In the Navarra region of the Spanish Pyrenees, lies the Roncal Valley. Seven villages make up this valley and control the production and marketing of the first Spanish name-controlled cheese, Roncal.

Record of this cheese’s production dates back as far as the thirteenth century, when the citizens of these towns worked together to raise sheep and to tend horses and the forests of the Pyrenees.

Each year they would herd their flocks up the mountains to the high pastures in the spring, and each fall they would lead them back down and take their products to market.

Roncal is still a product of the fresh mountain air, and it still made from raw sheep’s milk. It is ripened slowly over the course of several months to develop a rustic, nutty and olivey flavor and a moist, smooth texture.