Price range: £3.60 through £21.60
Murcia al Vino is a creamy Spanish goat’s cheese washed in local red wine, giving it its fabulous purple rind and gentle fruity flavour. A great choice for goat’s cheese sceptics.
Murcia al Vino is a goat’s milk cheese from southeastern Spain and it’s rather difficult to miss. Cut into a wheel and you have a creamy ivory cheese surrounded by the most fabulous deep purple rind, created by washing the cheese in local red wine.
It’s quite different from many of the goat’s cheeses we sell. Rather than being soft, fresh and citrusy, Murcia al Vino is a firm, semi-hard cheese with a smooth, creamy texture and a much gentler goat’s milk flavour.
No one seems entirely sure who first decided that bathing cheese in red wine was a good idea, but I’m very glad they did. It creates a cheese that looks absolutely stunning on a cheeseboard.
Murcia al Vino has PDO status, protecting both where it comes from and how it’s made. It must be produced in the Murcia region using milk from Murciana goats and according to the rules laid down for the cheese.
The wine washing is, of course, the really distinctive part. During production, the cheeses are immersed in local red wine, which gradually stains the rind that wonderful maroon-purple colour.
The wine isn’t just there for decoration either. It contributes subtle fruity aromas and flavours to the outside of the cheese, giving you a lovely contrast between the rind and the creamy goat’s milk paste inside.
The first thing I notice about Murcia al Vino is always that colour. The contrast between the deep purple rind and the pale ivory middle is gorgeous, and it’s one of those cheeses that immediately gets people asking questions when they see it in the counter.
The texture is firm but beautifully smooth and creamy, rather than crumbly. The flavour is surprisingly gentle too. There’s a fresh goat’s milk tang and a little saltiness, but none of the stronger ‘goaty’ flavours that sometimes put people off.
As you get towards the rind, things become more interesting. I pick up subtle fruity and floral notes from the wine alongside the creamy, milky flavours of the cheese.
It’s actually one of the cheeses I often suggest to people who tell me they don’t like goat’s cheese. Sometimes they change their minds.
Jen’s note: We often call Murcia al Vino “Drunken Goat”, which doesn’t take much explaining once you’ve seen how it’s made! It’s also one of my favourite cheeses to give someone who tells me they don’t like goat’s cheese. The flavour is much gentler than they’re expecting — and I do rather enjoy proving people wrong.
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Ingredients (Allergens are listed in capitals)
MILK, salt, cultures, rennet, calcium chloride, rind: red wine (min 1%)
Normal opening Monday – Saturday 9am – 4pm until:
Sunday 22nd 9am – 4pm
Monday 23rd 9am – 4pm
Christmas Eve 9am – 12pm
Christmas Day Closed
Boxing Day Closed
Friday 27th Closed
Saturday 28th 9am – 4pm
Sunday 29th Closed
Monday 30th 9am – 2pm
Tuesday 31st 9am – 2pm
New Year’s Day Closed
Thursday 2nd January Closed
Friday 3rd 9am – 4pm then open as normal
After Christmas our courier delivery slots start from 8th January.
