Six am., harsh winter, biting cold. Raul Abrantes Coelho, was sounding the horn of his Bedford to invite his grandson, who was 4 or 5 years old only, and cheerfully joined him to one more day in search of the best cheese.

Raul had his own cheese business, purchasing, treating and selling cheese from the best Serra da Estrela origins (today it is called PDO). Walking around Serra da Estrela, visiting the shepherds and markets was key. Each and every cheese was viewed and reviewed carefully by the master, who rightfully tapped it on each side to determine its quality and decide on the purchase.

So the young boy begun taking pleasure in it. And he too learned the art of ageing in the Dairy, already located in Cotenças (Magualde County), where the selected cheeses were put on wooden shelves to be carefully washed and flipped on a daily basis until the desired texture was achieved.

This cheese was destined to the gourmet shops in Lisbon (Jerónimo Martins and Martins e Costa, in Chiado), and to the finest hotels in the country.

This is how pleasure in this activity was born, which is nowadays called affineur –or cheese ager.

This is a short story of a little boy, nowadays a man, who, as a tribute to his grand-father and to the whole region’s knowledge, started this project to preserve the best of this region located in the interior of Portugal. Therefore, Vale da Estrela Dairy was reborn, while being born.

Vale da Estrela has its origin in a true calling: to bring sustainability to ancient traditions and to bring life to this unrivaled knowledge, so that future generations shall not lose what Portugal has best and unique.