August 26, 2014
Producer Spotlight: Montealva
Montealva is produced by a family in the small town of Torrecera, in the municipality of Jerez de la Frontera in Cadiz, Andalucia.
The company is made up of brother and sister, Isabel and Pedro Maria Alvarez Aguilar, their mother, Dolores Aguilar, and Pedro’s wife Anabel, who was very important in the cheese making process at the start.
The tradition of cheesemaking came to them via their grandparents, who began to make goat cheese by using their own herd to produce the milk on the farm where their mother grew up in El Fresnillo. Since they were small, when they went to play with their grandparents in the countryside, they saw the cheese being made in the most artisanal way possible. They fashioned their own tools, rennet and other utensils needed to produce cheese.
Having gotten their own degrees and motivated to continue the family tradition , Pedro and Isabel started to make cheese, albeit with more modern technology but without losing the artisanal essence of their land Read More »