Italiano
Bitto and Valtellina Casera Dop: value and notoriety grow
The run of Valtellina Casera and Bitto cheeses continues: in 2022, Valtellina's two iconic PDOs reach a consumer value of 26.8 million euros, putting them up 5.5 percent on the previous year.
Leading the way is Valtellina Casera, which with 21.5 million (+9 percent), accounts for 80.4 percent of the value of the two PDOs, while Bitto stands at 5.2 million.
"The growth in value in 2022 makes us proud," comments the president of the Consorzio di Tutela Valtellina Casera e Bitto (CTCB), Marco Deghi, "especially because it was achieved in a difficult year for the entire dairy sector in Italy, characterized by an unprecedented drought, which led to a very severe shortage of fodder, in the order of 35%, and milk, with peaks of -25% in the province of Sondrio alone. Criticalities that led to a total production of 16,747 quintals (14,891 for Valtellina Casera and 1,856 for Bitto), with production drops in the order of 5.9% for Valtellina Casera and as much as 14% on Bitto. Despite the adversity, the market held, thanks to the product's growing notoriety and to being able to draw on the previous year's stocks of Valtellina Casera, even in the face of a reshaping of the average weight per cheese wheel of Bitto DOP, which fell from 12.5 to 11.5 kg. Actions, these that led to an increase in the average price per wheel in the range of 8 percent for Bitto and 16 percent for Valtellina Casera and allowed production turnover to be maintained at 14 million euros. This result was also made possible thanks to the work on quality done with the Bitto valorization plan, the increased notoriety of the PDOs and the communication campaigns carried out, which have reflexively brought the hoped-for fruits, with an increase in the product's profitability in the two-year period 2021-2022."
According to SG Marketing's new survey "Knowledge and Perception of Bitto and Valtellina Casera PDO Cheeses in the National Consumer," in fact, the notoriety of the two cheeses with the national public has also grown compared to 2021: +5 percentage points for Bitto and +2 percentage points for Valtellina Casera. Today Bitto and Valtellina Casera are known to 27 percent of Italians, with a consumer penetration of 16 percent and 17 percent, respectively (+3 and +2 percentage points over 2021). A knowledge that increases the closer one gets to the North, with peaks of 57 percent in Lombardy and 47.5 percent in the Northwest, and a consumption penetration of 42 percent and 34 percent. The analysis also identifies for both cheeses an average propensity for incremental consumption (i.e., the balance between those who say they want to reduce consumption and those who admit they want to increase it) of 10% for Bitto and 14% for Valtellina Casera).
In fact, those who taste them fall in love with them: after the first taste, which usually takes place outside the home (at a restaurant or from the producer), most consumers in fact say they have continued to buy them (Bitto 65%; Valtellina Casera 69%) at large-scale retail outlets and specialized stores.
Among them, more than one in three is a "gourmand" (buys in specialty stores, pays attention to the PDO as an expression of history and territory, cares about the supply chain and km0, and often consumes the cheese away from home), with a share of 36% for Bitto and 38% for Valtellina Casera. It is no coincidence that connoisseurs and consumers of the two PDOs are more sensitive to quality than to price and promotions, compared to the average: those of Bitto are more attentive to product characteristics (48%), certifications (41%), and the origin of Italian milk (40%); connoisseurs and consumers of Valtellina Casera are more sensitive to the origin of milk from mountain farms (20%).
Preferred ways of tasting? Pure cheese wins (57% Bitto and 58% Valtellina Casera), in recipes (45% and 50%), inside cutting boards (41% and 42%). An opportunity to reiterate the inescapable link with the territory and pastures of Valtellina. In fact, Bitto is strongly influenced by the pastures, which provide different aromas and scents every year according to the mountain pasture and climatic conditions, perfect to be tasted pure, both "when young" when its flavor is sweet, delicate and encompasses the scents of the mountain pasture; and as it matures, possible up to ten years, with its intense flavor; while Valtellina Casera is the ideal ingredient for salads and local recipes, starting from pizzoccheri to Sciatt.
The Consortium for the Protection of Bitto and Valtellina Casera Cheeses has been working in the province of Sondrio since 1995 to defend the uniqueness of the two Valtellina PDO cheeses, protect them from any imitation and promote them on the national and international market. It does this through a series of scrupulous controls on the entire supply chain. There are 165 members of the Consortium belonging to the two production chains, including breeders, producers and ripeners, small and large livestock farms, village dairies and modern dairies. Since 1996, Valtellina Casera and Bitto have achieved PDO status: their production follows precise rhythms, knowledge and rules dictated by production specifications, guaranteeing the origin and uniqueness of these cheeses. The certifying body to guarantee the consumer has been CSQA of Thiene since 1998.
