CHARACTERISTICS

Marcel Petite Comté AOC is a classic hard French cheese – a type of gruyere – made high in the Jura mountains. Smooth textured, it has a concentrated nutty, gentle sweet honey flavour reflecting the diversity of the surrounding mountain pastures. These cheeses are made by small dairies in the Jura and are carefully graded before, during and after maturation by Marcel Petite  – one of the most respected affineurs in France. He hand selects young wheels of Comté to mature in the 19th century underground Fort of Saint-Antoine. They have a concentrated nutty texture and a gentle sweet honey flavour reflecting the rich milk of the Montbéliard cattle that graze the natural mountain pastures.

A little history about Comte 

Comté is an ancient type of Gruyere, and typical of the large mountain cheeses made in the Alps, on the borders of France and Switzerland. Their name is derived from the forest known as Gruyeres whose timber was once used to fuel the heat of the copper cauldrons used to make the cheese in. More Comté is produced than any other cheese in France, and each cheese must pass a strict grading system which is controlled by the AOC regulations.

It takes more than 500L of milk – the daily production of 30 cows – to make one wheel of Comté.

*AOC = Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée

Goes well with:

Full-bodied whites such as Chardonnay, Viognier

Similar cheeses

Beaufort, Gruyere Vieux