The Terroir of Cheese

If you search for the definition of “Terroir” in the dictionary, you will most likely find a reference to wine and it stating that the factors of Climate, Sunlight and Soil will have an overall effect on the outcome, or characteristics of the grapes. However, when it comes to cheese, I learned that there is so much more going on than that!

You see, Terroir for cheese follows the same for factors for wine, but since the animal is eating the grass/flowers/plants that grow in these regions (and elevations), they too have a major impact on the overall taste of the cheese.

This was a hard concept to understand…especially if you walk over to your refrigerator and smell a carton of milk. Assuming it’s a fresh container, you may pick up some buttery, or grassy notes, but beyond that, it’s hard to imagine how the flavor of the cheese is impacted… That is, until I traveled to the Canton of Fribourg, to a small town known as Gruyères in Switzerland. It is here at the La Maison du Gruyère (The House of Gruyere), where you can learn of this famous cheese’s history, how it’s made, but also receive a sensory lesson of how the Terrior of this region effects the overall flavor of the cheese.

When you enter the La Maison du Gruyère, there is an area where you can watch them make the cheese, and of course there is a gift shop, but it was the self-guided educational part that left the biggest impression on me. Along several walls there were close up photographs showing some of the wildflowers, native grasses, and herbaceous plants that grow along the mountain of this region. Patrons are then encouraged to read about these, then to lift the small stainless steel vessel that contains this plant and smell the fragrance.

Each are all so different then the next. Each have their own impact on the final piece of cheese.

When you have made it through all eleven stations, you are then handed a piece of cheese to taste. At once, it all becomes crystal clear how very important these native plants, flowers, and grasses can impact the final flavor of the cheese, and more importantly how this cheese could only be made in this region.

So getting back to the definition… While the dictionary may try to explain it, speak to anyone in this region and they will simply say that Terroir simply means “A Sense of Place.”

Photos Courtesy of www.lamaisondugruyere.ch/homepage-en/