The Loire Valley is not only a paradise for castle buffs and wine enthusiasts, but also .... for cheese lovers.
Today, we devoted some time to cheese, more specifically, to the iconic Crottin de Chavignol goat cheese. We had lunch at Restaurant/ Affineur Romain Dubois in Chavignol, a leading affineur of Crottin de Chavignal, with 2 outlets, one in Saint-Satur and one in Chavignol.
In Chavignol, in additon to the cheese store, Romain Dubois has a restaurant next door, where we had lunch and tasted Romain Dubois' Crottin de Chavignol at different stages of ripeness.
We also bumped into his father, Gilles Dubois, a key figure when it comes to the fame of Crottin de Chavignol.
France is Home of some of the most beleoved Cheeses in the World
“How can you be expected to rule a country that has over 200 kinds of cheese?” – Charles de Gaulle
“Any country with 300 kinds of cheese cannot die”– Winston Churchill
“A meal without cheese is a beautiful girl that lacks an eye”– Brillat-Savarin (who shares the name of a French cheese as well)
Stickymangorice.com: To say that the French nation loves cheese is an understatement. France is the home to some of the most beloved cheeses in the world, and their names are legendary – Rochefort, Brie, Camembert, Comté. While opinion differs about how many varieties of cheese there are in France, there are at least 400 (with some estimates ranging to over 1000)!
French cheese differs greatly depending on the region in which it is produced, the source of the milk, the history of the region, and local traditions. Many French cheeses have attained the certification known as AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée), guaranteeing authenticity for the origin and production of a cheese (in the same way that champagne is only produced in the Champagne region).
While in the western part of the Loire Valley, cow milk cheese rules, in the eastern part of the Loire Valley goat cheese dominates.
Cow Milk Cheese in the Western Part of the Loire Valley - the Pays de la Loire
Stickymangorice.com: Stretching from the Atlantic coast, through to the lower part of the Loire Valley, Pays de la Loire is known for its grand châteaux, its Breton culture of the Brittany Peninsula, and fine Loire Valley wines. Cows milk cheeses are the specialty here.
Tomme de Chouans cheese comes from the Vendee department, a soft and chewy cow’s milk cheese. It is known for its stripey yellow rind and mild taste. Another popular cow’s milk cheese familiar to many is Port Salut, with an orange rind, semi-soft texture, and creamy and mild taste. Curé Nantais is a supple and sticky cheese with a characteristic smoky flavour, and is commonly eaten with fruit. One of the more unique cheeses of the region is Embruns aux Algues, a 1-month aged cheese mixed with seaweed, giving a strong and salty taste.
Goat Milk Cheese in the Eastern Part of the Loire Valley - Centr-Val de Loire
Stickymangorice.com: Centre-Val de Loire is the region just south of Paris, a region of wide open green spaces that follows its main river, the Loire. It is best known for its spectacular Loire Valley châteaux, home to French kings, queens, and nobility for centuries. The region is best known for its goat cheese, and 6 varieties have attained AOC status.
The unpasteurized soft goat cheese Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine is perhaps the most well-known cheese of the region. The cheese is shaped as a log, with a distinctive grey mould rind, rolled in ash, traditionally with a length of straw running through its centre. Another unpasteurized goats cheese local to the region is Selles-sur-Cher, a wheel of soft cheese with a strong taste and a blue-grey rind. Another goat cheese is Valençay, which is formed in distinctive pyramid shapes. Some cows’ milk cheeses are produced here too, such as Olivet Cendré, a soft cheese with delicate and salty taste, and a grey ash-coloured rind.
Goat's Cheeses of the Loire Valley
streetdirectory.com: The Loire Valley offers goat's cheese lovers a paradise. It is a
perfect location for a holiday meandering beside the Loire River,
visiting famous historic chateaux, cheese producers and caves for wine
tasting and even staying in a boutique chateau hotel if you chose. This
region is justly called the Garden of France, and is sprinkled with
amazing Renaissance castles open to the public and an abundance of fine
wines and cheeses. Chateau du Guerinet near Blois is a perfect base for
a cheese lover's Loire Valley holiday.The Loire Valley is the
starting point in the history of goat's-milk cheese in France. In the
8th Century, the Saracens of Arab descent were repelled at Poitiers.
When they were expelled from France they left behind their goats and the
recipes for making incredible cheese from goats milk.
The
quaint villages on either side of the Loire River produce goat's cheeses
of different sizes and shapes. There are six AOC (Appellation
d'Origine Controlee) cheeses: Sainte-Maure de Touraine, Selles-sur-Cher,
Valencay, Pouligny-Saint-Pierre, Chabichou du Poitou and Crottin de
Chavignol. There are currently 42 French cheeses with AOC status. An
AOC label indicates quality and guarantees that a product has been made
within a specified region of France following established methods of
production.
Valencay cheese looks like a small black pyramid.
It is purported that the shape of the cheese was originally a perfect
pyramid. But when Napoleon returned from a disastrous campaign in Egypt
he stopped at Valencay Castle, the cheese reminded him of the Egyptian
pyramids and in a furry he chopped of the top of the cheese with his
sword. The Valencay goat's cheese has a rind of natural mould, covered
with salted powdered charcoal and goes nicely with a glass of Quincy,
Reuilly or Sancerre.
Sainte-Maure de Touraine is a blue-grey
mould covered long truncated log of goat's cheese. The cheese is
mature, balanced, round with salt, sourness and an aroma of walnut.
This cheese is produced all year long and is nicely complimented by a
glass of Chinon or Vouvray.
Selles-sur-Cher also has a rind of
natural mould covered with powdered and salted charcoal. The pate is
hard at first, then moist, heavy and clay-like as it blends and melts in
the mouth. The taste is slightly sour and salty with a touch of
sweetness. A glass of Sancerre or Pouilly Fume accompanies this cheese
beautifully.
Pouligny-Saint-Pierre nicknamed the Eiffel Tower
or Pyramid because if its shape. The rind is of natural mould. The
pate is a soft moist white and crumbly. The taste is at first sour and
salty followed by sweetness. This cheese goes wonderfully with a glass
of Reuilly or Sancerre.
Chabichou du Poitou has a thin rind of
white, yellow or blue mould and a delicate slightly sweet flavour.
Pouilly Fume and Sancerre wines go nicely with this cheese.
Crottin
de Chavignol known as Chavignol is hard black and knobbly on the
surface, and the taste is a balance of sourness, sweetness and a little
salt to be enjoyed with a glass of Sancerre de Chavignol.
Cheese and "Affinage"
In France, in the cheese world, les vedettes…the rock stars…are not usually the actual dairy farmers, and cheese producers…(though good French gourmands are aware of them, too).
No. The real stars are the ones who receive the cheese from producers, then hold it in their shops, downstairs in the cave, until the cheeses are just á point (perfectly ready to eat). The cheeses may hold in that window of perfection for as little as a day, sometimes a few days. A great affineur knows exactly when to sell it to you…will not sell it too early, will not sell it too late.
But there's more than mere timing involved. A great affineur truly "raises" his or her cheeses as if they were children. Some days, if the cheeses are too moist, they must be dried with a towel; some days, if they're too dry, they must be moistened. Most days they need to be turned, or shifted in the cellar; some of them need a wash on a regular basis with strong alcohol to develop a certain flavor in the rind. There is no specific list of what the affineur must do in his her or cave; are there any rules for parents? Affinage, and parenting, are creative activities!
Arriving at Romain Dubois - Fromager, Affineur - in Chavignol
In the Cheese Store
Crottin de Chavignol at Different Stages of Ripeness
Lunch
Gilles Dubois
Dinner at L'Océanide (Bib Gourmand Michelin) in Nantes - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Dinner at L'Instinct Gourmand in Nantes, with Owner/ Chef Sylvain le Bras - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Guided Tour of Old Town Nantes - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Dinner at Iconic Brasserie La Cigale in Nantes - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Tour, Tasting and Light Lunch at Vignobles Günther Chéreau, Château du Coing, in Saint Fiacre-sur-Maine, with Owner Véronique Günther-Chéreau - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Two Domaines under one Roof: Visit at Domaine Gadais Père et Fils and Domaine de la Combe/ Pierre-Henri Gadais in Saint Fiacre-sur-Maine, Muscadet Sévre et Maine, Pays Nantais, with Owner/ Winemaker Christoph Gadais - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Dinner at Restaurant Les Petits Près of Chef Samuel Albert (Top Chef France 2019) in Angers - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Vineyard Tour and Tasting at Château d’Épiré, AOP Savennières, Anjou, with Owner/ Winemaker Paul Bizard - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Vineyard Tour, Barrel Tasting and Salon Tasting at Château des Vaults, Domaine du Closel in Savennière, Anjou, with Owner/ winemaker Evelyne de Pontbriand - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Vineyard Tour and Tasting at Domäne Vincendeau in Rochefort-sur-Loire, Anjou, with Owner/ Winemaker Liv Vincendeau - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting with a Light Lunch at Domaine de la Soucherie in Beaulieu-sur-Layon, Anjou - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Dinner at Restaurant L’Essentiel, Michelin-listed and Nestled at the Foot of Saumur’s Fairy-tale Castle - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Guided Visit at the UNESCO-classified L’ Abbey Royale de Fontevraud in Fontevraud - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Lunch in the Courtyard of Saumur's Fairy-tale Castle Château de Saumur - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Tasting, Cellar Tour and Vineyard Tour at Domaine des Roches Neuves in Varrains, Anjou, with Next Generation Owner/ Winemaker Louis Germain and Agathe Germain - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Tour and Tasting at Maison Bouvet-Ladubay in Saumur, with Owner Juliette Monmousseau - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Tasting at Cave M. Plouzeau in Chinon, Touraine, with Owner/ Winemaker Marc Plouzeau his Château de la Bonneliére Wines - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
At Domaine Bouchardière in Cravant les Côteaux, Touraine: Tasting the Wines of Domaine Bouchardière and Domaine de la Haut Olive, Cravant les Coteaux, Chinon and Panzoult, Touraine - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Menu
du Jour Lunch at Bar-Restaurant Le Bistrot du Marché of Hotel Le Lion
d'Or in the Center of Chinon - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine François Cazin, Le Petit Chambord, in Cheverney, Touraine, with François Cazin - Loire Valley
2024 by ombiasy WineTours
3-course "Bistronomique" Dinner at
Restaurant Brut Maison de Cuisine in Blois, with Owner/ Chef Adrien
Delafoy - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Vineyard Tour, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine Brazilier in Thoré-la-Rochette, Côteaux Vendômois, Touraine, with Owner/ Winemaker Benoît Brazilier - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
3-course Lunch at Le Moulin du Loir in Vendôme - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Visit of Château de Chambord: "An Epitome of what Human Art can Produce" said Charles V. (Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nations) - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Guided Tour of Château Royal de Blois, where 7 Kings and 10 Queens lived - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
With a Large Cheese Cart and Soufflé Flambé au Cognac: 5-course Menu Inspiration - Leisurely Sunday Lunch at Restaurant La Croix Blanche on the Banks of the Loire between Amboise and Blois, with Owner/ Chef Jean-François Beauduin (Bib Gourmand Michelin) - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Guided Visit of Château du Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci lived and died, in Amboise - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Dinner and Overnight-stay at Château de Pray in Amboise, a Loire Château from the 12th Century - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Visit at Domaine Denis Meunier in Vernou-sur-Brenne, Touraine, with Daniel Meunier - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Visit at Domaine des Aubuisières, Bernard Fouquet, in Vouvray, Touraine - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Guided
Visit of Château Chenonceau, Residence of Diana de Poitier and of
Katharina de Medici, Mistress (the Former) and Wife (the Latter) of King
Henry II - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Dinner
- Aperitif, Amuses Geules, 4-course Dinner, Mignardises, Digestif - and
Overnight-stay at Auberge du Bon Laboureur, 2024 Best Wine List Award
(Traditonal Restaurants) of Terre de Vins, a Leading Gourmet Journal in
France, in Chenonceau - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Extensive
Vineyard Walk, Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine Pellé in Morogues,
Menetou-Salon, with Export Manager Pauline Guillot - Loire Valley 2024
by ombiasy WineTours
Lunch - Menu du Jour: Entrée, Plat, Dessert - at Restaurant Fluteau in Morogues, Menetou-Salon - Loire Valley 2024 by
ombiasy WineTours
Extraordinary Tasting and Cellar Tour at Domaine Alphonse Mellot in Sancerre, with Alphonse Mellot jun. - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine Moulin des Vrillères (Famille Lauverjat) in Sury-en-Vaux, Sancerre, with Kevin Lauverjat - Loire Valley 2024 by
ombiasy WineTours
Cellar Tour and Tasting at Domaine Tinel-Blondelet in Pouilly-sur-Loire, with Marlène and Annick Tinel - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Lunch at Romain Dubois - Fromager, Affineur - in Chavignol, with Gilles Dubois - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Cellar Tour, Vineyard Tour and Tasting at Domaine Henri Bourgeois in Chavignol - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Wine-pairing Dinner at Le Clos du Maréchal with the Wines of Vignobles Berthier, with the Owner/ Winemaker Clément Berthier and the Chef/ Owner Nathanael Fromant - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours
Last Meal of the Tour: At La Coupole in Paris - Loire Valley 2024 by ombiasy WineTours