A total umami bomb!

43 Month Comte, Get it while you can...

We have opened our remaining wheels of Comte Symphonie from Marcel Petite, which will be our last until autumn. These cheeses are notorious for their, deep, marmite like flavour. 

Comte Symphonie this is the special selection - the cheeses that are graded high quality and from late Spring through to autumn.  Comte cheese is produced all over the France Comte region unlike other alpine cheeses - i.e. Beaufort - which has a specific area in the Savoie region for production.  Marcel Petite takes cheese from 35 producers and matures them in the underground cellars - one of which is an old army fortress hewn out of the rocky hillside deep inside a forest, and once used by Napoleon to guard the borders from attack.  Symplhonie has special qualities in its taste and texture that the affineur deems premier grade and we choose from the May selection and ask the affineur to keep them back for another year - so we don't start taking them until they are two years old and keep a few back that are three years old.  We only get a small allocation of around 10-12 if we are lucky, and having them super-aged gives a big, fruity profile that is quite unique.  This is the sort of cheese to enjoy on its own with a Savagnin wine or an equally special mature Vin Jaune.  

The Spring pasture is fresh, lush and bright - a perfect nourishment for the cattle to enjoy after the long hard winter where grass is heavy and without the sunlight to bring vitamins and minerals to the flavours.  The resulting milk will have complex elements that once turned into cheese and allowed to mature slowly in the stone caves produces cheeses with a dense, full bodied and concentrated ripeness that stands out as something really special.