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese its characteristic aroma and unmistakable flavor.
Info: www.bertinelli.it/wp/