ENSENADA – Traveling two hours to taste cheese may seem absurd.

But don't tell that to Martín Hernández, who has spent 65 of his 80 years selling cheese in a downtown Tijuana market.

"The Ramonetti cheese is not only the best in the region, but also one of the best in all of Mexico," he said. "The flavor is unlike anything you have ever tasted."

Hernández is a connoisseur. He samples and sells the best Mexican cheeses at mercado El Popo, such as Cotija from Michoacán, dry cheeses from Guerrero, and specialties from Oaxaca and Chiapas. Of a visit to the birthplace of Baja California cheese he said simply, "You won't regret it."

That was the preamble for a trip to Real del Castillo, located in the area of Ojos Negros about an hour east of Ensenada. It's a tiny town of 2,474 residents living in a valley situated 2,200 feet high surrounded by mountains.

"It's a very arid place, with little water, and little employment. That's where you can find 30 craft cheese makers, from the same number of families. The very conditions of the place led them a long time ago to produce cheese," explained a state agriculture official, Marco Antonio Soubervielle.

Of all the producers, only Marcelo Castro has an expansive spread to showcase his cheeses. He has a farm with large, organic pastures and cattle raised without any hormones or additives. Then there's the cellar located some 12 feet underground with a capacity to store 10,000 cheeses. They are made using a secret formula that's one hundred years old.

The cellar offers cheese tastings for up to 30 people in a bohemian ambiance, at half-light. Guests are offered a glass of red wine from the Ramonetti 1911 label – which the house also produces from its vineyards in the Valle de Guadalupe – and samples of the seven cheeses the family produces.

Castro, 39, is the great-grandson of Pedro Ramonetti, a Swiss immigrant with Italian roots who arrived in Ensenada at the end of the 19th century and who the then-president of Mexico personally made a Mexican citizen in 1898.

The immigrant was famous for making fresh cheese.

"The taste of one of my cheeses is soft and creamy, with a tenuous acid aftertaste," said Castro standing in front a garden-restaurant, where a dozen people feasted on one of his dishes, part of the Baja Med cuisine.

Though his formula is secret, Castro said that the 30 craft cheese makers in Real del Castillo have "the same soul." That's to say, each family has their own recipe but they share the same personality.

That character is born from the area's water, which comes from the mountains; the pastures, which are not fertilized nor treated with insecticides; and the earth, rich with minerals. The dairy cows consume all of that and their milk is used to make the cheese, Castro explained.

In addition, he said, the region's climates help produce two types of cheese. In the winter, when the cold freezes the pastures and with it the proteins they contain, the cows produce thick milk that is used to make creamy cheeses; while in summer, when the pasture is shorter and the cattle drink more water, the cows produce thinner milk that yields drier cheeses.

According to the Baja California Agriculture Department, the town of Real del Castillo produces 24 tons of craft cheese a month, around 15 per cent from the Ramonetti house.

Castro explained that 85 per cent of his production is fresh cheese, while the rest is aged cheese that sits in his cellar between six months and two years; the latter are ideal with bread and a good red wine.

Most of his cheese is sent to gourmet restaurants in Mexico City, Cancún, Valle de Bravo, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo San Lucas; in addition to the distribution in Baja California. All types of his cheese can be obtained in Tijuana, at Mercado Hidalgo, in the Río zone, and in Mercado El Popo, downtown.

Teresa Pérez, 72, has been selling cheese from all of the producers in Real del Castillo for 47 years from her grocery store Abarrotes El Crucero, on the outskirts of Ojos Negros.

"They are like wine, some have been aged longer, others are drier, other cheeses are fresher, have more whey or are a little saltier or creamier … but they all have the genius that comes from the earth."

The Ramonetti cheeses, she added, are sturdy, mature. They can be enjoyed in appetizers, in salads or melted over pastas and sauces, where all their exquisite aromas fill the air.

Much like Valle de Guadalupe, northeast of Ensenada where 80 per cent of the Mexico's wines are produced, Real del Castillo maintains an idealized air of country life, a world apart from the urban hustle and bustle.

After visiting there, the concept of enjoying together wine and the cheese from the same region makes sense. The experience is unparalleled and the trip to taste a cheese – actually 30 of them – is very much worth the journey.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com