Cheeses

Fourme d’Ambert is one of France’s oldest cheeses with a history dating back to Roman times. Some legends date it back even further as a cheese known to druids well before the Romans marched into Gaul. It was certainly ingrained into the culture of the Auvergne by the Middle Ages as a statue over the entry to the chapel of Chaulme depicts a wheel of Fourme d’Ambert.

The volcanic soil of the Forez mountains provides a varied and lush diet for the cows whose milk is used to make this rich, elegant blue cheese. While full-flavored, Fourme d’Ambert tends to be a mellower blue whose veins are tempered by flavors of freshly drawn cream, mushrooms, cocoa, and ripe fruit. Like many French classics, Fourme d’Ambert has largely fallen prey to mass production and industrialization. This version, however, aged by affineur Rodolphe le Meunier, keeps alive the delicious tradition of artisanal-made cheese.