Chevrotin

Producer

Various

Country

France

Region

Savoie, Haute-Savoie

Size

3.5-5 in diameter x 2 in height

Weight

9-12 oz

Website

www.chevrotin-aop.fr

Milk

Goat

Treatment

Raw

Classification

Semi Soft

Rennet

Animal

Rind

Washed

Style

Washed-Rind

Small and round, with a dusty pink-colored rind, Chevrotin looks like a smaller Reblochon. And it's produced in much the same way as that famous Savoyard washed-rind, in the same region—but instead of cow’s milk, it’s made using the milk of French Alpine goats. The traditional cheese has been made for over 200 years in the mountainous Savoie and Haute-Savoie, but it was mostly consumed within households until a few decades ago when producers began to organize in order to orient it towards the market and to obtain an Appellation d’Origine Protégée, or AOP.

Today the total production of Chevrotin remains relatively small at 100 tons per year (to compare, annual production of Reblochon surpasses 15,000 tons per year). According Dominique Joulot, co-owner of the cooperative chèvrerie Ferme des Cabrettes in Sallanches, the small number of Chevrotin producers could be a result of the AOP regulations. The Appellation, which was obtained in 2002, is particularly stringent in its protection of traditional production processes and in ensuring a high standard of quality.

In making Chevrotin, the raw goat’s milk is rennet-coagulated, curd is pressed, and small rounds are washed daily for a week in a special brine before being sent to an affineur for further aging on pine boards.

Aged for a total minimum of 21 days, this cheese develops a more complex taste over time, its goaty flavors slowly emerging during the maturation. The most well known goat’s milk cheeses are curdled using a lactic coagulation process, which relies on the action of bacteria converting lactose into lactic acid. In these cheeses, goaty flavors emerge immediately. But production of the curd for Chevrotin relies on rennet, resulting in a faster coagulation and a milder initial flavor that needs time to evolve.

Tasting Notes

According to Joulot, the use of goat’s milk is what sets this cheese apart from Reblochon: “goat’s milk is rich in minerals and less fatty, it’s more perfumed. It’s more delicate because the goats eat only the top of the plant, which is the most tender. And that’s reflected in the milk, in the cheese.”

A fondant paste that melts in the mouth and a sweet, complex and rounded flavor: Chevrotin is eminently likeable. Acidity is low enough and the buildup of goaty pungency is subtle enough to satisfy washed-rind diehards and skeptics alike.

Pairings

Joulot suggests pairing Chevrotin with a dry, fruity white wine from the Savoie: a Chignin or a Crépy.