The smell of milk, laughter, games, the noise of the cheese factory, Sundays with no rest for a thousand tasks… These are the childhood memories of the Martínez González family. And above all, the passion of their parents for the fascinating world of cheese.
The story of Queso Los Cameros is the story of Jesús and Justi, two young men who in the 1950s belonged to two different worlds. He to an economically well-established family and she to a poor one with a small herd of goats. Jesus was in charge of going around the villages to buy goats for the family’s butcher’s shop and on one of these outings he met Justi and they fell in love. Jesús’ father opposes this relationship and the lovers elope, marry in Miranda de Ebro and go to Bilbao. A distant relative of her father’s got them work: he collecting milk for Leches Ona in Bilbao and she at the food market, where she sold cheese.
While Jesús and Justi continued with their life in Bilbao, Jesús’ father, together with a partner, started making fresh cheese and curd in Haro under the name of Lácteos de Haro. The business does not work out and he decides to abandon it, with his partner continuing with the project. The first step he took was to call Jesús and ask him to go with him, taking advantage of the fact that he had studied with the master cheesemakers at the Escuela de Industrias Lácteas de Madrid, where his son Javier, the current master cheesemaker, was later trained. And then came 1961, a crucial moment for Lácteos Martínez-Queso Los Cameros, when Jesús bought from his father’s former partner a press and some “botejas” which, curiously enough, had the initials S.M. engraved on them, corresponding to his father’s name. Both the press and the “botejas”, as well as the bicycle that Jesús used to take the cheeses to the bus station in Haro to distribute them until he started sending the cheese via the Eje del Ebro railway can be seen in the small museum that they have installed in the underground heart of the factory.
Lácteos Martínez-Queso Los Cameros, a company in constant expansion
With the figure of their father always present, whom they remember as a great cheese maker, the second generation joins the business and does so with very clear ideas: to maintain their parents’ recipes with pride. The first changes took place in 1996, when they stopped making fresh cheese and focused on the production of cheese in bars, which they had been making since 1985. At the same time, they also make cured cheeses, which keep better, allowing them to be transported and sold further afield.
Firm defenders of the idea that the traditional and the modern can coexist, in 2000 the second big change took place: the cheese factory became too small and they decided to move to the modern facilities they now occupy.
And two years after the change of location, they began to produce cheeses with natural rinds, such as Camerano cheese, the only cheese with a Protected Designation of Origin in La Rioja, which is characterised by its small size and the fact that it is made only with goat’s milk. Excellent cheese recognised in various national and international competitions, including several editions of the World CheeseAwards.
Attentive to all the factors that have a direct influence on the final result of the cheese, they currently have the exclusive production of fifty-six farms, producers who are fully involved in the training circle of Queso Los Cameros, specifically in such important matters as milking, hygiene and feeding. Among them, livestock farmers like Sergio, an enterprising young man in love with goats who, at the age of eighteen, gave his father two options: either they set up a farm or he went to work for an external company. Several years later, some setbacks that made them rethink the project and a pandemic in between, did not undermine Sergio’s desire to continue with his great dream.
With Jesús, the eldest, as general manager; Francisco Javier, production manager and master cheesemaker, as well as president of the Camerano Cheese P.D.O.; and Sonia, the youngest of the four brothers, who holds the position of sales manager as well as being a member of the board of directors of the Family Business Association of La Rioja, Queso Los Cameros has become a company with a great international projection, which stands out for the natural rinds of its different references and for developing the refining moulds, which are combined with olive oil baths. With an annual production of 2,000 tonnes, in addition to the main brand, Queso Los Cameros, it markets other brands such as El Estanque, aimed at large distribution channels, and others with smaller production but identical quality standards, such as El Berollo, Señorío de Cameros, La Mochila and Vega del Oja.
They now export to more than twenty countries, a milestone considering that many of these countries are major producers with a long cheese-making tradition.
Cheeses that have earned him recognition for a job well done, both at home and abroad. International awards such as the aforementioned World Cheese Awards, the Global CheeseAwards or the International Dairy Competition in Los Angeles (USA). Also the first places in the GourmetQuesos championship, awarded by the Salón Gourmets, as well as in the Cincho Castilla y León Awards or in the National Goat Cheese Competition ‘Tabefe Fuerteventura’ in our country.
The quality of their preparations is particularly appreciated by Michelin-starred chefs, who have succumbed to their flavour and used them as the basis for delicious and innovative recipes.
Protected Designation of Origin Camerano Cheese
Made from an age-old recipe from the Sierra de Cameros in La Rioja Media, Gonzalo de Berceo wrote in his 13th century work “Life of San Millán de la Cogolla”: “Quesos dan en ofrenda por todos los Camberos”, referring to the gifts given to the people who guarded the boundary markers that separated the land and which caused so many family disputes in the past in this country.
As Lácteos Martínez explains, Camerano cheese has its origins in transhumance: “When shepherds came and went across the plateau with their sheep, they took twenty or thirty goats with them. From them they consumed their milk, which was easier to digest. Those goats are the ones that stayed in the villages of the Sierra de Cameros and, in a way, are the origin of the designation of origin and the reason why there are now four different breeds in the area, which produce milk for the PDO cheeses”.
These cheeses stand out for their full, very intense and slightly lactic flavour, a deep aroma of natural ripening and a bouquet that is the result of the refining moulds and the rubbing with olive oil. Their rind is characterised by characteristic patterns, the marks of the “cilla”, the traditional plaited wicker mould.
The trajectory of Lácteos Martínez-Queso Los Cameros also has a point of sustainability. Three years ago they realised that in many places in the Sierra de Cameros there were small herds of goats and, with the intention of recovering the activity, guaranteeing an economic livelihood for these families and contributing to the growth of the rural environment, they decided to set up a Dairy Point in the village of Jalón de Cameros (Cameros Viejo). There, the farmers in the area can deposit their milk, each in their own tank, which is collected every three days by the cheese factory’s lorries. They started with three farmers, a figure that has now risen to six.
This is an initiative that they want to transfer to Cameros Nuevo, where there are few farmers, but there are young people who, tired of life in the city, are considering returning to the village and can find an economic livelihood in milk processing. However, this initiative is not new for Queso Los Cameros, as in the 80s of the last century the founder, Jesús Martínez, already put it into practice in the sierra. It set up warehouses in the villages of Cameros Viejo and Cameros Nuevo, a project it had to abandon when, in 1992, new health measures affecting the storage of milk were introduced.
Finca Malzapato, another dream of the Martínez family
It was May 2010 when the Martínez family began another of their dreams: to plant an olive grove. The place chosen was a private estate located on the Camino Malzapato, 4 kilometres from Haro. This fertile land, ideal for oil cultivation thanks to its altitude, latitude and continental climate, allows these trees to compensate for the lower yields compared to other areas of higher production with exceptional quality.
The result is two oils belonging to the Aceite de La Rioja PDO. The first, Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil, is characterised by a fruity aroma of green olives, with an intense presence of apple, banana and hints of sweetness that is light in the mouth with a predominance of green notes of freshly cut herbs. It won the gold medal at the New York International Olive Oil Competition. The second, Rayuela Extra Virgin Olive Oil, native to La Rioja, the variety with the most antioxidant power, which stands out for its aroma that evokes tomato and a suggestive citric wink that envelops the rest. A desirable oil, first with subtle notes of bitterness, followed by a prolonged spicy guide that leaves strong herbal and refined citrus hints.
“To know cheese is to know life”, this is the motto that guides the Martínez family. Committed to Rioja tradition, quality and sustainability throughout the entire cheese-making process. Cheese, natural, quality, culture, family, Rioja and pleasure are the seven words that shape the ideology of this family, which concentrate the essence and commitment to their identity and the passion they feel for what they do.
