Red Cow milk creates concentrated, toasted hazelnut Parmigiano with lingering fruit and savory finish.
Rare Red Cow Parmigiano Reggiano DOP from Emilia-Romagna, aged 24 months. Hazelnut, brown butter, long savory finish. Shop online.
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Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse comes out of Emilia-Romagna in Italy, made exclusively from the milk of the rare Red Cows that the region was once known for. It's a DOP cheese, aged a minimum of 24 months, and it sits in a tier of its own within the Parmigiano family.
The paste is a deep straw-gold, firm and granular, flaking off in shards under the knife with little crunches of tyrosine crystal running through it. On the palate it opens with toasted hazelnut and brown butter, pulls into a sweet hay-and-fruit middle, and finishes long and savory. The Red Cow milk carries more fat and protein than the modern Friesian standard, and you can taste that concentration through the whole wheel, denser, more aromatic, with a fruitier sweetness underneath the classic Reggiano savor.
Twenty-four months in our opinion is right in the sweet spot for a Vacche Rosse, enough moisture left in the paste that you can still grate it over pasta or risotto, but plenty of age to eat it in shards on its own with a drop of aged balsamic. A true Parmigiano lover's Parmigiano.
Hard and granular, flakes off in shards under the knife with little crunches of tyrosine crystal scattered through the straw-gold paste.
A concentrated, savory Parmigiano with more depth than the standard wheel, the Red Cow milk pushing the flavor toward fruit and toasted nut rather than just salt and umami.
Long and savory, the nutty sweetness lingers well past the swallow with a faint hay-and-broth pull underneath.
Most of the fresh milk has dried out over two years of aging, leaving a quiet buttery thread under the bigger savory notes.
Toasted hazelnut and brown butter run right through the middle, with a deep savory pull that's the calling card of a properly aged Reggiano.
A gentle hay and dried-fruit note from the Red Cow milk, more sun-cured pasture than mushroom or forest floor.
Just a quiet tingle of salt and savory bite on the back of the palate, no real heat.
Natural rind
Hard natural rind, stamped with the Parmigiano-Reggiano consortium markings. Not for eating, but excellent dropped into a pot of broth or risotto to deepen the savory base.
Parmigiano-Reggiano stands on its own, but the right partners turn a wedge into a moment. Regional pairings first — they were built for each other.
The sweetness and concentrated savor of a 24-month Red Cow wheel wants something with structure: a frothy Lambrusco from the same region cuts the salt, while an older Barolo or Champagne meets the depth of the paste.
A few drops of properly aged balsamic on a shard is the classic Emilia-Romagna move. Fresh figs or pears balance the salt; mostarda picks up the fruit notes already in the paste.
Video represents style and type of cheese - may not be an exact match in all cases.
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“A producer consortium built specifically to revive and protect the native Reggiana (Red Cow) breed, the original milk source of Parmigiano-Reggiano before Holsteins took over the region.”
Raw single-breed Reggiana milk made into PDO Parmigiano-Reggiano in copper vats with natural whey starter, then aged on wooden boards a minimum of 24 months before a second consortium inspection brands the wheel.
Hand-cut to order the day it ships. Packed cold for overnight delivery.
Taste it for yourself →Cold-ship 2-day overnight nationwide
