🇨🇭🏔️ Long-awaited premiere for the 2022 Le Gruyère d’Alpage, now perfectly matured after a little over a year of aging/affinage!
A few years ago, we visited father and son, Alexandre & Jacques Murith. Alexandre cools his arms before dipping them into 57 degrees and collecting the cheese mass. The richest of summer pastures, the very best of untreated milk, cows just around the corner, ancient traditions and knowledge passed down through generations, hard work and passion, pride in who they are and what they do. That’s the secret behind the fantastic @gruyere_aop D’Alpage.
🏔️ In May, the cows are led up to the lush alpine meadows where they stay until September, grazing. The variation and herb-rich pasture give the milk deep and long flavors with an aromatic character. The higher up in the Alps, the better and more complex the pasture with a greater variety of herbs, resulting in fantastic milk! No silage or concentrate is used, only lush meadows and cows content with life, which can live to be over 20 years old. Alpage is aged for 13–15 months.
Le Gruyère d’Alpage AOP is pressed only with the help of a cloth. The cheese wheels are sometimes slightly smaller, weighing around 25 kilos. In early autumn, the alpine herders and cows return from the mountains. This process of bringing the cattle down from the mountains before winter is called “désalpe” and is celebrated appropriately.
Our Gruyère D’Alpage, AOP and alp-certified, comes this year from the dairies:
🇨🇭 La Givrine with GPS coordinates: 46.4567, 6.10783 🇨🇭 Olivier Humbert on Alpine Pasture La Bursine with GPS coordinates: 46.5693