The story of a cheese of great value born from the cunning of the peasants of the Piave area during the First World War, when the peasants of the Conegliano and Oderzo areas, to escape the raids of the Austrian soldiers in search of food, and exhausted by the continuous incursions of soldiers, thought it well to hide the cheeses under the pomace which, being considered waste materials, were "ignored" by the invaders. That stratagem not only saved the cheeses of the poor farmers but when they, having escaped the danger, took them out of the vats they were surprised to discover that those wheels of cheese had absorbed incredible flavors from the pomace.
Years later Antonio Carpanedo owner of Caseria Carpanedo of Camalò di Povegliano, in the province of Treviso, thought well of reviving this experience and began to make the first forms of "cheese in pomace" discovering how aging with wine can enrich the cheese with new flavours, aromas and colours. The unusual maturation was instead very pleasant, with a spicy taste, between piquant and fruity. And so La Caseria Carpanedo was the first to register the trademark of “Drunk Cheese”, declining it in the various versions: with Raboso, Prosecco Doc and Amarone Valpolicella Docg.
Caseria Carpanedo, a company that dates back to the early 900s when Antonio's father, Ernesto, began working in a "casoin", i.e. a small grocery store in Preganziol, boasts a vast range of traditional and more original products such as the Drunkard but also new experiments with ingredients such as beer, spices, hay, walnut leaves, liqueurs and many more. A company which, thanks to the guidance of Antonio Carpanedo, manages to convey the flavors and knowledge of its land, drawing on the local tradition of Treviso to enhance its cheeses with notes and aromas of the best Venetian and Italian wine products.
To date, the territory dedicated to the production of this typical cheese is the whole Province of Treviso and the refined local cheeses are those with semi-cooked texture, such as i DOP Asiago (pressed and d'Allevo), the Montasius, Dairy and all the similar products typical of the Treviso dairies, aged for a minimum of two months, even specially produced. The morphological and dimensional characteristics are those typical of the starting cheese.
The "drunken" process takes place in large tanks for complete immersion of the cheeses and requires the availability of freshly drained marc. The freshly ripened cheeses are left immersed for 8 to 10 days, for aged cheeses it can even be reached 30 days. Re-use is allowed, for two separate immersions, valid for aged cheeses and for dried grape pomace. Then the forms are extracted from the pomace and subjected to drying and cleaning, to further maturation from a minimum of 15 to 30 and beyond, before being able to be sent for consumption. The "INBRIAGO" branding is permitted on the heel for specially produced wheels, or the DOP and non-DOP origin markings. While the rind takes on a different color depending on the grapes: if the pomace comes from white ones, the rind will be marked straw yellow, while more or less dark and intense purplish in the case of pomace from red grapes. The paste takes on a certain softness, an aromatic, pungent, pleasant and unique flavour.
The Carpenedo Dairy is recognized as the first cheese refinement laboratory in Italy, their products are present in over 30 countries worldwide, at the prestigious Harrod's, El Corte Inglès, and in the USA at Wholefood, Kroger and Murray's but also in the kitchens starry. Today the company is led by his sons Ernesto, Production Manager and Alessandro, Sales Manager. Below is the list of the best drunk cheeses that the company offers.
Raboso drunk
Ubriaco di Raboso is a semi-hard cow's milk cheese aged in wine and Raboso IGT marc. It has a classic wine-colored rind, the nose releases fruity hints of wild blackberry and morello cherry and has an intense, slightly spicy taste characterized by delicate and persistent vinous notes.
Red Baron
Baronerosso drunk goat cheese with Barbera pays homage to the great region of Piedmont. It has a semi-hard consistency, an intense aroma of flowers and young fruits that give way to the notes of goat's milk. The aftertaste is persistent and pleasant while the sweet curves of the heel and the canestrata texture bring out a beautiful ruby red colour.
President
This cheese is made with high mountain raw cow's milk, aged for at least two years. It is a hard cheese and is aged by immersion. The result is an elegant but at the same time balanced cheese, thanks to this Treviso wine that has become a legend. Its fame derives from a famous gaffe, which occurred in 1967, when the French general and president Charles De Gaulle, on a visit to Venice for the Biennale, was served a Red Venegazzù and he praised it as an "extraordinary Bordeaux". And from that moment he took the name of Head of State.
Organic Briscola with Raboso
Semi-hard cheese produced with organic cow's milk and aged in “Raboso IGT” wine and organic grape crushed. Medium intensity flavour, slightly spicy with a pleasant fruity aftertaste. It evokes the traditional card game popular in the old taverns, now in danger of extinction but which Antonio Carpenedo wanted to remember.
Drunk in love with Amarone wine
The excellent combination of cheese and the highly prized Amarone di Valpolicella Docg wine. The cheese is made from cow's milk produced with the same technique as Monte Veronese Dop: while still fresh it is placed in contact with the pomace of the grapes left to dry with Amarone wine. After which the cheese is aged from 8 to 19 months, which tends to evolve the flavors while maintaining the evolutions of Amarone. It recalls the aromatic notes of ripe and dried fruit, licorice and coffee in harmony with the flavor of butter and mountain pasture milk. Flat-faced cheese, marc-colored with ruby tones. The paste is straw yellow or light yellow. Eyes more or less widespread. It is an excellent cutting cheese and goes well with red fruit jams such as cherries, sour cherries, plums and figs.
Drunk on Prosecco
Ubriacosecco is a cow's milk cheese from a Treviso hill dairy. Perfect expression of the territory, it is a raw milk cow's cheese, with a semi-hard texture aged in Prosecco DOC wine. Antonio Carpenedo's method involves precise immersion sessions, followed by periods of rest and drying, taking into account the TUTA, acronym of Temperature, Humidity, Time and Environment, essential conditions for imparting aromas and flavors to the cheese. It has a delicate, sparkling and fruity taste with acidic nuances. The fresh and citrus notes blend perfectly with the delicate typical scent of the milk obtained from local farms.
Zibibbo drunk
L'Ubriaco di Zibibbo is a Sicilian stretched curd cheese with a rectangular shape selected and immersed in the pomace of Zibibbo passito. This cheese tells the story of Sicily, bringing the flavor of this land directly to our palate. Its paste has an intense yellow colour, compact and with possible fissures. In the mouth it is dry, sapid in perfect harmony with the sweet residue left by the raisin wine.
