A Tuscan washed rind: pungent to smell, buttery and supple to taste.
Tuscan washed-rind cheese from De'Magi, made with cow and buffalo milk. Pungent rind, buttery paste, a richer answer to Taleggio.
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Avarizia is a washed-rind cow and buffalo milk cheese from De'Magi in Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany. The recipe uses less salt than most washed rinds, which lets the buffalo milk push through on the palate.
The rind is reddish, moist, and a little sticky, the kind that tells you the cheese has been properly tended in the cave. Under it the paste is straw-colored, semi-soft, and supple, with a buttery consistency that holds together under the knife but gives way the second it warms up. The nose is pungent, classic washed-rind territory, all mushroomy and earthy. The palate is rounder than the aroma suggests, with the buffalo cream lending a richness that softens the funk and the lower-salt approach keeping things from getting sharp. It's a good answer for someone who likes Taleggio but wants something with a little more cream behind it.
This is a serious washed-rind cheese with a velvet glove on it, intense where it needs to be, gentle where it counts.
Semi-soft and supple with a buttery give under the knife. The paste is smooth and sticky, straw-colored, with a moist reddish rind that holds it all together.
Pungent on the nose, classic washed-rind territory, but the palate is rounder than the aroma suggests. The cow and buffalo blend lends a richness that softens the funk.
Lingers with a savory, slightly salty pull that holds on the palate well past the swallow. The buffalo cream keeps the finish from getting sharp.
Buttery and creamy through the middle, the buffalo milk pushing a rich dairy sweetness behind the washed-rind aromatics.
A quiet brown-butter note threads through the paste, but nuttiness takes a back seat to the lactic richness and earthy rind.
Mushroomy and a touch barnyardy from the brine-washed rind, with that wet-cellar pull you expect from a proper washed rind.
A gentle savory edge on the back of the palate, no real heat or pepper, just the natural lift from the rind cultures.
Washed rind
The reddish, sticky washed rind carries most of the cheese's funk, mushroomy and aromatic, brining the paste with a salty, earthy edge.
Avarizia stands on its own, but the right partners turn a wedge into a moment. Regional pairings first — they were built for each other.
A lightly sparkling red like Lambrusco cuts the buttery paste and refreshes between bites. Trebbiano keeps things local, and a Belgian Dubbel echoes the earthy rind without competing with it.
The pungent washed rind wants something sweet and bright alongside it. Soft pears and figs lean into the creamy paste; a drizzle of acacia honey balances the salty, earthy edge.
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“De'Magi is an affineur operation — Andrea Magi sources young wheels from trusted Italian producers and finishes them in his own Tuscan cellars with wine soaks, herb and pollen treatments, and extended cave aging.”
Cellar affinage in Castiglion Fiorentino — wine-and-must burial for Briacacio, fennel-pollen drilling for Buhaiolo, and extended cave maturation for the green-label Taleggio and Antani.
Hand-cut to order the day it ships. Packed cold for overnight delivery.
Taste it for yourself →Cold-ship 2-day overnight nationwide
