Risotto al Vino Rosso con Castelmagno DOP

Piedmont — Cuneo province, Langhe

Piedmont's most dramatic risotto — Carnaroli cooked in Barolo or Barbaresco red wine throughout (not just deglazed), producing a deep purple-red risotto, finished with Castelmagno DOP — one of Italy's oldest and rarest cheeses. The Castelmagno (produced only in the Cuneo municipality of the same name) has a complex, crumbly, pungent character from the natural blue-mould veining that develops in mountain cave ageing. Stirred into the purple risotto at the end, it melts into streaks of white-gold against the red wine base.

• Rice cooked in red wine to colour and flavour the grains — both the French Beaujolais tradition and Piedmontese Barolo risotto use the same principle of cooking the starch in red wine throughout → Riz au Beaujolais French
• Red-coloured risotto from a bitter-sweet ingredient — Veneto uses radicchio where Piedmont uses red wine to achieve the same dramatic purple colour and bitter-sweet flavour profile → Risotto al radicchio rosso Venetian
• Using red wine cooking liquid as the primary flavour for rice — both traditions cook starchy grain in red wine cooking liquid from Burgundy and Barolo respectively → Coq au vin risotto (risotto in wine-braised liquid) Burgundian

Deep purple-red risotto from Barolo, pungent-rich Castelmagno streaks, truffle possibility — dramatic, complex, the full weight of Piedmont's finest ingredients in a single bowl