Bonat

The Bonati family is the beating heart of the Bonat Agricultural Company, which produces a stunning award-winning Parmigiano Reggiano in the Parmese Food Valley. For 4 generations, the Bonati family has cultivated and raised livestock: today it is Giorgio and his son Gianluca who carry on the family tradition with the love and passion that characterize their work and the high quality of their cheeses. The company operates in a complete cycle, taking care of both the feeding of the livestock, the ingredients that will constitute the wheels of Parmigiano, and the transformation, aging, and sale processes. Every product is monitored down to the smallest detail with precision and scrupulousness to ensure perfect traceability.

How the Bonat Parmigiano Reggiano is Born

The Bonat Agricultural Company currently owns about 100 cows that produce milk of the highest quality. The quality of the milk is due to the absolutely natural diet of the livestock, which is fed with a centennial stable hay produced in the family fields that contains grasses and essences that are now hard to find in more recent sowing meadows. The particular nutritional richness of this hay imparts some exclusive aromas to the milk, and thus to the cheese. The rest of the diet consists of blends of cereals, corn, barley, and soy. The entire processing cycle is strictly artisanal.
Therefore, this extraordinary milk is transformed into Parmigiano Reggiano in the dairy, which is then aged in aging warehouses. Once it reaches a 2-year aging, it is requalified by experts from the Protection Consortium, and only the exceptional and properly matured wheels are marked with the second "Extra" brand. Only the best of the best reaches 3 or even 5 or 10 years of aging.

Long Aging: A Rewarded Choice

The Bonati family’s choice to focus on long aging of cheese has borne fruit and has been recognized, making it a Parmigiano with extraordinary qualities acknowledged by many organizations, associations, chefs, and competitions both Italian and international. Bonat has brought home numerous awards: the guide "Cheeses of Italy" by Gambero Rosso awarded the prize "Three Spicchi di Cacio" for the 3-year aged cheese and the prize "Fuoriclasse" for the 7-year aged cheese; the ALMA Cuisine Academy directed by chef Gualtiero Marchesi awarded the ALMA CASEUS gold medal 2012 for the 28-month aged cheese; the High Etruria Chefs Association has repeatedly awarded the dairy with the gold medal "Primo Assoluto" at the Gran Crudi competition in Italy.