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    Roquefort - Roquefort sur Sulzon (Aveyron) Market (Ariège) Rocamadour - Rocamadour (Lot) Rocamadour - Rocamadour (Lot) Pyrenean Tomme cheese (Ariège) Cheeses of Midi-Pyrénées

    Cheeses

    To taste Roquefort, Rocamadour and Pyrenean tomme is to travel to the very heart of the passions, landscapes and traditional skills that turn fine unpasteurised milk, whether from sheep, cows or goats, into the finest products of the French cheese-making tradition.

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      Roquefort

      This cheese is almost a part of France’s history: a monument to taste that forms part of the nation’s heritage.
       Roquefort represents a blend of delicacy and strength and a perfect match between nature’s genius and man’s intelligence. This prestigious cheese is prepared in the south of Aveyron, not far from Millau Viaduct, a Great Tourist Site. It is the oldest French AOC.

      These days, 7 companies (Papillon, Société, Gabriel Coulet, Fromageries Occitanes, Vernières Frères, Carles, Le Vieux Berger) share the natural cheese cellars around the village of Roquefort. The cellars here were carved out in the 17th century from the cracks in the Combalou limestone cliff: here, the round blocks of cheese, made exclusively from milk produced by ewes of the Lacaune breed wait patiently for Mother Nature to sketch out their emerald-coloured veins. The Roquefort cheese then emerges from the 10-storey underground ‘factory’ to markets all over the world. It should be consumed at room temperature, like a good wine.
      Roquefort has held AOC status since 1925.

      Visites et découverte

      • Les caves Roquefort Papillon 
        Roquefort-sur-Soulzon (Aveyron) 
        Tel. +33 (0)5 65 58 54 38
        www.roquefort-papillon.com
      • Les caves Roquefort Société
        Roquefort-sur-Soulzon (Aveyron) 
        Tel. +33 (0)5 65 58 54 37
        www.visite-roquefort-societe.com
      • Les caves Gabriel Coulet
        Roquefort-sur-Soulzon (Aveyron)
        Tel. +33 (0)5 65 59 24 27
        www.gabriel-coulet.fr
      • L'atelier Combes "Le Vieux Berger"
        Roquefort-sur-Soulzon (Aveyron)
        Tel. +33 (0)5 65 59 91 48
        www.le-vieux-berger.com
      • Farms in the Roquefort area – Visit the farms that breed the ewes whose milk is used to make Roquefort, with food tastings, local Roquefort produce and more…
        www.parc-grands-causses.fr

      Bleu des Causses

      Bleu des Causses, one of Roquefort’s neighbours, evokes images of stony ground, heathland and cellars deep beneath the sun-baked causses.
      With its astonishing mild flavour, aromatic ardour and smooth consistency, Bleu des Causses is matured in cheese cellars hewn into the heart of the rock, at Peyrelade close to the entrance to the Tarn Gorge. Though it uses a different raw material to Roquefort (Bleu des Causses is made from full-fat cow’s milk), it is adorned with the same thin blue lines of penicillium. This microscopic fungus is borne by draughts blowing upwards through fleurines, natural cracks in the scree-covered slopes.
      Bleu des Causses has held AOC status since 1953.

      Visits and tours

      • Les caves du Bleu des Causses – Peyrelade
        Rivière-sur-Tarn (Aveyron) – Tel. +33 (0)5 65 62 61 02 
        www.tourisme-aveyron.com

      Laguiole

      This is a product of the transhumance of the herds of Aubrac cattle that munch their way through the luscious grass of summer pastures as they wander around the uplands.
      Laguiole is a firm but creamy cheese that is straw-yellow in colour. It has a distinctive flavour, and a natural dried and brushed rind. It is made either in a traditional stone buron or in dairies, using the methods employed by the cantalès (master cheesemakers) of days gone by. According to a popular saying from the Laguiole area, “the cheese is content in the rind because the milk is content in the udder; the milk is content inside the udder when the cow is content, and the cow is content when it is comfortable in the meadow”.
      Laguiole has held AOC status since 1961.

      Visits and tours

      • La coopérative fromagère Jeune Montagne - Laguiole (Aveyron) - Tel. +33 (0)5 65 44 35 54
        www.tourisme-aveyron.com
      • Le buron de Camejane - Aubrac (Aveyron) : a genuine stone buron which is still in operation in the heart of the Aubrac. Traditional methods of producing Aubrac cow’s milk cheese - Tel. +33 (0)5 65 48 01 41
        www.buron-en-aubrac.com

      Rocamadour

      Rocamadour is an irresistible little cheese which has been made from unpasteurised goat’s milk on the causses du Quercy since the 15th century.
      Its home is Rocamadour, a Great Tourist Site, in the heart of the Causses du Quercy Regional Nature Park.
       Before we give into the temptation to tuck in, let's take a closer look at this phenomenon of the cheese world: six centimetres in diameter and one and a half thick, with four grooves across the top and a soft, velvety, ivory-coloured rind. In the mouth, Rocamadour melts on the palate, releasing aromas of goat’s milk, perfumed by contact with the junipers, flowers and grasses of the causses.
      Rocamadour has held AOC status since 1996.

      Visits and tours

      • Les chèvreries-fromageries de l’AOC Rocamadour (Lot) - An opportunity to visit farms, take part in milking, cheese tasting, etc.
        www.rocamadour.com

      Don’t miss    

      • La fête du Rocamadour – Rocamadour (Lot) - Whit Sunday – Contact : Maison du Tourisme, Rocamadour – Tel. +33 (0)5 65 33 22 00 – http://www.rocamadour.com/

      Pyrenean tomme

      This is a mountain cheese produced at high-altitude that has been made in the heart of the Central Pyrenees since the 12th century.
      The départements of Hautes Pyrénées and Ariège are home to a number of cheese-making cellars where the morning’s milk is processed and turned into this pasteurised cow’s milk cheese according to strict rules handed down over the centuries.
      Its rind can be black or golden, while the inside is supple and open, and can range from ivory to pale yellow in colour. The taste can be delicately acidic or fuller. Each valley, each village and each farmer has its own special recipe and its own maturing time. However, the same pastoral vein runs through all of these terroirs, which are linked together by the same mountains.
      Pyrenees tomme made from pasteurised cow’s milk has enjoyed IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) status since 1996.

      Visits and tours

      • La route des fromages d’Ariège
         Information available from the Agence de Développement Touristique d’Ariège Pyrénées
        Tel. +33 (0)5 61 02 30 70.
      • Les producteurs de tomme en vallée de Barousse (Hautes-Pyrénées)
         See the Hautes Pyrénées Tourisme Environnement website for contact details
        www.tourisme-hautes-pyrenees.com

       
      Project co-financed by the European Union. Europe is partnering Midi-Pyrénées with the European Regional Development Fund.