Robiola Bosina (300g)

Robiola Bosina is a mixed cow and sheep's milk soft-ripened cheese from the Langhe hills of Piedmont in northern Italy, made in a small square format with a thin bloomy white rind. It sits in that approachable corner of the Italian soft-ripened family, closer in spirit to a delicate brie than to anything funky.

The paste is creamy and yielding, with a proper cream line that runs just under the rind and a slightly firmer, more lactic core that holds together on the board. The cow's milk gives it that fresh-butter, yogurty pull on the front of the palate, and the sheep's milk adds a quiet richness and a touch of browned butter on the back end. The rind brings a clean mushroomy note, white button rather than forest floor, and the finish is short and fresh, no funk, no bite.

Let it sit out for twenty minutes before serving and the cream line really starts to soften and slump toward the center. It's the kind of cheese that flatters everyone at the table, gentle enough for someone wading into European soft-ripened cheeses for the first time, and interesting enough, thanks to that mixed-milk recipe, to hold its own next to bigger names on a board.