Day 3435 (Wednesday) 4th November 2026.

This is the Chèvre d’Or in Eze Village

and this is Villefranche-sur-Mer.

We have yet another cheese story today - enjoy.

10 Favourite French Cheeses by Jennifer Greco

Cheese is recognised throughout the world as one of France’s most prized contributions to gastronomy, and tasting exceptional French cheeses is usually high on the list for visitors. France produces somewhere between 1,400 to 1,600 cheeses (according to the French dairy farmers), so shopping at a fromagerie or a market means being faced with shelves and cases of all shapes and sizes of cheese. You will likely spot a few familiar names such as Swiss Gruyère, Brie de Meaux, and Roquefort, but it can be an intimidating experience.

For the last fourteen years I’ve been on a project to taste every cheese produced in France and am hovering around the 400 mark. I’ve scoured the fromageries, and the covered and outdoor markets in rural Normandy, the south of France, and in cities such as Lyon, Marseille and Paris, and have compiled a short list of French cheeses I think you should try on your visit. Choosing just ten wasn’t easy because I love them all. However if I had to narrow it down, the following would make up the cheese board of my dreams…

Le Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage

Beaufort is a mammoth, 20 to 70 kilo (45-154 pound) hard, unpasteurised wheel of cheese produced in the Savoie region of the French Alps. There are three categories of Beaufort, and Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage has the strictest regulations and is the most scarce, with only about 15 producers still employing its time-honoured production method. 

The more common Beaufort AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée – a strict set of regulations protecting French food and wine) is delicious in its own right, and made in cooperative dairies between November and May from the milk of cows that graze in mountain valleys. The guidelines for wheels that carry the Chalet d’Alpage indication require that every summer the dairy cows – Abondance and Tarine breeds only – are led higher up to Alpine pastures that are over 1500 metres (almost 5,000 feet) in altitude, where they graze on lush fields of herbs and mountain flowers. The cheeses are made twice a day, starting right after the cows are milked, and only the milk collected from a single herd for 100 days of every summer, between June 15 – October 15, can be used to make Beaufort Chalet d’Alpage. Additionally, these special cheeses must be curdled and moulded into alpine chalets following traditional methods, then taken down from the mountains at the end of the season, where they are put into cold ageing cellars for at least five months. If deeper, more complex flavours are desired, they may be aged another year or two. 

In terms of flavour, this is an elegant cheese with concentrated notes of hazelnut, warm butter, caramel, and sweet grasses. On the nose, it’s both floral and fruity. Beaufort “Chalet Alpage” is not easy to find, so if you spot it at a cheese shop, I highly recommend buying a wedge. 

Le Carre Corse

When I’m in the mood for a strong cheese with layers of complex umami flavour and an unforgettably funky aroma, this is what I buy. 

Carré Corse is a young, ewe’s milk, washed rind cheese produced in the northern part of the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Washing a cheese’s rind repeatedly in either beer, wine, spirits, cider, or in this case, a salt brine, is a common way to age and add flavour to the finished cheese. The washed rind cheese are often the most “fragrant” cheese, but their strong aroma can be deceptive as it doesn’t necessarily mean the cheese’s taste is strong. Carré Corse is an exception to that rule; it is potent on both the nose and flavour.

This cheese is rich and complex, with flavours of purple grapes, dulce de leche, and hazelnuts, and the aroma is a heady mix of yeast, sweet hay, and animals, reminiscent of standing in a barnyard.  But don’t let that scare you. This is truly a delicious cheese.

Le Rovethym

Every spring an abundance of young goat cheeses from all over France arrive at the fromageries. It is goat cheese season. 

For a few months of every year, between November and March, when the animals are pregnant and don’t naturally produce milk, many farmers stop cheese production completely to respect the breeding cycle. And while goat cheese is available and made all year long (sometimes producers will freeze cheese curds or farmers will use “tricks” such as lights that mimic the summer sun so they breed off-season), the spring, summer and early autumn months are the best time to enjoy fresh, young fromages de chèvre.

In the early 2000s, the son of a cheesemaker, Pierre Pradier, established his own farm in the Haute-Provence with a small herd of Rove goats, a breed that is native to the region and known for its distinctive twisted, lyre-shaped horns and for producing very rich, concentrated milk. In the hills of Provence, and all along the Mediterranean basin, aromatic herbs such as thyme, rosemary, lavender, and winter savoury grow wild. These woody herbs, known as la garrigue, make up the spring, summer and autumn diet of the goats and sheep that graze on them. 

He combined the words Rove and thyme (thym in French) to create Rovethym. It is shaped by hand into a distinctive quenelle shape that is adorned with a sprig of thyme, so very easy to spot at the fromagerie. This is a young, unpasteurised cheese, best eaten when it’s just a few weeks old. It has a very dense and sticky texture with notes of citrus, thyme and other aromatic herbs.

Le Cremeux du Mont Saint-Michel

La Fromagerie de Pain d’Avaine is located less than 20 miles from le Mont Saint-Michel, an enchanting island off the coast of Normandy that is crowned with a stunning medieval monastery and is a world-renowned cultural and religious site. When cheesemakers Jean-Charles and Caroline Rabache founded their cheese-making facility and created this cheese in 1998, they decided that naming it after their famous neighbour was an obvious choice.

Devoted to la vache Normande, cows known for producing top-quality milk that is exceptionally rich in protein and butterfat, and prized for cheesemaking, their cheeses are made solely from the milk and cream that arrives daily from a small-scale, neighbouring farmer who raises about 50 Normandy cows. 

Le Crémeux du Mont Saint-Michel is a double cream cheese, which means that full-fat cream is added to the curds during production, resulting in a cheese that is decidedly sumptuous in both texture and flavour. Chalky and tender when young, the cheese becomes runny and oh-so-buttery as it ages. There are distinct notes of mushroom, grass, and, of course – cream. As the French would say, “C’est une tuerie!” (It’s to die for!)

La Fleur du Maquis

Don’t be intimidated by this herb encrusted, sometimes mould-dusted, cheese. La Fleur du Maquis is not strong. It is sweet, delightfully rich, and the herbs and fluffy layer of mould mean only one thing – flavour! 

Also known as le Brin d’Amour (a twig or sprig of love), this is an unpasteurised ewe’s milk cheese that has been produced on Corsica since the 1950s. The prickly looking rind is made up of le maquis, an aromatic mix of native herbs, such as thyme, rosemary, mint, oregano and marjoram, that grow wild on the island. The individual fresh cheeses are hand-coated with the dried herbs, sometimes topped with juniper berries and small chilies, and left to ripen in humid cellars for at least two weeks, or up to several months.

The rind has distinct notes of nuts, crème fraîche, and, not surprisingly, fragrant herbs, which are soft and perfectly edible. The snowy white centre of the cheese is well balanced with flavours of tangy buttermilk and mild honey. I sometimes have to convince people to try this cheese, and when they do, it often becomes their favourite on the cheeseboard.

Le Soumaintrain

Soumaintrain is a cow’s milk, washed rind cheese produced on the Champagne/Bourgogne border, and you might be familiar with its cousin, Époisses. As previously mentioned, washed-rind cheeses usually emit powerful aromas, but their flavours can be soft and mild. Soumaintrain’s rind is washed for several weeks in a combination of brine and Marc de Bourgogne, a French eau-de-vie made in Burgundy, similar to grappa. This repeated washing attracts good bacteria to the cheese’s rind, which adds to its flavour and gives it a distinctive smell.

Its texture is soft and smooth, and it is often sold in a wooden box to protect its fragile, thin rind. A young Soumaintrain will be firm in the centre, with acidic and lactic flavours, while a five to six-week-old Soumaintrain, at its peak ripeness, will be oozing and creamy under the rind and have a much richer, nutty, almost meaty flavour. On the nose it is earthy and it often reminds me of hickory-smoked bacon.

La Taupiniere

La Taupinière, (molehill in French), was created by farmer Gilles Jousseaume in 1973 on his farm in the Poitou-Charentes region of western France. The small, family-owned operation believes in respecting their products, “from start to finish.” They grow all the grain the goats eat, which supplements their diet of fresh grass, resulting in a cheese that has a consistent quality and an intense, deep flavour.

A natural, blue-grey mould dots the thin, ash-covered rind of this dome-shaped, unpasteurised goat’s cheese. The centre is snowy white and its texture can range from soft and fluffy when it is young, to dense and creamy as it ages. La Taupinière’s flavour is concentrated and tangy, with fresh milk and hazelnut notes, and mushroomy, lactic aromas. They also make a smaller version called la Taupinette.

Le Saint-Marcellin

Saint-Marcellin can be enjoyed in various stages of affinage (ageing): At two or three weeks old it is still firm and sliceable, but at five or six weeks, it becomes delightfully oozy and often sold in small earthenware crocks to keep the runny centre from bursting through its thin rind.

The flavour of this cheese develops as it ages. A young Saint-Marcellin will have notes of citrus, salt and grass, and an aged version will be more barnyard-y, nutty and yeasty. It is produced from both pasteurised and unpasteurised cow’s milk (the unpasteurised is better in terms of texture and flavour) in the Rhône-Alps region and my all-time favourite producer is Mère Richard for their cheese’s well-balanced flavour and meltingly soft texture.

Hercule

This hard cheese takes the nutty flavour of ewe’s milk and combines it with the tangy acidity of goat’s milk, resulting in a fromage that is buttery and rich, with an agreeable hint of sweetness on the finish. It is aged between nine to twelve months, and with such perfectly balanced flavour and caramel richness, it’s easy to understand why this one is a crowd-pleaser.

It is produced by Dominique Bouchait, who is a Meilleur Ouvrier de France (an official designation, and honor, that denotes someone who is considered a “best craftsperson” in France) in cheese. Hércule, and a small range of other ewe’s milk cheeses, are fabricated at his fromagerie in the Pyrénées, Les Fromagers du Mont-Royal.