We came out here for a cheese tour - it was about 15 min from our hotel in Modena, but you do need a car. I think they produce something like 2 or 4% of all the parmigiano reggiano in the world, and they source from 4 local dairies in the region.
The tour was done in English, and we had a small group of 4 of us. You get an explanation of the process, how much milk goes into a wheel, how many days the cheese has in each stage of its production, and you can see everything happening in action behind glass windows. The final room with the racks full of aging parmigiano reggiano is super impressive. They also have a photo of the infamous earthquake that caused the prior racks to collapse (as seen on Chef's Table). I actually learned a lot about the DOC parmigiano reggiano on this tour.
We finished with tastings (you can pay for different levels of tastings). Our's had charcuterie, grissini, water, Lambrusco, and of course cheese. We tasted everything from the early stage stuff shaven off the wheels to ricotta to 12 month parmigiano, up to 48 month. There was also a red cow one that was rare and more expensive, but I think I prefer the regular parmigiano. As it's aged, it gets a little dryer, so I actually preferred the 24 month.
Afterwards, you can buy stuff in the shop. They had lots of parmigiano reggiano choices vacuum sealed (including a biodynamic one), and prices were better than at the Mercato Albinelli in the city. They also had pastas, meats (reasonably priced culatello!), house made yogurt, cookies, jams, olive oil, balsamic - lots of great food gifts.
If you like cheese, it's definitely worth a visit out here! read more